By Yakubu LAAH InvestAdvocate

Lagos (INVESTADVOCATE)-The bears on Wednesday sustained its grip on the Nigerian equities market as all-share index (ASI) dipped 2.17 percent to close at 34,145.79 points, while market capitalisation lost N248.74 billion to close at N11.31trillion.

According to a Cordros update, the sell-offs sagged the month-to-date and year-to-date returns to a negative 9.07 percent and 17.38 percent respectively.

The update affirmed that bearish trend at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) is as a result of massive sell downs in the share of blue-chips like oil marketing firm, Oando Plc, cement manufacturer, Dangote Cement Plc and lender, FBN Holdings Plc.

In terms of sectoral performance, Cordros reported that all of the five (5) NSE sectoral indices mirrored the broader markets performance. The Industrial Goods index topped the losers chart with a 2.62 percent loss, the Oil/Gas index followed with a 1.96 percent, while the Insurance, Consumer Goods and Banking indices also declined 1.02 percent, 0.80 percent and 0.55 percent respectively.

The market breadth at the Nigerian bourse ended on a negative note as it reported 35 losers and 17 gainers. Heavy machinery and auto dealers, RT Briscoe Nigeria Plc led the gainers chart with a 0.07 kobo gain, while conglomerate, Transnational Corporation of Nigeria Plc topped the losers table with a loss of 0.22 kobo.

Turnover at the NSE shows that volume traded climbed up 49.11 percent to 268.23billion shares, worth N3.35 billion and traded in 4,218 deals.

‘’We expect declines to persist tomorrow, as headwinds continue to gain momentum,’’ the Cordros report affirmed.