The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) on Monday recorded a negative trend as the market capitalisation lost N150 billion and volume depreciated by over 42 per cent after President Muhammadu Buhari announced he would seek re-election in office.
President Buhari had declared his intention to run at the National Executive Committee meeting of the All Progressives Congress on Monday in Abuja, putting to rest speculations over his intention.
Although, there is no evidence the declaration was directly related to the stock market’s negative trend. At the stock exchange, the market capitalisation, which opened at N14.753 trillion, shed N150 billion or 1.02 per cent to close at N14.603 trillion, amid three-month losses.
Checks showed that the All-Share Index dipped by 1.01 per cent to close at 40,429.18 compared with 40,841.14 posted on Friday.
Unilever led the losers’ table, shedding N4.80 to close at N55 per share while Lafarge Africa trailed with a loss of N3.20 to close at N41. Dangote Cement also shed N2.90 to close at N252, while Guinness depreciated by N1 to close at N103.
Dangote Flour on its part lost 65k to close at N13.15 per share.
GlaxosmithKline led the gainers’ table during the day, growing by N10 to close at N30 per share. It was followed by Champion which closed at N2.48, CCNN at N18, Mansard at N2.52, and Fidson at N5.8.
Analysts said the market was weighed down by profit-taking by investors, with major firms recording price losses