By Yakubu LAAH InvestAdvocate

Lagos (INVESTADVOCATE)-Bears on Wednesday maintained its hold on the Nigerian equities market for the third consecutive day as all-share index (ASI) dip 0.14 percent to close at 41,207.79 basis points (BPs) while market capitalisation dropped N18.77 billion to close at N13.606 trillion.

The 0.14 percent decline in benchmark index when compared with the previous session of 0.32 percent, year-to-date (YTD) returns at the Nigerian bourse now stands at 0.29 percent.

Analysts at Cordros Capital say the equities market decline is as a result of continuous selling pressure, following sustained weak market breadth.

Market breadth in today’s session recorded 20 gainers and 33 losers the same number reported at yesterday’s session.

At the end of transaction on the Nigerian bourse, volume traded went down sharply 32.09 percent to 201.07 million shares, worth N2.44 billion traded in 5,392 deals.

In terms of sectoral indices performance, four (4) of the five (5) sectoral indices recorded declines. The oil/gas index weakened the most, recording a 0.46 percent loss.

‘’The consumer goods, industrial and banking indices followed with  marginal losses of 0.09 percent, 0.06 percent and 0.05 percent loss respectively. On the other hand, the insurance index appreciated by 0.40%,’’ the Cordros report said.

‘’We expect the recent downturn of the market to be short-lived, hence we maintain a positive bias heading into tomorrow’s session,’’ the analyst at Cordros affirmed.