By Yakubu LAAH InvestAdvocate

Lagos (INVESTADVOCATE)-The bears on Monday sustained its hold on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), as the all-share index (ASI) declined by 0.70 percent to close at 25,986.81 points.

“Following today’s negative proceedings, the Month-to-Date (-4.53 percent) and Year-to-Date (-9.57 percent) returns declined further,” according to Cordros daily market update.

The report says at the close of trading on the domestic bourse, all sector indices – with the exception of the Insurance index which gained 0.61 percent closed in the red.

The Oil & Gas index declined by 2.40 percent and recorded the biggest loss, driven by selloffs in the shares of oil marketers, Forte Oil Plc and Oando Plc both lost by 9.74 percent and 4.88 percent each.

This was followed by the Banking, Consumer and Industrial Goods indices which dipped by 2.14 percent, 0.31 percent and 0.17 percent apiece, owing to price declines in the shares of Nigeria’s top tier lenders, Zenith Bank Plc and Guaranty Trust Bank Plc both losing by 4.16 percent and 2.23 percent each; while food and beverage producer, Cadbury Nigeria Plc and Guinness Nigeria Plc lost 4.95 percent and 1.11 percent each; Chemical & Allied Products Plc depreciated by 4.66 percent respectively.

The Insurance index benefitted from gains posted by insurers, Axa Mansard Insurance Plc and Wapic Insurance Plc both gained 1.63 percent and 4.00 percent each.

At the close of the session on the Nigerian bourse, market breadth was negative, with 10 gainers and 22 losers recorded, according to the NSE’s daily market statistics. Drugmaker, May & Baker Plc emerged the top gainer with a gain of 0.04 kobo per share; while Forte Oil Plc topped the losers chart with a loss of N10.18 kobo per share.

In terms of turnover, total volume traded on the Nigerian equities market fell by 92.88 percent to N160.91 million shares, valued at N1.12 billion, and traded in 2,431 deals.

“We expect sentiments to reverse in the coming session,” the Cordros update affirmed.