NDEP, NASD Further Pull Down Unlisted Securities Market by 0.21%

By Adedapo Adesanya

Whatever hopes the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange had of returning to the bullish zone was dashed on Thursday as negative price movements in Niger Delta Exploration and Production (NDEP) Plc and NASD Plc further dragged the bourse down by 0.21 per cent.

The oil and gas investment closed the session at N229.00 per unit compared with N235.00 per unit of the preceding session, indicating a decline of N6 or 2.6 per cent, while NASD Plc suffered a 49 kobo or 5.8 per cent drop to sell at N8.48 per share as against N8.97 per share it closed on Wednesday.

The weakening of the share prices of these two stocks shortened the value of the unlisted securities market by N1.3 billion to N622.05 billion from N623.35 billion it ended a day earlier.

Following the same trend, the NASD Unlisted Securities Index (NSI) ended the day with a decline of 1.54 points to 734.61 points from 736.15 points of the previous session.

Business Post reports that there was no single price gainer at the market yesterday.

As for the activity chart, it was in red as there was a drop in the volume of securities traded at the bourse by 58.9 per cent as investors exchanged 537,910 units of securities in contrast to the 1.3 million units of securities traded at the preceding session.

The value of shares traded yesterday also went down by 51.8 per cent to N7.4 million from N15.4 million recorded on Wednesday, while the number of deals depreciated by 76.5 per cent to four deals from the 17 deals posted at the previous trading day.

Central Securities Clearing Systems (CSCS) Plc closed the session as the most active stock by volume (year-to-date) with the sale of 654.7 million units for N13.8 billion, NASD Plc trailed with the sale of 5.9 million units worth N75.5 million, while Food Concepts Plc has transacted 3.0 million units valued at N2.4 million.

The most active stock by value (year-to-date) was also CSCS Plc with a turnover of 654.7 million units worth N13.8 billion, VFD Group Plc has traded 916,161 units worth N331.5 million, while Friesland Campina WAMCO Nigeria Plc has posted a turnover of 2.0 million units valued at N245.0 million.