Economy
Nigerian Stocks Sustain Bull Run for Third Session
By Dipo Olowookere
For the third consecutive session, the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) closed in the positive territory on Thursday, appreciating by 0.36 percent at the close of transactions.
The All-Share Index (ASI) improved during the session by 95.94 percent to close at 26,872.09 points, while the market capitalisation increased by N46.3 billion to settle at N12.970 trillion.
However, like in the previous session, the activity level was weak as the volume of shares transacted went down by 10.51 percent to 239.2 million units from 267.3 million units, while the value of the trades dropped by 25.39 percent to N2.3 billion from N3.0 billion, with the number of trades depreciating by 12.00 percent to 3,585 from 4,074.
FBN Holdings emerged as the most active stock at the market yesterday, transacting 74.0 million shares worth N558.4 million, while Transcorp followed with 19.2 million units valued at N19.6 million.
Zenith Bank traded 18.3 million equities for N342.5 million, GTBank exchanged 17.2 million stocks worth N506.2 million, while UBA transacted 14.2 million equities valued at N107.6 million.
Gains were posted by 21 stocks at the market yesterday, while a total of 12 equities suffered losses. Apart from the industrial goods sector, which recorded a 2.39 percent decline, the four other key sectors monitored printed growths.
The banking index rose by 0.05 percent, insurance index by 0.03 percent, consumer goods index by 0.57 percent and the oil/gas index by 1.08 percent.
Flour Mills was the most improved stock on Thursday in terms of price appreciation, garnering N1.60 to close at N17.85 per share, while Stanbic IBTC gained N1 to end at N40 per share.
MTN Nigeria appreciated by 95 kobo to finish at N120 per share, Dangote Cement rose by 90 kobo to settle at N144.90 per unit, while Dangote Sugar added 85 kobo to its share price to finish at N13.10 per unit.
On the other side of coin, CCNN emerged as the heaviest price decliner, going down by N2 to finish at N18 per unit and was trailed by Unilever Nigeria, which depreciated by N1.05 to close at N17.45 per share.
Zenith Bank declined by 20 kobo to close at N18.60 per share, UBA went down by 15 kobo to close at N7.60 per unit, while Lafarge Africa depleted by 10 kobo to end at N14.40 per unit.
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.
