By Peter OBIORA InvestAdvocate

Lagos (INVESTADVOCATE)-Stocks plunge on Thursday persisted on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) as all-share index (ASI) hits below 31,000 basis points.

At the close of trading on the Nigerian bourse, the NSE ASI dipped 1.14 percent to close at 30,752.63 basis points.

With today’s loss, current market Year-to-Date (YTD) returns stands at a negative 11.27 percent.

Cordros daily market update says all the five (5) NSE sector indices moved in line with the broader market. “For the second session in a row, the Banking index had the worst performance with a 2.93 percent drop, the Oil/Gas index followed with a 1.57 percent decline, while the Insurance index shed 0.61 percent,” the report affirmed.

Similarly, the Consumer Goods and Industrial indices also dipped by 0.54 percent and 0.21 percent respectively.

At the close of business, market breadth maintained a negative outlook, recording 10 gainers and 35 losers, according to the NSE daily market statistics.

Soap and detergent makers, Unilever Nigeria Plc emerged top gainer with a gain of N3.19 per share; while lender, United Bank for Africa Plc topped the losers chart with a loss of 0.32 kobo per share to close the day.

In terms of turnover, volume traded on the Nigerian equities market declined by 29.57 percent to 305.80 million shares, valued at N4.01 billion and traded in 4,168 deals.

“Although a significant positive catalyst remains absent, shares have fallen to attractive levels for bargain hunting,” the Cordros report affirmed.