By Dipo Olowookere
The stock market depleted by 0.18 per cent on Thursday after the Supreme Court delivered a landmark judgment, affirming Mr Bola Tinubu as the validly elected President in the February 25, 2023, presidential election.
After the presidential poll, Mr Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Mr Peter Obi of the Labour Party went to the tribunal to upturn the victory of Mr Tinubu of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
However, they failed as the Appeal Court last month said there was nothing wrong with the March 1, 2023, declaration of Mr Tinubu as President by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
Dissatisfied, they went to the apex court to get their request granted but yesterday, the final court said nothing has changed, leaving them with no other option than to wait till 2027 to achieve their goals.
But the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited reacted negatively to the judgment, closing in the green territory as a result of mild selling pressure, particularly in the financial sector.
The insurance sector was the worst hit as it dropped 1.82 per cent, and banking space shed 0.33 per cent, while the consumer goods index gained 0.12 per cent, with the energy and industrial goods counters closing flat.
At the close of trading activities, the All-Share Index (ASI) decreased by 121.21 points to 67,084.95 points from 67,206.16 points and the market capitalisation fell by N66 billion to N36.857 trillion from 36.923 trillion.
Secure Electonic Technology was the heaviest price loser on Thursday, going down by 10.00 per cent to 27 Kobo and was trailed by CWG, which declined by 9.94 per cent to N7.70. Thomas Wyatt lost 9.84 per cent to close at N4.03, International Breweries slumped by 9.78 per cent to N4.15, and Universal Insurance depreciated by 8.33 per cent to 22 Kobo.
Conversely, McNichols finished as the biggest price gainer after it chalked up 8.93 per cent to sell for 61 Kobo, UAC Nigeria rose by 6.09 per cent to N12.20, Oando appreciated by 4.07 per cent to N8.95, Chams expanded by 3.65 per cent to N1.99, and Nestle Nigeria grew by 2.94 per cent to N1,050.00.
Business Post reports that when the closing bell was beaten by 2:30 pm to signal the end of the trading day, the bourse was with 12 appreciating stocks and 29 depreciating equities, indicating a negative market breadth and very weak investor sentiment.
As for the activity chart, it was weak as the trading value increased by 15.91 per cent, while the trading volume went down by 18.81 per cent, and the number of deals shrank by 13.22 per cent.
A total of 267.7 million shares valued at N5.1 billion were traded in 5,205 deals yesterday versus the 329.6 million shares worth N4.4 billion transacted in 5,998 deals on Wednesday.
Fidelity Bank closed as the busiest equity during the session as it traded 39.8 million units valued at N326.9 million, Chams sold 23.5 million units for N46.4 million, Access Holdings exchanged 20.6 million units worth N347.8 million, UBA traded 19.0 million units valued at N357.3 million, and Japaul transacted 18.3 million units for N16.3 million.
Adedapo Adesanya