After 1.02% Loss, NGSE Benchmark Index Slips Into Negative YTD

After weeks of basking in the green turf on Year-to-date basis, the benchmark All-Share index of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSEASI) turned red on Tuesday, March 12, 2019, after shedding 1.02%, its biggest in a long while and the fifth consecutive loss.
The big drop on Tuesday followed losses suffered by Dangote Cement, which lost N1; just like NASCON Allied, its sister company, as well as Guaranty Trust Bank, International Breweries and 11Plc.
Mmarket breadth was negative as only eight gainers and 29 losers, as the All Share Index (ASI) declined by 323.30 basis points, or 1.02%, to close at 31,313.36 points, while market capitalization lost N120.56bn to close at N11.68trillion.
Analysts blame the continued decline in Nigeria’s stock market on the fallout of the general elections.
According to Nornah Awoh, a frontline analyst and investment journalist, those who blame the steady decline in the index on the political uncertainties may not be after all, as investors are not blind to all that transpired in the months leading to and during the period.
He wondered how an election could have such high number of inconclusive results, after so much money of the state had been invested in the process. States with inclusive results include oil rich Rivers, Plateau, Kano, the commercial capital of northern Nigeria.
While 11Plc lost N5.10, or 3%, closing at N165; International Breweries suffered N2.65 or 993% slide; GTBank shed N1.80 or 4.82%; NASCON, N1 or 4.61%; same as Dangote Cement.

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