Economy
Equity Capitalisation Adds N39b as Oil $ Gas Sector Gains 1.82%
By Dipo Olowookere
The Nigerian bourse closed the last trading day of the week yesterday on a positive note with the market rising by 0.26 percent at the close of business. This pushed the year-to-date returns forward to 7.27 percent.
Friday’s upward movement put a halt to the four-day losing streaks at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE). It was the first gain at the market this week.
The growth also came despite the dismal 2017 results released yesterday by Diamond Bank Plc after much wait.
At the close of transactions on Friday, the All-Share Index (ASI) went up by 107.37 points to finish at 41,022.31 points, while the equity capitalisation increased by N38.9 billion to settle at N14.860 trillion.
It was observed that uptrend was across all sectors with the oil and gas gaining the most with 1.89 percent.
The banking sector appreciated by 0.59 percent, while the consumer goods industry slightly went up by 0.07 percent.
Business Post reports that the volume of shares traded by investors yesterday depreciated by 12.39 percent, but the valued slightly increased by 3.35 percent.
The trades, according to data harvested from the NSE, were dominated by the Financial Services sector with 169.5 million shares sold for N2.2 billion, followed by the Oil and Gas sector, which traded 9.9 million equities worth N395 million.
A breakdown showed that GTBank recorded the highest volume of trades yesterday with 25.9 million units exchanged for N1.2 billion.
It was followed by Zenith Bank, which sold 22.2 million shares for N629.3 million, and Sovereign Trust Insurance, which traded 19.8 million equities valued at N4 million.
Fidelity Bank transacted 16.9 million shares worth N42.1 million, while LASACO Assurance sold 10.6 million equities valued at N4.3 million.
In all, a total of 214.6 million shares were traded by investors on Friday worth N4.2 billion executed in 3,675 deals in contrast to the 244.9 million shares sold on Thursday in 3,804 deals valued at N4.1 billion.
A look at the price movement chart showed that Seplat emerged the biggest price riser, appreciating by N25 to close at N750 per share.
It was followed by Nestle Nigeria, which gained N10 to finish at N1580 per share, and Okomu Oil, which went up by N4.95k to settle at N90 per share.
Presco improved yesterday by N3.60k to finish at N75.60k per share, while CCNN grew by N1.95k to end at N29 per share.
On the flip side, it was a bad day for Lafarge as its shares declined by 90k to end the day at N41.10k per share.
Nigerian Breweries lost 80k to close at N124.50k per share, while Total Nigeria went down by 40k to end at N221.80k per share.
Furthermore, UAC of Nigeria shed 40k on Friday to settle at N17 per share, while GTBank dropped 25k of its share value to close at N44.25k 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.
