By InvestAdvocate

Lagos (INVESTADVOCATE)-The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) on Thursday dipped marginally 0.05 percent on sustained cautious trading as all-share index (ASI) closed at 33,460.50 points, while market capitalisation declined by N6.12 billion to close at N11.42 trillion.

With the low volume and value traded at the close of business on the Nigerian bourse, current market Year- to-Date (Y-t-D) returns stands at a negative 3.45 percent.

According to Cordros daily market update, three (3) of the five (5) Sectoral indices appreciated. “The Banking, Insurance and Industrial Goods indices recorded minimal gains of 0.28 percent, 0.21 percent and 0.15 percent respectively,” the report affirmed.

It said on the  contrary, the Oil/Gas index led the losers’ list with a 1.77 percent dip, while the Consumer Goods index also plunged by 0.05 percent to close the session.

Market breadth sustained a negative outlook posting 24 gainers and 28 losers, salt maker, National Salt Company of Nigeria (NASCON) emerged top gainer with a gain of 0.57 kobo per share; while Vono Products Plc topped the losers chart with a loss of 0.15 kobo per share.

In terms of turnover, volume traded on the Nigerian equities market grew by 5.31 percent to 215.82 million shares, valued at N7.51 billion and traded in 3,713 deals.

“We expect bargain hunting in key stocks in tomorrow session to halt the current bearish streak,” the Cordros report added.