Nigerian Stock Market Dips As Bears Take Control, Shed N112 Billion

The Nigerian stock market had another day of drop on Thursday, with a loss of N112 billion.

The drop comes after a loss of N27 billion on Wednesday, when trade activity stopped in anticipation of the Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal's decision.

The verdict validated President Bola Tinubu's victory in the elections held in February.

The market reacted badly on Thursday as the loss rose to N112 billion, resulting in a 0.29 percent decline in market value, closing at N37.261 trillion.

The NGX All-Share Index also dropped, dropping 204.17 basis points to finish at 68,082.11.

The total value of the shares traded increased to N8.38 billion, surpassing the previous trading total of N5.48 billion despite a smaller number of shares moved (378.089 million). 8,106 transactions were used to accomplish this.

With 30 losers and 25 gains among the listed equities, the market mood was unfavourable. Shares of Zenith Bank fell 0.14 percent to N36.95, while Nestle's stock value declined 1.39 percent to N1,075 at the close. NASCON's shares decreased by 6.83% to settle at N56.60 per unit, and Dangote Sugar suffered a loss of 3.98% to close at N64.

Noteworthy is the ongoing merger of Dangote Rice Limited with Dangote Sugar and NASCON Allied Industries. According to Meristem, an asset management firm, the pricing range for shares of the newly proposed company might be between N60 and N70.

Betaglas, which closed at N51.85 and had its share price rise 9.97%, was at the top of the list of gainers. Shares of Cadbury increased 9.86% to close at N15.60 in the period that followed.

The value of Computer Warehouse Group's shares rose as well, rising to N5.26, a gain of 9.81%. Tantalizer, a fast-food company, saw its share price rise by 9.52 percent, ending trading at N46, while Guinea Insurance saw its share price rise by 9.09 percent, ending trading at N36.

Oando (91.635 million shares), Omatek (29.972 million shares worth N19 million), and Dangote Sugar (23 million shares worth N1.48 billion) were the three stocks with the highest volume of trading on Thursday.

Two of the top five deals of the day were two financial stocks: Accesscorp traded over 20 million shares, while Fidelity Bank exchanged 22,165,622 million shares for more than N193 million. Shares of Accesscorp were traded for more than N361 million.