Friesland, CSCS Lift Unlisted Securities Market by 1.13%

By Adedapo Adesanya

The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) closed in the positive zone on Friday after finishing the past three straight sessions in the negative region.

Yesterday, the unlisted securities market closed 1.13 per cent higher, influenced by the bullish price movements in FrieslandCampina WAMCO Plc and Central Securities Clearing Systems (CSCS) Plc shares.

The milk producer appreciated by 4.6 per cent or N5.5 to settle at N121 per share compared with the preceding day’s N115.50 per share, while the Nigerian depository company appreciated by 3.3 per cent or  55 kobo to sell at N16.66 per unit in contrast to the previous day’s N16.11 per unit.

The gains posted by these two stocks pushed the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) by 8.25 points to 736.38 points from 728.13 points and lifted the market capitalisation by N7.18 billion to N640.05 billion from N632.87 billion it closed on Thursday.

Business Post reports that yesterday, the share price of Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Group Plc went down by 2.9 per cent or 48 kobo to close at N16.58 per unit compared to N17.06 per unit it sold at the last trading session.

At the market on Friday, there was a surge in the volume of securities traded by 242.3 per cent as investors exchanged 3.3 million units compared to 956,706 units traded at the preceding session.

However, the value of shares traded yesterday fell by 61 per cent to N55.2 million from N141.7 million, while the number of deals rose by 226.7 per cent to 49 deals from 15 deals.

Geo Fluids Plc was the most active stock by volume (year-to-date) at the market on Friday with 1.0 billion units worth N700.1 million, followed by NGX Group Plc with 413.8 million units valued at N8.6 billion, and Food Concepts Plc, which has traded 295 million units worth N386 million.

In terms of value, the company with the highest value of trades on a year-to-date basis was NGX Group Plc with 413.8 million units worth N8.3 billion, followed by VFD Group Plc with 6.6 million units valued at N2.2 billion, and Niger Delta Exploration and Production (NDEP) Plc with 3.3 million units valued at N1.0 billion.