Stock Market Crashes To 3-Month Low As Buhari Announces Re-election

President Muhammadu Buhari’s declaration to seek re-election in 2019 may have caught investors off guard as stocks fell on Monday with large companies ending as top losers.

The Nigerian Stock Exchange, which oversees listing and trading of securities, closed in the red after shedding N150 billion to close at N14.603 trillion.

Unilever, Lafarge, Dangote Cement, Guinness and Dangote Flour were the top five losers on the market yesterday.

The All-Share Index dropped by 411.98 points to close at 40,429.18 compared with 40,841.14 posted on Friday, April 6.

“Analysts attributed the development to sell-off and profit taking on high cap stocks that suffered losses after their share prices were adjusted for dividend declared and some companies that declared unimpressive earnings,” NAN reported on Monday.

Unilever led the losers’ table, shedding N4.80 to close at N55 per share. Lafarge Africa trailed with a loss of N3.20 to close at N41 in spite of N1.50 final dividend declared for the financial year ended Dec. 31, 2017.

Dangote Cement shed N2.90 to close at N252, while Guinness depreciated by N1 to close at N103.

There are indications that the dip in the market might be attributed to poor financial results of the first quarter, with the NSE dropping from its previous highs at the end of the 2017 financial year.

However, the political atmosphere in the country may have affected investors, as they may be looking to see how Nigeria’s trading partners react to the President’s declaration.

It is no news that investors become skeptical when there are indications that the government in power may not be able to stabilize the economy.