The bears domi – nated activities on the local bourse yesterday as sell pres – sure on SEPLAT (-8.3%) triggered a 0.3% decline in the benchmark index.

Thus, the NGX ASI settled at 99,468.90 points. Consequently, the Month-to-Date and Yearto-Date returns printed -0.6 per cent and +33.0 per cent, respectively.

The total volume traded decreased by 68.3 per cent to 296.73 million units, valued at N5.45 bil – lion, and exchanged in 7,126 deals. FIDELITYBK was the most traded stock by volume at 46.78 million units, while SEPLAT was the most traded stock by value at N1.15 billion.

From a sectoral perspective, the Oil & Gas (-4.0%) and Consumer Goods (-0.3%) indices declined, while the Banking (+0.1%), Insurance (+0.1%) and Industrial Goods (+0.1%) indices advanced.

As measured by mar – ket breadth, market sen – timent was positive as 21 tickers gained relative to 17 losers.

L I N K A S S U R E (+9.8%) and DAARCOMM (+9.6%) recorded the most significant gains of the day, while Ikeja Hotel (-9.3%) and HONYFLOUR (-8.4%) topped the losers’ list.