By Yakubu LAAH InvestAdvocate

Lagos (INVESTADVOCATE)-The bears sustained their hold on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) as all-share index dipped 4.17 percent to close the third trading day of the New Year.

Index went down 31,167.54 points, while market capitalisation declined by N448.51 billion to close at N10.32 trillion. With this trend, current Year-to-Date (YTD) returns at the NSE stands at a negative 10.07 percent.

‘’The bears accelerated in the equities market as significant losses in big names like GUINNESS, ZENITHBANK and GUARANTY resulted in the fourth consecutive negative session,’’ a Cordros report affirmed.

According to the report, four (4) of the five (5) NSE sectoral indices reflected the negative sentiment in the market.

The Cordros report noted that the banking index led the losers’ chart with a 7.47 percent decline, the Consumer Goods, Industrial Goods and the Oil/Gas indices also depreciated by 3.01 percent, 2.58 percent and 1.52 percent respectively. On the contrary, the Insurance index appreciated marginally by 0.29 percent.

In terms of market breadth, the Nigerian bourse closed on a negative note with 41 losers and only eight (8) gainers. Agro allied firm, Presco Plc led the gainers chart with a gain of N2.54, while brewer, Guinness Nigeria Plc topped the losers table with a loss of N15.30.

At the end of transactions on the Nigerian equities market, volume traded climbed up by 4.93 percent to 393.37 million shares, valued at N5.462 billion and traded in 3,930 deals.

‘’We maintain our negative outlook going forward due to the mounting headwinds,’’ the Cordros report affirmed.