By Peter OBIORA InvestAdvocate

Lagos (INVESTADVOCATE)-The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) on Wednesday closed in red as the all-share index (ASI) declined 0.58 percent to close at 25,715.42 points, while market capitalisation dropped by N51.62 billion to N8.85 trillion.

“Today’s proceedings cut the Month-to-Date gain to 2.61 percent and increased the Year-to-Date loss to 10.22 percent, according to Cordros daily market update.

According to the update, at the close of activities on the domestic bourse, the Banking and Insurance indices dipped by 1.00 percent and 0.59 percent each following losses recorded in the shares of financial HoldCo FBN Holdings Plc by 0.85 percent, Guaranty Trust Bank Plc by 0.58 percent. While insurers, AIICO Insurance Plc and NEM Insurance Plc lost 2.60 percent and 1.23 percent apiece.

In the same vein, the Industrial Goods and Oil & Gas sectors closed in red by 0.13 percent and 0.59 percent respectively, due to respective sell-offs in the shares of cement producer, Dangote Cement Plc and Forte Oil Plc by 1.50 percent and 1.79 percent each.

On the contrary, the Consumer Goods index closed 0.21 percent up remaining resilient and boosted by price appreciations in the shares of beermaker, Nigerian Breweries Plc and food and beverage producer, Nestle Nigerian Plc by 0.26 percent and 0.25 percent apiece.

At the close of today’s trading on the Nigerian bourse, market breadth remained positive, with 26 gainers and 20 losers posted, according to the NSE’s daily market statistics.

In terms of turnover, total volume traded on the Nigerian Equities Market jumped by 50.18 percent to 330.57 million shares, valued at N2.26 billion, and traded in 4,053 deals.

“With no positive catalyst on the horizon, we expect profit-taking to continue in tomorrow’s session,” the Cordros update affirmed.