By Dipo Olowookere
Leading healthcare firm listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), Fidson Healthcare Plc, has now been reclassified to a medium price stock category.
Before its upgrade, the company was placed under the category of low-priced stocks, but after gaining N5 mark for over four months, it was upgraded to the next level.
On March 21, 2018, Fidson traded above N5 up till close of business on July 25, 2018, which indicates that Fidson has traded above N5 in at least four out of the last six months and therefore should be reclassified from low price stock to mid-price stock.
The stock exchange disclosed that the reclassification took effect from August 1, 2018.
As a medium-priced stock, stockbrokers could move the share price of Fidson with a minimum volume of 50,000 shares as against 100,000 minimum shares required for low-priced stocks. Also, the tick size for Fidson will change from one kobo to five kobo, enabling the share price of the healthcare company to rise faster.
Recently, the management of the exchange classified quoted companies into three categories; high-priced, medium-priced and low-priced stocks, based on their market price.
The high-priced stocks consist of large-cap equities that are priced at N100 per share or above for at least four of the last six trading months, or new security listings that are priced at N100 or above at the time of listing on the Exchange.
The medium-priced stocks consist of medium-priced equities that are priced at N5 per share or above but less than N100 per share for at least four of the last six months, or new security listings that are priced at N5 per share or above but less than N100 per share at the time of listing on the NSE.
The low-priced stocks, where majority of listed companies fall, consist of equities that are priced at one kobo per share or above but below N5 per share for at least four of the last six months, or new security listings that are priced at one kobo per share or above but below N5 per share at the time of listing on the Exchange.
Stocks under high-priced group shall have price change with minimum of 10,000 units; stocks under medium-priced group shall have price movement with a minimum of 50,000 units while stocks under low-priced group shall have price change with minimum volume of 100,000 units.
Business Post reports that about two weeks ago, the NSE upgraded Eterna to medium price category after meeting the above condition.
According to the NSE, Eterna gained above the N5 mark on January 8, 2018 and traded above N5 up till close of business on June 29, 2018, which indicated that Eterna has traded above N5 in at least four out of the last six months and therefore, would be reclassified from low-priced stock to mid-price stock.
Adedapo Adesanya 
Aduragbemi Omiyale