By Adedapo Adesanya
The bears extended their stay at the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange on Tuesday, plunging the market by 0.07 per cent.
This was largely driven by the negative price movements in the shares of FrieslandCampina WAMCO Nigeria Plc and Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Group Plc.
Friesland dropped N1.93 or 1.5 per cent to close the session at N129 per share in contrast to N130.93 per share of the previous session, while NGX Group went down by 1.7 per cent or 38 kobo to close at N22.47 per unit compared to N22.85 per unit it closed on Monday.
The losses suffered by both securities reduced the market capitalisation of the bourse by N400 million to N543.91 billion from N544.31 billion and sliced the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) by 0.56 points to 765.20 points from 765.76 points of the previous session.
Business Post reports that the unlisted securities market was not without a price advancer as the value of Central Securities Clearing Systems (CSCS) Plc rose by 2.4 per cent or 41 kobo to N17.50 per unit from N17.09 per unit.
At the close of business, the volume of securities traded at the bourse by investors decreased by 63.1 per cent to 2.8 million units from the previous session’s 7.7 million units.
Also, the value of the shares went down by 31.9 per cent to N127.5 million from N187.1 million, while the number of deals increased by 5.4 per cent to 39 deals from 37 deals executed on Monday.
NGX Group was the company with the highest number of traded stocks on a year-to-date basis with 228.4 million units and was trailed by Swap Technologies and Telecomms Plc with 46.6 million units and CSCS Plc with 27.6 million units.
Also, NGX Group was the company with the highest value of traded securities (year-to-date) with N5.2 billion, followed by Niger Delta Exploration and Production (NDEP) Plc with N764.5 million and Friesland with N664.7 million.
Dipo Olowookere