- Bearish sentiment persists as investors lose N671bn in equities market
President Bola Tinubu on Thursday sent four official communications to the two chambers of the National Assembly, requesting the federal parliament to consider and approve his tax reform bills.
One of the requests sought the renaming of the Federal Inland Revenue Service to Nigeria Revenue Service.
The request was contained in Tinubu’s letter read during plenary by Senate President, Godswill Akpabio.
Titled, ‘The Nigeria Revenue Service (Establishment) Bill,’ the proposed legislation, according to Tinubu, “Seeks to repeal the Federal Inland Revenue Service (Establishment) Act, No. 13, 2007 and establishes the Nigeria Revenue Service, to assess, collect and account for revenue accruable to the government of the federation.”
The letter also contained another request titled ‘The Nigeria Tax Bill’, which seeks to provide a consolidated fiscal framework for taxation in Nigeria.
It also contained ‘The Nigeria Tax Administration Bill,’ which seeks to provide a clear and concise legal framework for the fair, consistent and efficient administration of all the tax laws to facilitate ease of tax compliance, reduce tax disputes and optimize revenue.
Another one is, ‘The Joint Revenue Board (Establishment) Bill,’ which aims at establishing the Joint Revenue Board; the Tax Appeal Tribunal and the Office of The Tax Ombudsman for the harmonization, coordination and settlement of disputes arising from revenue administration in Nigeria.
Tinubu explained that the proposed tax bill presented substantial benefits to a library, government connectives and economic growth by enhancing tax payers compliance, strengthening fiscal institutions, and fostering a more effective and transparent fiscal regime.
He said, “I am confident that the bill, when passed, will encourage investment, boost consumer spending and stimulate Nigeria’s economic growth.”
Bearish sentiment persists as investors lose N671bn in equities market
Also, for the second day in the month of October, investors in the Nigerian capital market had their fingers burnt as bearish sentiment wiped out N671 billion from their portfolio at the close of market on Thursday.
Data from the Nigerian Exchange Limited reveals that sell pressure on the stock DANGCEM, which lost 10.0 percent of its share price gave the NGX ASI a haircut by 1.19 percent as it dropped to 97,064.42 basis points.
Similarly, the decline mirrored a 1.19 percent fall in market capitalization, which closed at ₦55.78 trillion, wiping out ₦671 billion from investor portfolios due to widespread sell-offs.
In total, 28 stocks declined in value, while 23 posted gains.
Leading the gainers were SEPLAT, LIVESTOCK, REGALINS, CAVERTON, and MANSARD, which saw increases of 10.00 percent, 9.93 percent, 9.76 percent, 9.63 percent, and 7.62 percent, respectively.
On the losing end, DANGCEM and MCNICHOLS both fell by 10.00 percent, followed by NSLTECH, down by 7.58 percent, UPDCREIT 4.72 percent, and CWG 4.62 percent.
Sector performance was mixed but mostly positive, with gains of 0.03 percent in the banking sector, 2.00 percent in insurance, and 3.80 percent in the oil and gas sector.
However, the consumer goods and industrial goods sectors declined by 0.20 percent and 5.96 percent, respectively.
Trading activity was generally down, as the number of trades, volume, and value dropped by 27.56 percent, 36.08 percent, and 18.25 percent, respectively.
Overall, 268.39 million shares valued at ₦6.76 billion were traded in 8,565 deals.
UBA was the most active stock in terms of volume, value, and deals, with 37 million units worth ₦993.9 million exchanged across 909 deals.
