By Dipo Olowookere

The first trading day after the 2025 Easter break ended on a positive note on Tuesday with a 0.49 per cent rise, influenced by the demand for beer stocks, which put the bears in check for the bulls to take control of the bourse.

During the session, the energy sector was down by 0.11 per cent due to profit-taking, but the other sectors closed higher, leaving Customs Street in green territory.

Data indicated that the consumer goods space was up by 2.57 per cent, the insurance counter appreciated by 0.71 per cent, and the industrial goods index improved by 0.09 per cent, while the commodity industry was flat.

At the close of transactions, the All-Share Index (ASI) gained 511.17 points to settle at 104,744.98 points compared with last Thursday’s 104,233.81 points and the market capitalisation increased by N322 billion to N65.821 trillion from N65.499 trillion.

International Breweries topped the gainers’ chart after it chalked up 10.00 per cent to sell for N6.05, Nigerian Breweries jumped by 9.94 per cent to N39.80, The Initiates surged by 9.89 per cent to N5.00, Japaul grew by 9.79 per cent to N2.13, and Cornerstone Insurance appreciated by 9.65 per cent to N2.84.

Conversely, International Energy Insurance led the losers’ group after it gave up 9.46 per cent to quote at N1.34, Secure Electronic Technology declined by 8.93 per cent to 51 Kobo, University Press depreciated by 8.82 per cent to N3.10, FTN Cocoa lost 7.40 per cent to trade at N1.75, and Coronation Insurance slumped by 5.50 per cent to N2.06.

Business Post reports that a total of 41 equities appreciated yesterday, while 20 equities depreciated, implying a strong investor sentiment and positive market breadth index.

The most traded stock for the session was Access Holdings with 38.6 million units sold for N875.2 million, Fidelity Bank traded 34.6 million units valued at N651.9 million, Chams transacted 29.7 million units worth N63.6 million, Universal Insurance exchanged 27.8 million units valued at N14.1 million, and Zenith Bank traded 23.7 million units worth N1.1 billion.

The market participants bought and sold 353.3 million shares for N7.2 billion in 13,734 deals on Tuesday versus the 376.3 million shares valued at N7.9 billion traded in 11,204 deals in the preceding session, indicating a 22.58 per cent growth in the number of deals and a decline in the trading volume and value by 6.11 per cent and 8.86 per cent, respectively.

By Aduragbemi Omiyale

An Abuja-based Internet Service Provider (ISP), Legend Internet Plc, will list its shares on the main board of the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited.

The listing is expected to take place on Thursday, April 24, 2025, Business Post has gathered.

To mark this, the NGX is organisation an event tagged Facts Behind the Listing for the management of the organisation to inform capital market stakeholders of its numbers and operations.

The executive management team and its issuing house, Finmal Finance Services Limited, will share valuable insights into the company’s strategic vision, growth trajectory, and the anticipated impact of this listing on its operations and market positioning.

Before this, the team will be honoured with a closing gong ceremony, an event to close trading activities at the stock exchange for the trading session.

Legend Internet is an exclusive experience of premium multimedia services built on the foundation of an ultra high speed fibre optic internet connection.

The company delivers the best in Internet, payments, voice, mail and home management, all working together to give customers instant access to the things that matter most – anywhere, anytime.

It was learned that Legend Internet is bringing to the stock exchange a total of 2 billion ordinary shares of 50 Kobo at a unit price of N5.64.

The equities of the firm will increase the market capitalisation of the bourse by N11.3 billion.

By Adedapo Adesanya

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has projected that Nigeria’s economy would grow by 3.0 per cent in 2025, a downgrade from the 3.2 per cent project by the organisation earlier this year.

According to its latest World Economic Outlook report released on Tuesday, the Bretton Wood institution said the downgrade was due to recent tariffs move by the US under President Doland Trump.

“Since the release of the January 2025 WEO Update, a series of new tariff measures by the United States and countermeasures by its trading partners have been announced and implemented, ending up in near-universal US tariffs on April 2 and bringing effective tariff rates to levels not seen in a century.” it noted.

The organisation also projects a 2.7 per cent growth rate for the country in 2026.

The global financial institution noted that while Nigeria faces significant challenges, particularly with inflation, forex volatility, and weak infrastructure, recent policy adjustments, such as the partial unification of exchange rates and removal of fuel subsidies, could enhance investor confidence and stimulate economic activity if properly implemented.

The IMF warned that the US tariffs on its own is a major negative shock to global growth.

“The unpredictability with which these measures have been unfolding also has a negative impact on economic activity and the outlook and, at the same time, makes it  more difficult than usual to make assumptions that would constitute a basis for an internally consistent and timely set of projections,” the April outlook said.

The IMF added that the swift escalation of trade tensions and extremely high levels of policy uncertainty are expected to have a significant impact on global economic activity.

Based on this, it projected that global growth is projected to slow to 2.8 per cent in 2025 and 3 per cent in 2026—down from 3.3 per cent for both years in the January 2025 WEO Update, corresponding to a cumulative downgrade of 0.8 percentage point, and much below the historical (2000–19) average of 3.7 per cent.