By Adedapo Adesanya
It was a nice outing for investors at the unlisted securities market on Thursday as the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange returned to the bullish zone as it climbed higher by 0.12 per cent at the close of business.
This was due to the 0.90 points gained by the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) during the trading day to finish at 748.52 points compared with 747.62 points of the previous session.
A similar scenario was witnessed by the market capitalisation, which increased when the market closed for the day by N1.13 billion to N618.41 billion from N637.40 billion it closed at the midweek session.
The day’s positive outcome was triggered by NASD Plc, which posted a gain of N1.69 or 8.9 per cent to end at N19.10 per unit as against the previous day’s N17.41 per unit.
The growth recorded by NASD Plc overpowered the loss printed by FrieslandCampina WAMCO Nigeria. The milk maker lost one kobo yesterday to trade at N125 per share as against N125.01 per share it traded on Wednesday.
A look at the involvement of investors in trading activities showed that there was an improvement from the preceding day as the volume of securities traded at the bourse increased by 244.9 per cent to 411,662 units from 119,332 units traded at the last session.
Also, the value of the stocks rose by 85.5 per cent to N22.8 million from Wednesday’s N12.3 million, while the number of deals jumped by 128.6 per cent to 16 deals from seven deals.
Food Concepts Plc closed the day as the most active stock by volume (year-to-date) for trading 11.4 billion units worth N14.4 billion. Lighthouse Financial Services Plc remained in second place with 1.1 billion units traded for N546.2 million, while Geo Fluids Plc was in third place with 1.0 billion units worth N700.1 million.
In terms of value, Food Concepts Plc also led with the sale of 11.4 billion units of its securities for N14.4 billion, followed by Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Group Plc with 456.5 million units valued at N9.2 billion, and VFD Group Plc with 10.4 million units valued at N3.5 billion.
Modupe Gbadeyanka