By Yakubu LAAH InvestAdvocate

Lagos (INVESTADVOCATE)-The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) all-share index (ASI) on Tuesday shed 0.26 percent to close closed at 27,314.00 basis points, while market capitalisation dropped by N24.65 billion to N9.39 billion.

Tuesday’s decline extended the Year to date (Y-t-D) loss in the Nigerian equities market to 21.19 percent, according to Cordros daily market update.

The update affirmed that two (2) of five (5) sector indices declined. It reported that sell pressure in the shares of soap and detergent maker, PZ Cussons Nigeria Plc and shares of beer producer, Nigerian Breweries Plc recording 2.32 percent and 1.69 percent declines drove the Consumer goods sector to a 0.60 percent loss.

Similarly, the report says that the Oil & Gas sector dipped 0.05 percent on losses recorded in the shares of oil marketer, Conoil Plc and Eterna Plc by 1.37 percent and 0.08 percent respectively.

On the contrary, the Banking, Insurance and Industrial indices gained 0.16 percent 0.42 percent and 0.06 percent respectively following gains in the shares of Nigeria’s top tier lender, Zenith Bank Plc by 0.64 percent, insurer, AIICO Insurance Plc 3.33 percent and cement producer, Lafarge Cement Wapco Nigeria Plc gaining 0.09 percent respectively.

At the close of the day’s trading on the Nigerian bourse, market breadth posted a negative outlook with 16 gainers and 23 losers.

Cable manufacturer, Cutix Plc emerged the top gainer with a gain of 0.08 kobo per share; while Tiger Branded Consumer Goods Plc formerly known as Dangote Flour Mills Plc topped the losers chart with a loss of 0.14 kobo per share to close the day.

In terms of turnover, market activity decreased with volume traded down by 52.06 percent to 153 million shares worth N1.56 billion in 2,699 deals.

“We are cautiously optimistic that gains will likely resurface in the domestic equities space tomorrow’s session with ASI at multi year lows and bearish momentum slowing down in today’s session,” the Cordros update affirmed.