By Dipo Olowookere
The bearish sentiment at the local stock market continued on Tuesday with a 0.48 percent loss, leaving the year-to-date return to sink deeper to -12.54 percent.
This was as President Muhammadu Buhari received his presidential nomination form worth N40 million and the expression of interest form valued at N5 million from a group, which reportedly purchased the forms for him due to his inability to buy the forms because of its high cost.
With this, President Buhari has set the pace to seek re-election next year on the platform of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
Back to the stock market, investors continued with their profit taking activity, reflecting in the number of price losers and gainers yesterday; 30 losers against 14 gainers.
Nigerian Breweries closed as the highest price loser after shedding N4.50k of its stock value to close at N88 per share.
It was followed by GTBank, which lost N2 to finish at N32.50k per share, and Dangote Sugar, which fell by N1.60k to end at N14.40k per share.
Forte Oil went down by 95 kobo to settle at N18.10k per share, while UAC of Nigeria crashed by 80 kobo to close at N10.20k per share.
At the other end, Nestle Nigeria recovered part of the N145 it lost on Monday, gaining N130 on Tuesday to settle at N1485 per share.
Dangote Flour rose by 55 kobo to finish at N8.40k per share, while Access Bank grew by 10 kobo to end at N9 per share.
Learn Africa increased its share value yesterday by 9 kobo to close at N1.10k per share, while Neimeth Pharmaceuticals appreciated by 6 kobo to end at 72 kobo per share.
Business Post reports that the market capitalisation depreciated on Tuesday by N59 billion to finish at N12.212 trillion, while the All-Share Index (ASI) fell by 162.52 points to close at 33,449.17 points.
Despite the bearish sentiment yesterday, the volume and value of equities traded by investors of the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) increased by 9.48 percent and 17.74 percent respectively.
A total of 150.7 million shares worth N1.6 billion exchanged hands on Tuesday in contrast to the 137.6 million equities worth N1.4 billion transacted on Monday.
These trades were dominated by stocks in the Financial Services sector, accounting for 123.5 million units valued at N1.2 billion. It was followed by equities in the Oil and Gas sector, which recorded 8.8 million shares sold for N34 million.
A total of 17.5 million units of GTBank shares worth N562.8 million were sold at the market yesterday, leading the activity chart at the close of business.
UBA traded 15.6 million stocks valued at N117.4 million, while Diamond Bank transacted 13.8 million units worth N18.6 million.
Access Bank exchanged 11.9 million shares yesterday valued at N103.3 million, while Zenith Bank sold 11.7 million equities worth N236.1 million.
Adedapo Adesanya 
Modupe Gbadeyanka