By Peter OBIORA InvestAdvocate

Lagos (INVESTADVOCATE)-Sell-off persisted at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) on Thursday as decline in naira continues to weigh down on investors risk-appetite.

At the end of business on the Nigerian bourse, all-share index (ASI) dipped 2.10 percent to close at 33,428.76 points, while market capitalisation declined N237.58 billion to close at N11.08 trillion, ‘’on the back off significant losses in the Oil/Gas, Consumer Goods and Industrial sectors,’’ Cordros daily market update said.

Following this trend, current Year-to-Date (YTD) returns at the Nigerian equities market stands at a negative of 19.20 percent.

According to Cordros, all of the five (5) NSE sectoral indices mirrored the broader markets performance. The Oil/Gas index topped the losers chart with a 4.47 percent loss, the Consumers Goods index followed with a 3.10 percent, while the Industrial, Banking and Insurance indices also declined by 2.29 percent, 0.46 percent and 0.27 percent respectively.

In terms of market breadth, the Nigerian bourse closed on a poor note as it recorded 42 losers compared to 10 gainers. Insurer WAPIC Insurance Plc led the gainers chart with 0.03 kobo; while oil marketer Total Nigeria Plc topped the losers table shedding N15.60.

In terms of turnover, the Nigerian stock market reported that volume traded rose by 16.49 percent to 312.45 million shares, worth N4.12 billion and traded in 4,421 deals.

‘’The market is unlikely to find respite in tomorrow’s session,’’ the Cordros report added.