By Adedapo Adesanya
There were no trading activities on the floor of the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange on Thursday, December 3.
Investors stayed away from the market and this made the key performance barometers to remain at the bourse at the close of business yesterday.
Business Post reports that the market capitalisation remained at N534.86 billion, while the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) stood firm at 719.57 points.
At the previous trading session, the exchange recorded a decline of 1.41 per cent to cement the grip of the bears on the unlisted securities market.
Meanwhile, the NASD Exchange management has informed investors that from next week, transactions will attract a stamp duty of 0.08 per cent.
According to circular from the bourse, any buy or sell order on the NASD OTC Securities Exchange will attract a stamp duty of 0.08 per cent, a 0.005 per cent rise from the current 0.075 per cent.
In the notice, the OTC bourse noted, “Kindly be informed that effective December 07, 2020, stamp duty deduction of 0.08 per cent will be adopted as against the 0.075 per cent that was previously applied to transactions.
“Please note that the Central Securities Clearing System Plc (CSCS) will implement the changes to the deduction of the Stamp Duty at the rate of 0.08 per cent.
“Participating Institutions are advised to communicate this to their clients and make required changes where necessary.”
A similar action is also being taken on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) and investors are already getting geared up for this increase in stamp duty fee.
How the market will react to this new development will be seen on Monday when the implementation is expected to commence.
It is believed that the federal government is coming up with this policy to increase its revenue, which has been badly affected by COVID-19 and a slump in the price of crude oil, its main source of earnings.
Dipo Olowookere