By Adedapo Adesanya
After staying in the danger zone for two straight sessions, the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange appreciated by 0.14 percent on Thursday.
The growth posted by the unlisted securities market was spurred by the gains achieved by two market bellwethers, Central Securities Clearing Systems (CSCS) Plc and Afriland Properties Plc.
The two advancers of the day helped the OTC market wear the green jacket after being in red on Tuesday and Wednesday.
CSCS Plc saw a price gain of 49 kobo to close at N13.50 per share in contrast to the previous day’s N13.01 per share, while Afriland Plc moved up by 16 kobo to close at N2.14 per share versus N1.98 it ended on Wednesday.
However, FrieslandCampina WAMCO Nigeria recorded a decline in its share value by N1.97 to close at N122.37 per share in contrast to N124.36 it finished at the last session.
At the close of business, the NASD unlisted securities index (NSI) increased by 1.02 points to 709.22 points from 708.82 points recorded at Wednesday’s session, while the bourse’s market capitalisation closed at N520.97 billion, N750 million higher than the previous market size of N520.22 billion.
The session saw a total unit of 71,448 shares transacted by investors, 77.4 percent lower than the previous day’s 315,967 stocks.
These came from seven deals executed during the session at the exchange on securities belonging to FrieslandCampina Plc with four deals while CSCS Plc and Afriland Properties had two deals each.
At the previous session, the value of transactions totalled N7.4 million, but Thursday’s trades saw a 81.2 percent decrease to N1.4 million.
At the session, ARM Life Plc ended Thursday’s trading day as the most traded stock by volume (year-to-date) with 7.4 billion units of its shares worth N4.6 billion. CSCS Plc was in second place with 196.8 million units traded at N2.6 billion, while Food Concept Plc maintained the third place with 115 million units traded at N80.5 million.
In terms of the value of trades (year-to-date), ARM Life Plc still retained the top position with a total of 7.4 billion units worth N4.6 billion. CSCS Plc came in second place with 196.8 million units valued at N2.6 billion, while NDEP Plc followed with 7.9 million units worth N2.4 billion.
