Economy
Dangote Cement Halts Stock Market 7-Day Winning Streak
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
The 7-day upward trend recorded on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) was brought to an end on Friday mainly due to the poor performance recorded by Dangote Cement, Dangote Flour and 15 other equities at the market today.
Business Post reports that the major market indices closed in red today at the close of business activities at the NSE.
The stock market, which went down by 0.71 percent, saw the All-Share Index (ASI) depreciating by 276.61 points to close at 39,257.53 points, while the market capitalisation lost N96.3 billion to settle at N13.7 trillion.
In addition, the year-to-date return reduced to 46.08 percent from 47.11 percent recorded yesterday. However, the market breadth still remained positive with 27 price gainers and 17 price losers.
The volume and value of shares transacted by investors went down today by 49.99 percent and 49.58 percent respectively.
Specifically, investors traded 530 million shares worth N5.1 billion in 5,066 deals compared with 1.1 billion equities transacted yesterday valued at N10.2 billion.
Just like the previous day, the Financial Services sector led the activity chart on Friday with 454.9 million shares exchanged for N3.7 billion, and was followed by the Consumer Goods sector, which traded 39 million shares worth N1 billion.
A breakdown of this showed that Access Bank emerged the most traded stock in terms of volume, selling 119.6 million units worth N1.4 billion.
It was followed by Fidelity Bank, which traded 103.6 million shares valued at N263.2 million, and AIICO, which transacted 53.2 million shares for N29.3 million.
Also, FBN Holdings traded 39.3 million shares at N354.4 million, while Diamond Bank exchanged 31.3 million shares worth N45 million.
Dangote Cement was the highest price loser on Friday, losing N5 of its share value to wrap the day at N245 per share.
It was trailed by International Breweries, which went down by N2.98k to close at N56.78k per share, and Unilever, which shed N2.18k to finish at N41.61k per share.
Lafarge fell on Friday by N1 to close its share price at N48 per share, while Dangote Flour depreciated by 64k to end at N11.40k per share.
However, Mobil gave its shareholders a reason to smile after adding gaining N7.61k to close at N159.82k per share.
Despite the controversy trailing its proposed acquisition, 7up appreciated today by N4.85k to finish at N101.97k per share, while Presco rose by N3.30k to settle at N69.30k per share.
Furthermore, Nigerian Breweries increased by N1.50k to close at N145 per share, and Forte Oil improved by N1.27k to end at N44.50k per share.
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.
