NASD, CSCS Kick Off New Week with 0.4% Growth  

By Adedapo Adesanya

The NASD over-the-counter (OTC) Securities Exchange started a new week on a positive note after it closed higher by 0.40 per cent growth at the close of transactions.

The duo of NASD Plc and Central Securities Clearing Systems (CSCS) Plc triggered the positive performance yesterday as they boosted the market capitalisation by N2.45 billion to N618.49 billion from N616.04 billion.

The two stocks also increased the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) during the trading day by 2.97 basis points to end the day at 748.62 points as against 745.65 points it recorded at the previous session.

Business Post reports that the share price of NASD Plc increased yesterday by N2.15 or 8.5 per cent to trade at N23.07 per share in contrast to the previous day’s N25.22 per share, while CSCS Plc appreciated by 30 kobo or 1.7 per cent to sell at N17.90 per unit as against last Friday’s closing price of N17.60 per unit.

It was observed that the volume of securities traded at the first trading session of the week as investors exchanged 967,365 units of shares, 56.5 per cent higher than the 618,115 units of shares traded by market participants at the preceding session.

In the same pattern, the value of shares traded increased by 297.4 per cent to N10.8 million from N2.7 million, while the number of deals increased by 100.0 per cent as 10 deals were executed at the market in contrast to the five deals carried out a day earlier.

Food Concepts Plc, at the close of business, remained as the most traded stock by volume on a year-to-day basis with a turnover of 11.4 billion units of its shares worth N14.4 billion. Lighthouse Financial Services Plc traded 1.1 billion units worth N546.32 million to occupy the second spot, while Geo Fluids Plc, which claimed the third place has traded 1.0 billion units worth N700.1 million.

By value on a year-to-date basis, Food Concepts Plc was also on top of the chart with the sale of 11.4 billion units worth 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.