By Peter OBIORA InvestAdvocate

Lagos (INVESTADVOCATE)-The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) all-share index (ASI) dropped 0.82 percent below 32,000 basis points closing at 31,768,23 points, while market capitalisation dipped by N89.95 billion to N10.84 trillion.

Today’s loss culminated to Year-to-Date (Y-t-D) returns on the Nigerian equities market to a negative  8.34 percent, while the return for the month of July – which is yet to record a bull session – stood at a negative 5.05 percent, according to Cordros daily market update.

“Almost all defensive stocks that traded in today’s session were on the losing side, including GUINNESS, FO, ZENITHBANK, SEPLAT, GUARANTY, NB and FBNH,” the Cordors report affirmed.

According to Cordros, all five (5) NSE sector indices mirrored the broader market direction. “The Oil/Gas and Consumer Goods indices recorded the worst performances with respective declines of 1.43 percent and 1.35 percent, while the Banking index followed with a 1.32 percent drop,” Cordros added.

Similarly, the Industrial and Insurance indices also lost 0.70 percent and 0.31 percent respectively, the Cordros report said.

At the close of business today on the Nigerian bourse, market breadth continued on a negative trend; posting 16 gainers and 33 losers. Ikeja Hotels Plc emerged top gainer with a gain of 0.27 kobo per share, while construction firm, Costain West Africa Plc topped the losers chart with a loss of 0.04 kobo per share.

In terms of turnover, volume traded grew by 14.56 percent to 222.20 million shares valued at N4.25 billion and traded in 3,714 deals.

“We expect bargain hunting in tomorrow’s session, as blue-chips are currently trading at relatively attractive levels,” Cordros affirmed.