Activities in the domestic equities market resumed the week with bearish sentiments as a loss in Nigerian Breweries undermined the market performance.

Thus, the All-Share Index declined by 5.40 points indicating a loss of 0.01 per cent to close at 49,676.75 points.

Accordingly, the month-to-date loss and year-to-date gain settled at 1.4 per cent and 16.3 per cent, respectively.

The market cap of equities listed on the NGX decreased to N26.794 trillion from N26.797 trillion as on the previous close.

The downturn was impacted by losses recorded in medium and large capitalised stocks, amongst which are; Nigerian Breweries, Ardova, Caverton Offshore Support Group, Guaranty Trust Holding Company (GTCO) and John Holt Plc.

This week, United Capital Plc, expected the market to reverse to a bear market as investors remain cautious about the equity market amidst a rising yield environment and tight system liquidity, saying “however, investors are expected to continue cherry-picking stocks with solid underlying fundamentals.”

However, market breadth closed positive with18 gainers in relative to eight losers.

Caverton Offshore Support Group led the losers’ chart in percentage terms by 9.57 per cent to close at N1.04 per share.

John Holt followed with 8.99 per cent to close at 81k, while Japaul Gold and Ventures lost 8.82 per cent to close at 31k per share.

AIICO Insurance declined 3.64 per cent to close at 53k, while Nigerian Breweries shed 2.86 per cent to close at N45.80 per share.