By Yakubu LAAH InvestAdvocate

Lagos (INVESTADVOCATE)-The present market rally is evidently diminishing as investors seek profits amidst rising prices whilst ditching blue chip stocks, a Cordros market update affirmed.

At the end of the day’s session, the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) all-share index (ASI) climbed up 0.36 percent to close at 29,282.04 points, while market capitalisation grew by N34.85 billion to close at N9.77trillion.

With this gain, current Year-to-Date (Y-t-D) returns on the Nigerian bourse stands at a negative 15.51 percent.

According to Cordros, four (4) out of the five (5) NSE Sectoral indices gained. “The Oil/Gas index took the lead of the gainers’ pack with a 2.82 percent increase, while the Industrial and Consumer Goods indices followed with a 1.54 percent and 1.43 percent rise respectively,” the report added.

Similarly, the Insurance index recorded the least gain with a 0.26 percent growth; while on the contrary, the banking index was the only outlier with a 0.08 percent decline.

Market breadth at the Nigerian equities market closed on a positive note as 25 gainers and 13 losers were recorded. Okomu Oil Plc emerged top gainer with a gain of N3.14; while construction giant, Julius Berger Nigeria Plc topped the losers chart with a loss of N2.03.

Turnover at the close of business shows that volume traded increased by 32.98 percent to 564.28 million shares, valued at N6.09 billion and traded in 4,385 deals.

“Continued rally is unlikely to be sustainable as market participants’ edge towards profit taking,” the Cordros update said.