NGX, CSCS Return NASD Bourse to Bears

By Adedapo Adesanya

A day after lifting the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange from the dungeon, Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Group Plc has returned the bourse to the bears with the help of its cousin, Central Securities Clearing Systems (CSCS) Plc.

Yesterday, the duo failed to extend the stay of the unlisted securities market in the bullish territory for a second session, plunging the market into a loss by 0.02 per cent.

This sliced the market capitalisation of the exchange by N130 million to N639.95 billion from N640.08 billion and weakened the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) by 0.15 points to 736.28 points from 736.43 points.

At the market on Tuesday, NGX Group Plc lost 4 kobo or 0.2 per cent to close at N17.26 per unit against N17.30 per unit of the preceding day, while CSCS Plc went down by one kobo to sell at N16.57 per share compared to N16.58 per share it closed on Monday.

A look at the level of activity showed that the volume of securities traded by investors increased by 313.9 per cent to 5.7 million units from the previous day’s 1.4 million units.

Likewise, the value of shares traded by the market participants went up by 296.1 per cent to N98.0 million from N24.7 million, while the number of deals slightly increased by 15 per cent to 23 deals from 20 deals.

At the close of business, Geo Fluids Plc remained as the most active stock by volume (year-to-date) for selling 1.0 billion units of its shares for N700.1 million. It was followed by NGX Group Plc, which has transacted 408.1 million units valued at N8.5 billion, and Food Concepts Plc, which has exchanged 295.0 million units worth N385.9 million.

But the most active stock by value (year-to-date) was NGX Group Plc for exchanging 408.1 million shares worth N8.5 billion, followed by VFD Group Plc with 6.3 million securities worth N2.0 billion, and Niger Delta Exploration and Production (NDEP) Plc for trading 3.3 million stocks valued at N1.0 billion.