Acccording to Investment analysts, bears dominance in the domestic equities market, will continue this week even as Guaranty Trust Bank, BUA Cement Plc and Flour Mills of Nigeria Plc, drove the 0.18 percent loss recorded last week.

They posited that the market lacks a positive development at the moment to pull it out of the red zone after the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) retained interest rate at 11.5 percent.

Meanwhile, the bears had last week continued to dictate the mood in the local bourse as the market suffered its second consecutive weekly loss.

With the exception of the last trading day, the local bourse recorded losses in all of the week’s trading sessions.

Specifically, the benchmark All Share Index (ASI) fell by 0.18 percent to 38,256.95 points following 5.1 percent, 4.3 percent and 3.0 percent decline in Flour Mills of Nigeria Plc, GTBank Plc and BUA Cement Plc respectively.

The market capitalisation of all listed equities declined by the same margin to close at N19.940 trillion.

Sectoral performance was mixed as three of the five sectors recorded losses, while two appreciated.

The banking sector led the losers, dropping by 1.8 percent, following by the industrial goods sector (-0.4%), and consumer goods sector (-0.1%).

Investment analysts at Cordros Capital, said “We still expect a choppy theme in the week with the bears dominating proceedings in the absence of positive triggers to spur a bullish performance.”

They advised investors to invest in fundamentally sound stocks considering the fragility of the macroeconomic environment.

For analysts at Cowry Asset Management, the domestic equities market will trade sideways “as investors rebalance their portfolio in favour of high dividend paying stocks with good fundamentals.”

On the flip side, the insurance and the oil and gas sectors rose by 1.0 percent apiece.