By Yakubu LAAH InvestAdvocate

Lagos (INVESTADVOCATE)-Bearish trading has persisted in the Nigerian equities market, as All-share index (ASI) dipped by 1.02 percent to close at 39,278.47 basis points, while market capitalisation lost N133.45million to close as N12.97 trillion.

Benchmark index at the Nigerian bourse still remained below the 40,000 points. Year-to-Date (YTD) returns now stands at a negative 4.96 percent.

Cordros daily market update affirmed that the bearish nature of the market that has persisted for the eight consecutive sessions, as a result of sell downs in several sectors.

‘’Macroeconomic issues such as the declining global oil price (less than $80/barrel on Wednesday), continued to dent the outlook for the country and the depleting naira,’’ the report said.

In terms of sectoral performance, Cordros reported that only the Insurance index failed to emulate the broader markets direction. The Consumer Goods index overtook the Banking index with a 1.40 percent loss, the Banking index followed with a 1.32 percent decline, the Oil/Gas index dropped by 0.36 percent as the gain in Forte Oil (owed to their positive Q3 result, PAT: up 47 percent y/y) provided some support, while the Industrial index fell 0.27 percent. ‘’On the other hand, the insurance index added 0.56 percent,’’ the report added.

Market breadth at the Nigerian bourse was poor as it recorded eight (8) gainers with Forte Oil leading the chart following its bright nine months performance, while FBN Holdings led the 41 losers chart.

However, market turnover closed on a positive note as volume traded climbed up by 8.68 percent to 420.01 million shares valued at N4.61 billion and traded in 5,497 deals.

‘’We remain cautiously optimistic, as we believe prices of various counters have fallen to a very attractive level,’’ Cordros said.