Daud Olatunji
In the wake of a significant judgment by the Supreme Court related to the 2023 general elections, the Nigerian Exchange Limited experienced a staggering loss of N67 billion in market capitalization.
This downturn marked the second consecutive day of negative trading on the local bourse.
The primary factors contributing to this substantial market dip were the depreciation in share values of several prominent companies, including MTN Nigeria (-0.40%), Flour Mills (-3.23%), Stanbic IBTC (3.21%), Computer Warehouse Group (-9.94%), Fidelity Bank (-1.82%), and 24 others.
The Supreme Court ruling confirmed the decision of the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal, which upheld the victory of President Bola Tinubu in the February 2023 election.
This outcome had a profound impact on investor sentiment.
The All-Share index dropped by -0.18% compared to its previous day’s decline of -0.02%, closing at 67,084.95 points. Simultaneously, the market capitalization settled at N36.856 trillion.
Market Breadth, a measure of investor sentiments, turned negative with a ratio of 0.41x, a stark contrast to its previous reading of 1.28x, as 29 stocks depreciated against 12 gainers.
Transaction volume also experienced a decline, dropping from 329.66 million to 267.65 million shares valued at N5.1 billion, traded in 5,205 deals.
The number of stocks actively traded during the day’s session stood at 117.
Among the sectoral boards, the negative sentiment prevailed, with two out of five sectors closing in the red, two remaining muted, and only one sector experiencing gains.
The Banking and Insurance indexes took the hardest hit, declining by 0.33% and 1.82%, respectively, driven by sell-offs in companies like Stanbic, Prestige, Cornerstone Insurance, GTCO, and Zenith Bank.
On a brighter note, the Consumer Goods sector managed to grow by 0.12% thanks to Nestle and Transcorp, while the Industrial Goods and Oil & Gas indexes exhibited lackluster performances.
Despite the overall market decline, some companies managed to buck the trend. Top gainers at the close of Thursday trading included McNichols, whose shares appreciated by 8.93% to close at N0.61, Oando, which gained 4.07% to close at N8.95, UAC Nigeria’s shares, which increased by 6.09% to close at N12.20, Chams, with a 3.65% gain to close at N1.99, Nestle, gaining 2.94% to close at N1,050, and Transcorp, which gained 2.75% to close at N6.35 per unit.
The most actively traded stocks of the day were led by Fidelity, Chams, Nestle, AccessCorp, UBA, and Stanbic, reflecting the dynamic nature of trading activity during this tumultuous market session.
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