Economy
Bears Spread ‘Red Carpet’ at Nigerian Stock Exchange
By Dipo Olowookere
The bears seem to have found comfort on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) lately as they have refused to allow the bulls to breathe, taking the spotlight on the red carpet.
This is already causing some investors to panic because prices of stocks they purchased during the bull period in April and May are crashing to the levels seen in March 2020.
However, this is good news to investors who missed out at that time and have waited for the bus to visit the park again to pick new passengers before the end of the year.
Yesterday, the equity market further depreciated by 0.90 percent due to a heavy selloff in the banking space, which had its index down by 4.58 percent.
The insurance sector fell by 1.02 percent, the consumer goods sector went down by 0.93 percent, the energy counter crashed by 0.30 percent, while the industrial goods index declined by 0.02 percent.
At the close of transactions, the All-Share Index (ASI) went down by 220.65 points to settle at 24,374.40 points, while the market capitalisation decreased by N115 billion to close at N12.715 trillion.
On the activity chart, UBA was the most traded stock at the session, transacting 23.9 million units valued at N153.2 million, while FBN Holdings followed with 21.6 million equities traded for N110.5 million.
GTBank exchanged 21.1 million shares for N446.0 million, Transcorp transacted 16.8 million stocks valued at N10.4 million, while Zenith Bank traded 15.5 million shares worth N236.5 million.
At the close of the market, a total of 180.1 million stocks worth N1.9 billion were traded in 3,889 deals on Thursday compared with the 198.0 million shares valued at N1.0 billion transacted in 3,772 deals on Wednesday.
This indicated that while the volume of traded shares depreciated by 9.03 percent, the value of the trades and the number of deals executed by investors increased by 78.25 percent and 3.10 percent respectively.
Business Post reports that Unilever Nigeria reported the heaviest decline yesterday as its stocks’ value reduced by N1.50 to N13.80 per share.
GTBank depreciated by N1.15 to close at N20.70 per unit, Flour Mills dropped N1 to sell at N17.65 per share, Zenith Bank decreased by 90 kobo to N14.80 per unit, while Cadbury lost 65 kobo to trade at N6.75 per share.
On the gainers’ table, Red Star Express claimed the juiciest spot after adding 15 kobo to its share price to sell at N3.30 per unit.
Neimeth gained 14 kobo to close at N1.63 per unit, NAHCO appreciated by 11 kobo to settle at N2.10 per unit, Jaiz Bank grew by 4 kobo to sell at 59 kobo per share, while Unity Bank gained 3 kobo to finish at 50 kobo per unit.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) is seeking a reduction in import duty exemptions, which rose to N34 trillion, limiting its ability to increase its revenue generation threshold.
The Comptroller-General of the Customs Service, Mr Adewale Adeniyi, disclosed that the value of import duty exemption certificate approvals increased to that level in 2025, describing the policy as one of the major factors restricting its revenue generation.
At an investigative session of the Senate Committee on Finance with revenue-generating agencies in Abuja on Monday, Mr Adeniyi explained that government fiscal policies have continued to impact the revenue-generating capacity of the Customs Service, both positively and negatively.
“The NCS would have generated significantly higher revenue over the years if not for government-approved import duty waivers and other external factors affecting collections,” he said.
He added that the Import Duty Exemption Certificate scheme, introduced in March 2020, accounted for about N34 trillion in approvals in 2025, with nearly 60 per cent covering duty-free importation of military hardware due to Nigeria’s prevailing security challenges.
Other government-backed duty waivers, he noted, covered the importation of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG), electric and hybrid vehicles, healthcare equipment and medical supplies, industrial machinery and manufacturing inputs, as well as food import intervention programmes.
While acknowledging the impact of the waivers on Customs revenue, Mr Adeniyi argued that fiscal policy should not be assessed solely on the basis of revenue generation but also on its broader economic and social objectives.
He, however, urged the federal government to establish stronger monitoring mechanisms to ensure beneficiaries of duty waivers deliver the intended economic outcomes, including lower consumer prices, increased local production and improved healthcare access.
The committee also expressed displeasure over the absence of several heads of government agencies invited to the hearing, including the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN), Industrial Training Fund (ITF), and the Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Jabi.
The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance, Mr Sani Musa, warned that the affected chief executives must appear at the committee’s next sitting or face severe sanctions under the Senate’s rules.
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By Adedapo Adesanya
The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange rose by 0.40 per cent on Monday, July 13, buoyed by buying interest in 11 Plc, Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc and UBN Property Plc, which offset the profit-taking in Food Concepts Plc, the parent company of Chicken Republic.
11 Plc gained N20.69 to end at N227.64 per share compared with last Friday’s price of N206.95 per share, CSCS Plc grew by N1.83 to N91.48 per unit from N89.65 per unit, and UBN Property Plc added 1 Kobo to sell at N1.81 per share versus N1.80 per share.
On the flip side, Food Concepts Plc depreciated by 24 Kobo to close at N2.45 per unit, in contrast to the preceding session’s N2.69 per unit.
As a result, the market capitalisation increased by N9.2 billion to N2.587 trillion from N2.578 trillion, and the NASD Security Index (NSI) improved by 15.33 points to 4,311.67 points from 4,296.34 points.
Yesterday, the volume of securities traded by investors surged by 615.9 per cent to 9.1 million units from the previous 1.3 million units, and the value of securities rose by 997.1 per cent to N320.4 million from the preceding session’s N29.2 million, while the number of deals decreased by 12.5 per cent to 28 deals from last Friday’s 32 deals.
At the close of trades, Great Nigeria Insurance (GNI) Plc remained the most active stock by value on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units valued at N8.4 billion, followed by Infrastructure Credit Guarantee (Infracredit) Plc with 2.3 billion units worth N6.5 billion, and CSCS Plc with 73.9 million units exchanged for N5.2 billion.
GNI Plc also closed the session as the most traded stock by volume on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units sold for N8.4 billion, followed by Infracredit Plc with 2.3 billion units traded for N6.5 billion, and Resourcery Plc with 1.1 billion units transacted for N415.7 million.
