By Adedapo Adesanya
A double-whammy of losses accrued by Niger Delta Exploration and Production (NDEP) Plc and the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Group Plc led the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange into a second day in the bearish zone this week by 0.42 per cent.
NDEP Plc saw its equities down by N13.31 or 4.6 per cent to close at N286.69 per unit compared to N300 per unit of Monday, while NGX Group further lost 11 kobo or 0.5 per cent to close at N20.41 per unit as against N20.52 per unit of the previous day.
The losses reported by the two securities overpowered the 5 kobo or 0.3 per cent growth posted by Central Securities Clearing Systems (CSCS) Plc, which closed at N18.50 per unit as against the previous N18.45 per unit.
At the end of the day’s trading, the NASD Unlisted Securities Index (NSI) lost 3.21 points to settle at 769.40 points versus the previous 772.61 points.
In the same trend, the bourse’s market capitalisation went down by N2.28 billion to settle at N546.90 billion in contrast to N549.18 billion of the preceding session.
During the trading day, there was a 158.1 per cent rise in the total volume of securities transacted by investors to 6.1 million from 2.4 million recorded on Monday and these shares were traded in 46 deals, 70.4 per cent higher than the 27 deals recorded previously.
Also, the transactions were worth N139.6 million, 1,465.9 per cent higher than the N8.9 million achieved at the preceding session.
When trading activities were halted for the day, NGX Group remained as the most active stock by volume (year-to-date) with 255.3 million units worth N5.8 billion, followed by Swap Technologies and Telecomms Plc with 46.6 million units worth N41 million and CSCS Plc with 29.2 million units worth N454.3 million.
Also, NGX Group remained as the most active stock by value on a year-to-date basis with 255.3 million units valued at N5.8 billion, trailed by NDEP Plc with 2.9 million units valued at N900.2 million and FrieslandCampina WAMCO Plc with 5.8 million units valued at N726.6 million.