By Peter OBIORA InvestAdvocate

Lagos (INVESTADVOCATE)- Bearish run on Tuesday extended on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) as sell-offs in the Oil/Gas and Banking sectors led the  all- share index (ASI) to decline 0.55 percent and closing at 34,129.88 points, while market capitalisation dipped by N11.58 billion to close at N11.60 trillion.

With this trend, current Year-to-Date (Y-t-D) returns on the Nigerian bourse stands at a negative 1.52 percent.

Cordros daily market update says once again, the Industrial index was the sole gainer with a gain of 0.21 percent. While the Oil/Gas index remained the biggest loser with a 2.45 percent decline.

Similarly, the Banking index followed with a 1.12 percent dip, followed with the Consumer Goods and Insurance indices that climbed down by 0.70 percent and 0.48 percent respectively.

At the end of today’s session, market breadth on the NSE posted a negative outlook; reporting 17 gainers and 32 losers.

Agro allied firm, Livestock Feeds Plc emerged top gainer with a gain of 0.11 kobo per share, while mid-tier lender Unity Bank Plc topped the losers chart with a loss of 0.48 kobo.

In terms of turnover, volume traded grew by 51.89 percent to 305.25 million shares valued at N2.84 billion and traded in 4,629 deals.

“We expect sideways trading to persist as investors search for a positive catalyst,” the Cordros report affirmed.