Economy
Foreign Investors Put N70b on Nigerian Stocks in One Month
**As Total Transactions Rise by 28% in March
By Dipo Olowookere
Though the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) has been bullish since February this year, this has provided an opportunity for wise investors to buy up shares experience poor run lately at the market.
According to the domestic and foreign portfolio participation in equity trading report for the month of March 2018 released by the NSE, the value of total transactions at the nation’s bourse last month increased by 28.50 percent from N212.05 billion recorded in February 2018 to N272.48 billion achieved in March 2018.
The report obtained by Business Post showed that the cumulative transactions from January to March increased by 48.29 percent from N454.48 billion recorded in 2017 to N878.97 billion in 2018.
It was observed that during the period, domestic investors outperformed foreign investors by 2.96 percent.
Specifically, total domestic transactions increased by 8.88 percent from N128.83 billion in February to N140.27 billion in March 2018.
It was gathered that last month, investors have intensified their interest in the stock market, buying up more shares at the market.
This was reflected in the increase in the value of their transactions during the period under review.
However, the amount of money they have pulled out from the market increased in March 2018 when compared with February 2018, but lower than what was recorded in January 2018.
Business Post reports that foreign transactions increased more significantly by 58.87 percent from N83.22 billion two months ago to N132.21 billion last month.
In the report, it was observed that there was a 55.29 percent increase in foreign inflows from N44.89 billion in February 2018 to N69.71 billion in March 2018.
Also, foreign outflows increased by 63.06 percent from N38.33 billion to N62.50 billion within the same period.
The report said the institutional composition of the domestic market increased by 19.97 percent from N76.08 billion in February to N91.27 billion in March 2018.
However, the retail composition decreased by 7.11 percent from N52.75 billion to N49 billion within the same period.
Since 2011, foreign transactions consistently outperformed domestic transactions.
However, domestic transactions marginally outperformed foreign transactions in 2016 and 2017, accounting for 52 percent of the total transaction value in 2017.
Also, foreign transactions, which was N1.539 trillion in 2014, declined to N518 billion in 2016, but increased significantly by 133 percent to N1.208 trillion in 2017, thereby accounting for about 48 percent of total transactions in 2017.
Over an 11 year period, domestic transactions have decreased by 62.46 percent from N3.556 trillion in 2007 to N1.335 trillion in 2017.
However, there was a significant increase in 2017 by 111 percent from N634 billion recorded in 2016.
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.
