Equities Lose N42b After Trump’s “Lifeless” Comments on Buhari

By Dipo Olowookere

The local stock market started the week on the wrong foot on Monday as political uncertainties continued to weigh in on the market.

Yesterday, the Nigerian blogosphere was dominated by a report by Financial Times claiming President Donald Trump of the United States of America (USA) allegedly told his aides that he does not want to meet someone as “lifeless” as President Muhammadu Buhari of Nigeria again.

In April 2018, both leaders met at the White House and Mr Trump had commended his guest for his anti-corruption fight.

With the President likely certain to contest the February 2019 presidential election on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Mr Trump’s alleged “lifeless” comments, investors traded at the market yesterday with utmost caution.

At the close of transactions on Monday, this drove the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) underwater by 0.32 percent.

While the All Share Index (ASI) depreciated by 114.81 points to settle at 35,311.36 points, the market capitalisation went down by N42 billion to close at N12.891 trillion.

It was observed that the negative performance was driven by profit taking in Dangote Cement, Unilever Nigeria and others.

Dangote Cement lost N5 to close N230, while Unilever went down by N1.50k to finish at N51 per share.

UAC of Nigeria decreased by 60 kobo to close at N12 per share, GlaxoSmithKline fell by 30 kobo to end at N15 per share, while Ikeja Hotels declined by 27 kobo to finish at N2.52k per share.

On the flip side, Total Nigeria topped the gainers’ chart after appreciating by N3.40k to settle at N181 per share.

It was followed by Flour Mills of Nigeria, which went up by N2.10k to end at N23.60k per share, and Lafarge, which grew by 75 kobo to end at N27 per share.

Nigerian Breweries gained 50 kobo to close at N100.50k per share, while GTBank also increased by 50 kobo to end at N38 per share.

Business Post reports that the total volume traded yesterday depreciated by 66.12 percent to 178.8 million shares worth N2 billion executed in 2,981 deals.