President Muhammadu Buhari’s re-election failed to change the negative sentiments in the equities market as market capitalization of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) fell by N258 billion week-on-week (w-o-w).

The Presidential and National Assembly elections, which had been rescheduled to February 23, 2019, held amidst violence in some polling centres across the country.

Much to the dismay of investors, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) delayed the announcement of the winner of the presidential election after the collation of results.

But on February 27, 2019, INEC declared Buhari winner of the presidential poll, adding that he had beaten his main challenger, Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) by 15 million votes to 11 million votes.

Things then took a twist when Atiku rejected the results, adding that the election process was manipulated.

In his statement, Atiku appealed to Nigerians to remain calm and steadfast while urging investors not to flee from the market.

“Rome was not built in a day. We have the real figures, we have the facts that were spoken so loudly on Saturday, February 23, 2019.

This is a long journey, but I am confident of victory. All hope is not lost. Stay strong, by the grace of God we shall triumph.

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“And to investors and friends of Nigeria now pulling out of Nigeria, I urge you to be patient and keep faith with the Nigerian people. Your quarrel is not with the Nigerian people. Your quarrel is with those who stole their mandate. Please do not punish the people by divesting from Nigeria.”

But the plea by Atiku appeared to had fallen on deaf ears as the All-Share Index (ASI) which gained 0.57 per cent on Monday, February 25, 2019, dipped further by 0.69 per cent, 0.71 per cent and 1.63 per cent respectively.

Friday’s session on the trading floor, however, saw the ASI rebounding by 0.34 per cent while market capitalization increased by N4 billion.

The recovery did not stop investors’ wealth from tumbling as it lost N258 billion to close the trading week at N11.868 trillion while Year-to-Date (YtD) gain stood at 0.9 per cent.

At the sound of the closing gong on the 9th floor of the NSE on Friday, 19 equities advanced while 19 others declined. Cileasing topped the gainers’ chart with 9.98 per cent to close at N7.27 per share, Cornestone followed with a gain of 8.70 per cent to close at 0.25 kobo, Fidelity Bank rose by 6.82 per cent to close at N2.35, UCAP notched up 5.35 per cent to close at N3.35 while Total appreciated by 5.26 per cent to close at N200.

On the flipside, NPF Microfinance Bank led the laggards with 10 per cent loss to close at N1.44 per share. Jaiz Bank was next with 9.23 per cent to close at 0.59 kobo, Dangote Flour fell by 9.17 per cent to close at N9.90, Godlink Insurance dipped by 8.33 per cent to close at 0.44 kobo while Royal Exchange lost 8.33 per cent to close at 0.33 kobo.

Zenith Bank was the toast of investors, selling over 64.50 million shares valued at N1.54 billion. Diamond Bank sold 44.26 million shares valued at N102.09 million while Transcorp ranked third with the sale of 43.39 million shares worth N54.53 million.

In all, the total volume and value of stocks traded stood at 341.95 million units and N3.75 billion, respectively, exchanged in 4,513 deals.

Reacting to the sentiment in the market, Cordros Capital, a Lagos-based Investment firm, in an emailed note to Sunday Sun, dated February 28, 2019 said: “As the market continues to digest election results, we guide investors to trade cautiously in the short term. However, stable macroeconomic fundamentals and compelling valuations remain supportive of recovery in the mid-to-long term”.