By Modupe Gbadeyanka
The rejection of the yet-to-be announced results of last Saturday’s presidential election by the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) weigh on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) on Tuesday.
The equities market, which had closed positive on Monday, went down by 0.69 percent today as the PDP’s poll rejection triggered fear among traders on Tuesday.
Though the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is yet to officially announce the eventual winner of the election, results trickling in suggest that the coast is getting clear for the re-election of President Muhammadu Buhari of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
Business Post observed that during trading today, investors were being watchful, trying to sell off some stocks so as not to be caught unawares.
At the close business, Nestle Nigeria, which topped the losers’ chart, went down by N70 to settle at N1510 per share.
It was followed by Union Bank, which lost 60 kobo to finish at N6.65k per share, and FBN Holdings, which declined by 30 kobo to close at N8 per share.
Zenith Bank depreciated by 20 kobo to end at N25.80k per share, while GlaxoSmithKline reduced in value by 20 kobo to settle at N11.80k per share.
On the flip side, Guinness Nigeria topped the gainers’ table with N2.05k added to its share value to close at N67.15k per unit.
It was followed by Dangote Flour, which rose by N1 to finish at N12.05k per share, and Oando, which appreciated by 65 kobo to end at N7.25k per share.
Newrest ASL Nigeria improved by 60 kobo to finish at N7.05k per share, while Africa Prudential increased by 44 kobo to finish at N4.84k per share.
Business Post reports that the volume of shares traded at the market today improved by 46.59 percent to 322.2 million units from 219.8 million units yesterday, while the value of the equities reduced by 57.14 percent from N5.6 billion to N2.4 billion.
Sunu Assurances Nigeria recorded the highest volume of transactions, trading 50.8 million units of its shares worth N10.2 million.
It was followed by Access Bank, which traded 32.3 million equities valued at N203.1 million, and Diamond Bank, which exchanged 28.6 million stocks worth N70.1 million.
UBA transacted 19 million shares for N153.7 million, while GTBank exchanged 17.8 million equities worth N677.7 million.
An analysis of the major market indices showed that the market capitalisation reduced by N84 billion to close at N12.110 trillion, while the All-Share Index (ASI) went down by 226.30 points to finish at 32,473.82 points.
