By Yakubu LAAH InvestAdvocate

Lagos (INVESTADVOCATE)-The Nigerian equities market on Tuesday halted a three-day gaining streak; as all share index (ASI) declined 0.61 percent to close at 26,655.48 points, while market capitalisation dropped by N56.19 billion to N9.17 trillion.

“Today’s proceedings trimmed the Month-to-Date gain to 6.36 percent and increased the Year-to-Date loss to 6.94 percent, according to Cordros daily market update.

The update said at the close of the session, the Insurance and Banking indices depreciated 1.99 percent and 1.35 percent apiece, following selloffs in the shares of insurer, AIICO Insurance Plc and reinsurer, Continental Insurance Plc by 4.94 percent and 4.59 percent each.

On the part of the Banking index, Nigeria’s top tier lenders, Zenith Bank Plc and Guaranty Bank Plc lost 3.93 percent and 0.89 percent respectively.

Similarly, the Oil & Gas and Industrial Goods sectors declined by 3.35 percent and 0.03 percent apiece, on the back of weakened interest in shares of oil marketer, Forte Oil Plc and cement producer, Dangote Cement Plc by 8.75 percent and 0.06 percent each.

On the positive side, gains recorded in the shares of beermaker, Nigerian Breweries Plc and food and beverage producer, Nestle Nigeria Plc by 1.64 percent and 0.42 percent caused the Consumer Goods index to close higher by 0.51 percent.

At the close of the session, market breadth on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) posted a negative outlook, with 14 gainers and 31 losers. Conoil Plc emerged the top gainer with a gain of N1.99; while Vitafoam Nigeria Plc topped the losers chart with a loss of 0.47 kobo per share.

In terms of turnover, total volume traded on the Nigerian bourse eased by 23.37 percent to 396.03 million shares, worth N2.66 billion, and exchanged hands in 5,513 deals.

“We expect profit-taking to continue in the coming session, albeit with loss coming in lower than today’s,” the Cordros daily update affirmed.