The Presidential election result released by INEC on Wednesday has continued to trigger a pullback on the equity sector of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), as market capitalisation tumbled by N280 billion or 2.4p in two trading days.

Since Wednesday when umpire, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) announced the presidential election results, the market has sustained negative sentiment despite improved corporate result churned out by some listed firms in the 2018 financials.

Specifically, the market capitalization which stood at N12.109 trillion as at Tuesday, depreciated by N280 billion or 2.4 per cent to close at N11.829 trillion yesterday.

Also, the All-Share Index suffered the same fate as it plunged by 752.06 points from 32,473.82 to 31,721.76.

Yesterday, the downturn was impacted by losses recorded in medium and large capitalised stocks, amongst which are; Nestle Nigeria, Nigerian Breweries, Guaranty Trust Bank, Stanbic IBTC Holding and Dangote Flour Mills.

Analysts at Afrinvest Limited said: “In our view, the current bearish sentiments in the market are based on sell-offs triggered by foreign portfolio investors. We however note that these pressures present buying opportunities in fundamentally sound stocks, nonetheless, we expect a bearish close today as investor sentiment remains weak.”

The Chief Research Officer of Investdata Consulting, Ambrose Omodion said: “The increasing volume of transactions with MFI looking down, signals exit of funds from the market. The Presidential election outcome has in one way or the other triggered this pullback having deviated from what smart money and other players expected, especially as the slant of the incumbent government is already well known.”

Market breadth closed negative, recording nine gainers as against 30 losers. Livestock Feeds recorded the highest price gain of 7.94 per cent, to close at 68 kobo, per share. Union Diagnostic & Clinical Services gained 7.14 per cent to close at 30 kobo, while UACN Property Development Company appreciated by 4.95 per cent to close at N1.91 per share.

Veritas Kapital Assurance appreciated by 4.35 per cent to close at 24 kobo, while GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Nigeria went up by three per cent to close at N12, per share.

On the other hand, Oando led the losers’ chart by 9.92 per cent, to close at N5.90, per share. FCMB Group followed with a decline of 9.78 per cent to close at N2.03, while Dangote Flour shed 8.79 to close at N10.90, per share.

Japaul Oil & Maritime Services was down by 8.33 per cent to close at 22 kobo, while Diamond Bank shed 7.76 per cent to close at N2.26 per share.

The total volume traded depreciated by 9.73 per cent to 411.69 million shares, worth N5.27 billion, and traded in 5,320 deals. Transactions in the shares of Guaranty Trust Bank topped the activity chart with 44.62 million shares valued at N1.64 billion.

Sunu Assurance followed with 38.52 million shares worth N7.7 million, while Access Bank traded 29.71 million shares valued at N177.64 million.

Union Bank of Nigeria (UBN) traded 27.58 million shares valued at N193.02 million, while Diamond Bank transacted 25.76 million shares worth N61.1 million.