By Peter OBIORA InvestAdvocate

Lagos (INVESTADVOCATE)-The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) on Tuesday inched up 0.62 percent on gains recorded in the shares of cement producer, Dangote Cement Plc and brewer, Nigerian Breweries Plc to close at 33,456.83 basis points, while market capitalisation gained N70.88 billion to close at N11.42 trillion.

This is coming in spite of losses recorded by blue-chip stocks such as beverage maker, Nestle Nigeria Plc, lenders Zenith Bank Plc and Guaranty Trust Bank Plc, according to Cordros daily market update.

With today’s gain at the close of business on the Nigerian bourse, current market Year-to-Date (Y-t-D) returns stands at a negative 3.46 percent, the Cordros update added.

According to the report, the Industrial Goods index was the sole gainer with a gain of 1.91 percent, while the Insurance index recorded the worst performance with a 1.35 percent decline.

On the contrary, the Oil/Gas and Banking indices also dipped by 0.79 percent and 0.51 percent respectively, while the Consumer Goods index followed with a 0.28 percent decline.

At the close of the session’s transactions on the Nigerian bourse, market breadth posted a slightly negative outlook, reporting as 25 gainers and 26 losers.

Drugmaker, Fidson Healthcare Plc emerged the top gainer with a gain of 0.27 kobo per share; while Transcorp Hotels Plc topped the losers chart with a loss of 0.93 kobo per share.

In terms of turnover, volume traded at the close of business on the Nigerian equities market grew by 23.60 percent to 268.57 million shares, valued at N4.29 billion and traded in 4808 deals.

“We expect profit-taking and consequently negative closing in tomorrow’s session,” the Cordros report affirmed.