By Yakubu LAAH InvestAdvocate

Lagos (INVESTADVOCATE)-The Nigerian equities market on Thursday trended further southward as current market Year-to-Date (Y-t-D) returns stands at 15.62 percent; while Month-to-Date (M-t-D) loss stands at 4.80 percent.

At the end of the day’s session, the Nigerian Stock Exchange all-share index (NSE ASI) lost 0.65 percent to close at 29,243.91 points, while market capitalisation declined by N63.59 billion to N9.76 trillion.

“Contrary to the previous session, large capitalised stocks like Access Bank Plc, Flour Mills of Nigeria Plc and Conoil Plc saw retreats and topped the losers’ chart,” the Cordros market update said.

The report says the bears maintain strong hold for the second session this week, as all NSE sector indices closed red, with the Banking index leading the drag after closing 1.32 percent lower.

According to Cordros, the Oil/Gas index came next with a loss of 1.14 percent as oil marketing giants Mobile Nigeria Plc, Forte Oil Plc and Conoil Plc recorded losses in today’s session.

Similarly, the Consumer Goods index tumbled on the back of losses recorded in Flour Mills of Nigeria Plc, closing by 0.49 percent down, “whilst the Industrial Goods and Insurance indices both lost 0.37 percent and 0.19 percent respectively,” the Cordros update affirmed.

The report says market breadth worsened at the Nigerian bourse, recording eight (8) gainers and 33 losers.

Honeywell Flour Mills Plc emerged top gainer with a gain of 0.24 kobo; while Africa’s top tier lender Access Bank topped the losers chart with a loss of 0.54 kobo to close the session.

In terms of volume, the Cordros update affirmed that it peaked by 47.41 percent to 277.65 million shares, valued at N3.22 billion and traded in 3,181 deals.

“With prices now trading close to year lows levels, we expect investors to start setting new entry targets. Notwithstanding, inherent political uncertainties would continue to weigh heavily on sentiments,” the report added.