By InvestAdvocate

Lagos (INVESTADVOCATE)-Nigerian stocks on Wednesday closed lower for the second consecutive session, with the all-share index (ASI) declining by 0.12 percent to close at 26,247.02 points.

“Today’s bearish performance increased the Year-to-Date loss to 2.34 percent,” according to Cordros daily market update.

The report says the Banking, Consumer Goods and Oil & Gas indices declined 0.10 percent, 0.19 percent and 0.44 percent apiece, owing to selloffs in the shares of Nigeria’s top tier lender, Zenith Bank Plc and mid-tier lender, Diamond Bank Plc  both losing by 0.19 percent and 5.00 percent respectively. Food and beverage producer, Nestle Nigeria Plc and soap and detergent maker, Unilever Nigeria Plc dipped by 0.79 percent and 4.29 percent each. While oil marketing firms, Forte Oil Plc and Mobil Nigeria Plc depreciated by 1.85 percent and 0.57 percent respectively.

 On the positive side, gains recorded by the shares of reinsurance firm, Continental Reinsurance Plc by 1.82 percent bolstered the Insurance index with a gain of 0.12 percent, while the Industrial Goods index was flat.

At the close of trading on the Nigerian bourse, market breadth was negative, with 12 gainers and 20 losers posted, according to data from the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE).

Nigeria’s leading conglomerate in several industries, AG Leventis (Nigeria) Plc topped the gainers list with a gain of 0.04 kobo per share; while brewer, Guinness Nigeria Plc emerged the top loser with a loss of N3.35 per share.

In terms of turnover, total volume traded on the Nigerian equities market increased by 1.84 percent to 378.71 million shares, valued at N1.21 billion, and exchanged in 2,579 deals.

“We expect bearish sentiments to persist in tomorrow’s session,” the Cordros update affirmed.