By Yakubu LAAH InvestAdvocate

Lagos (INVESTADVOCATE)-The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) on Monday kicked off the week in red as all-share index (ASI) plunged 0.22 percent to close at 30,265.90 basis points, while market capitalisation dipped by N22.95 billion to N10.40 trillion.

According to Cordros daily market update, this is the second consecutive negative session the local bourse has recorded following broad sector losses.

The report says Monday’s declined reduced the ASI’s Month-to-Date (M-t-D) gain to 1.96 percent and pushed Year-to-Date (Y-t-D) return deeper into negative territory by 12.67 percent.

According to Cordros, there were losses in most key sector indices, the Insurance lost 0.55 percent and Industrial Goods 0.29 percent to emerge the sectors that recorded the most declines after shares of AIICO Insurance Plc declined by 4.26 percent and cement producers, Dangote Cement Plc dropping by 0.58 percent respectively.

Also, the report affirmed that the Banking and Consumer Goods sectors also dipped, shedding three (3) basis points and eight (8) basis points respectively.

However, the Oil & Gas sector with 0.07 percent bucked the trend after a 1.25 percent gain by first listed Nigerian oil and gas upstream firm, Seplat Petroleum Development Company Plc.

At the close of trading on the Nigerian bourse,   market breadth posted a negative outlook with 16 gainers and 27 losers recorded.

Electronic transaction switching and payment processing firm, eTranzact International Plc topped the gainers chart with a gain of 0.24 kobo per share; while Foam maker, VonoProducts Plc emerged top loser with a loss of 0.07 kobo per share.

In terms of turnover, volume traded on the Nigerian equities market at the close of the day’s business decreased by 47.3 percent to N175.56 million shares, valued at N1.6 billion and traded in 3,157 deals.

“Given the negative market breadth we expect another negative session tomorrow,” the Cordros update affirmed.