Investors on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) on Friday reacted negatively to the reappointment of Mr Godwin Emefiele for second term as the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor by President Muhammadu Buhari. Contrary to market operators’ expectations, the crucial market indices maintained negative outlook for fifth consecutive days. Specifically, the market capitalization which opened at N10.860 trillion shed N20 billion to close at N10.840 trillion. In the same vein, the All-Share Index lost 48.44 points or 0.17 per cent to close at 28,847.81 against 28,896.25 recorded on Thursday. Mr Ambrose Omordion, the Chief Operating Officer, InvestData Ltd., attributed the development to low liquidity and weak market fundamentals. “Equity segment of the financial market did not react positively to the reappointment of CBN governor due to prevailing low liquidity and weak market fundamental,” Omordion said. He said that fixed income segment witnessed bullish trading due to the positive news of the governor’s reappointment. Omordion said that the reappointment showed Buhari’s readiness and interest in reactivating the economy again. He noted that monetary stability was a key pointer to assure investors of continuity and stable exchange rate. Omordion said that Emefiele’s monetary policy supported the economy despite the deficit position of the government all these years. He said that financial market regulators should come together and help market makers to have access to cheap funds to boost activities in the stock market. Omordion noted that pension and the sovereign wealth funds should play more in the stock market to create liquidity. Stanbic IBTC led the gainers’ table during the day, gaining N2.30 to close at N46 per share. Guinness followed with a gain of N1.50 to close at N51.50, while ETI gain 20k to close at N10.30 per share UACN also appreciated by 20k to close at N6.95, while NEM Insurance gained 18k to close at N2.50 per share. On the other hand, Seplat recorded the highest loss during the day, shedding N57.90 to close at N522 per share. Africa Prudential Registrar trailed with a loss of 39k to close at N3.54, while Guaranty Trust Bank lost 30k to close at N32 per share. Eterna was down by 29k to close at N3.90, while Mansard Insurance declined by 14k to close at N1.81 per share. NAN reports that Sovereign Trust Insurance drove the activity chart exchanging 44.54 million shares worth N11.14 million. Sterling Bank followed with an account of 24.73 million shares valued at N65.77 million, while Access Bank sold 20.97 million shares worth N147.47 million Zenith Bank traded a total of 16.64 million shares valued at N332.83 million, while Transcorp sold 16.38 million shares worth N18.31 million. In all, a total of 235.23 million shares valued at N1.36 billion were traded by investors in 3,130 deals. This was against the 215.20 million shares worth N2.05 billion achieved in 5,646 deals on Thursday.
