By Adedapo Adesanya
The weak sentiment witnessed at the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange lately continued on Friday as the trading platform further depleted by 1.3 per cent.
It was the fifth straight session the unlisted stocks in Nigeria were finishing in the bearish territory and in the absence of a positive trigger, the market capitalisation ended below the N1 trillion mark at the close of transactions yesterday.
Data showed that the total value of equities on the exchange declined by N12.89 billion to close at N990.72 billion compared with the previous session’s N1.003 trillion.
The NASD Unlisted Securities Index (NSI) was also not spared as it shed 9.79 points to end the day at 752.59 points as against the 762.38 points it recorded in the previous session.
According to the market data, the fall posted yesterday was buoyed by FrieslandCampina WAMCO Nigeria Plc as it fell by N6.60 or 6.95 per cent to N88.40 per share from N95.00 per share.
Yesterday, the volume of securities declined by 47.2 per cent to 140,936 units from 267,046 units, the value of securities depleted by 33.7 per cent to N12.2 million from N18.4 million while the number of deals increased by 33.3 per cent to 16 deals from 12 deals.
AG Mortgage Bank Plc closed the session as the company with the highest volume of traded shares (year-to-date) with 2.3 billion units worth N1.2 billion, followed by Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc with 662.7 million units worth N13.9 billion, and Food Concepts Plc with 146.0 million units worth N126.7 million.
At the close of trades, CSCS Plc was the most traded stock by value since the year started as it has transacted 662.7 million units worth N13.9 billion, VFD Group came in second place with the sale of 9.6 million units worth N2.9 billion, while AG Mortgage Bank Plc occupied the third spot with a turnover of 2.3 billion units valued at N1.2 billion.
Modupe Gbadeyanka