Chinwendu Obienyi

President Muhammadu Buhari’s re-election failed to spur the equities market as further profit taking by investors in the shares of Zenith Bank, Unilever and Oando Plc dragged market capitalisation down by N85 billion.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), yesterday at 3am, declared Buhari winner of the 2019 Presidential Election as he beat Atiku Abubukar of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) by 15 million votes over 11 million votes.

However, at the sound of the closing gong on the 9th floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) on Wednesday, the All-Share Index (ASI) fell 0.71 per cent to close at 32,244.24 points, while market capitalisation dropped N85.6 billion to close at N12.024 trillion from N12.109 trillion recorded on Tuesday.

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Accordingly, the Year-to-Date (YtD) gain reduced to 2.6 per cent. However, activity level strengthened as volume and value traded increased by 41.6 and 10.1 per cent to 456.07 million units and N2.67 billion respectively, exchanged in 5,416 deals.

Market breadth was negative as 30 stocks depreciated in value while eight others appreciated. Union Diagnostics topped the losers’ chart with 9.68 per cent to close at 0.28 kobo per share, Oando Plc was next with 9.66 per cent to close at N6.55, Wema Bank fell by 8.24 per cent to close at 0.78 kobo, Veritas Kapital Assurance declined by 8 per cent to close at 0.23 kobo while Eterna Oil dropped 7.37 per cent to close at N4.40.

On the flipside, Neimeth topped the gainers’ chart with 9.84 per cent to close at 0.67 kobo per share. PZ followed with 9.35 per cent to close at N13.45, NPF Microfinance Bank gained 8.72 per cent to close at N1.62, John Holt garnered 8.33 per cent to close at 0.52 kobo while Jaiz Bank rose by 4.92 per cent to close at 0.64 kobo.

Diamond Bank was the toast of many investors as it sold over 187.42 million shares valued at N466.65 million. Fidelity Bank  followed as it traded 45.06 million shares worth N108.17 million, while Access Bank sold 33.05 million shares valued at N204.70 million.