By Yakubu LAAH InvestAdvocate

Lagos (INVESTADVOCATE)-The bullish trend recorded on Tuesday’s session was short-lived on sell-offs in the financial services sector of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) as all share index (ASI) declined on Wednesday 0.22 percent to at 31,267.25 basis points, while market capitalisation dropped N30.02 billion to close at N10.70 trillion.

Cordros daily market update reported that shares of lenders Ecobank Transnational Incorporated, First City Monument Bank, Unity Bank Plc, Union Homes Savings and Loans Plc and Fidelity bank Plc recorded respective price declines of 10.91 percent, 6.33 percent, 5.00 percent, 4.84 percent and 3.73 percent respectively.

The update says with this trend, current Year-to-Date (Y-t-D) returns on the Nigerian equities market stands at a negative 9.78 percent, while the Month-to-Date (M-t-D) returns also stands at a negative 6.54 percent.

Cordros reports that the Consumer Goods index was the sole gainer with a 0.60 percent increase, while the Banking index topped the losers’ list with 1.33 percent decline. “The Insurance and Industrial Goods indices also fell by 0.63 percent and 0.21 percent respectively, while the Oil/Gas index dropped by a marginal 0.09 percent,” the updated added.

At the close of business today on the Nigerian bourse, market breadth posted a negative outlook, recording 21 gainers and 32 losers.

Drugmaker, Neimeth International Pharmaceuticals Plc emerged top gainer with a gain of 0.12 kobo per, while cement producer, Cement Company of Northern Nigeria Plc topped the losers chart with a loss of 0.70 kobo per share.

In terms of turnover, volume traded dipped by 68.82 percent to 329.26 million shares, valued at N2.58 billion and traded in 4,457 deals.

“We expect cautious trading to persist as investors await more H1-2015 releases,” the report affirmed.