Profit Taking in Aradel, Two Others Weaken Alternative Stock Market by 4.05%

By Adedapo Adesanya

Investors at the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange embarked on a profit-taking spree on Wednesday, September 18, weakening the alternative stock market by 4.05 per cent at the close of transactions.

Data showed that Aradel Holdings Plc depleted by N590.39 during the trading day to sell at N9,200.00 per unit compared to the previous day’s N9791.10 per unit, Nipco Plc went down by N3.26 to close at N73.25 per share versus Tuesday’s closing price of N76.51 per share, and Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc depreciated by 20 Kobo to settle at N19.80 per unit, in contrast to the preceding session’s N20.00 per unit.

As a result, the market capitalisation of the bourse lost N127.16 billion to close at N3.009 trillion compared with the previous day’s N3.136 trillion and the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) recorded a deduction of 92.80 points to end the day at 2,195.85 points as against 2,288.65 points it recorded at the previous session.

Business Post reports that Afriland Properties Plc witnessed a price appreciation of N1.59 during the midweek trading session to finish at N17.65 per share versus N16.06 per share, and NASD Plc gained N1.07 to settle at N16.07 per unit compared with the previous session’s N15.00 per unit.

The volume of securities traded at the bourse yesterday decreased by 56.3 per cent to 2.5 million units from 5.8 million units, the value of shares transacted shrank by 35.9 per cent to N715.2 million from N1.1 billion, and the number of deals plunged by 39.8 per cent to 77 deals from 128 deals.

At the close of business, Aradel Holdings Plc was the most traded stock by value on a year-to-date basis with 11.2 million units worth N43.5 billion, followed by Afriland Properties Plc with 293.3 million units worth N5.2 billion, and CSCS Plc with 107.3 million units sold for N2.6 billion.

But the most active stock by volume on a year-to-date basis was Afriland Properties Plc with 293.3 million units sold for N5.2 billion, followed by Capital Hotels Plc with 259.6 million units worth N1.3 billion, and Industrial and General Insurance (IGI) Plc with 221.9 million units valued at N46.7 million.