By Adedapo Adesanya
Market bellwether, FrieslandCampina WAMCO Nigeria Plc, single-handedly returned the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange to gaining ways on Thursday as it lifted the unlisted securities exchange by 1.46 per cent.
The milk-producing company recorded an 8.2 per cent or N9 increase at the session to wrap the day at N119.00 per share in contrast to N110.00 per share of the previous session.
This lifted the equity market size of the bourse by N8.79 billion to close at N611.29 billion in contrast to N602.50 billion it finished at the previous day.
In the same vein, the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) moved up by 10.64 points to end the day at 739.90 points as against 729.26 points it recorded a day earlier.
During the session, there was a drop in the volume of securities traded as investors exchanged 117,669 units compared to 773,000 units of the preceding day, implying an 84.8 per cent decrease.
Also, the value of transactions carried out yesterday decreased by 77.3 per cent to N6.9 million from the N30.7 million achieved on Wednesday, while the number of deals went down by 44.4 per cent as five deals were executed as against the nine deals achieved at the midweek session.
When the market closed for the session, Food Concepts Plc topped the activity chart 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 trailed with the sale of 1.1 billion units worth N546.32 million, while Geo Fluids Plc, which claimed third place, has traded 1.0 billion units worth N700.1 million.
Also, Food Concepts Plc was on top of the chart as the most traded stock by value on a year-to-date basis 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 a turnover of 10.4 million units valued at N3.5 billion.
Modupe Gbadeyanka