NASD OTC Index Drops to 736.54 Points as Market Cap Jumps to N623.69bn

By Adedapo Adesanya

The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange closed mixed on Thursday with the main index depreciating by 0.04 per cent and the market capitalisation rising by 2.45 per cent at the close of trading.

It was observed that the loss recorded by Mass Telecom Innovation Plc scrapped off 0.29 points from the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI), closing at 736.54 points compared with 736.83 points of the previous session.

Mass Telecom Innovation Plc lost 5 kobo or 11.1 per cent to wrap the session at 45 kobo per share versus 45 kobo per share it traded on Wednesday.

However, the total value of securities on the NASD OTC platform increased yesterday by N14.93 billion to N623.69 billion from N608.76 billion it finished at the midweek trading session.

A look at the activity chart yesterday showed that there was a decrease in the volume of securities traded at the bourse as investors exchanged 11,107 units compared to the previous trading day’s 160,564 units of securities, indicating a decline of 93.1 per cent.

There was also a fall in the value of traded securities on Thursday as investors exchanged shares worth N265,198.50 compared with the preceding day’s N779,637.80, showing a decline of 66.8 per cent.

In the same vein, the number of deals executed during the session went down by 81.8 per cent to two deals from the 11 deals carried out on Wednesday.

Food Concepts Plc remained as the most active stock by volume (year-to-date) at the bourse as it has traded 11.4 billion units of its shares for N14.4 billion. It was followed by Lighthouse Financial Services with a turnover of 1.1 billion traded for N546.2 million, and Geo Fluids Plc with 1.0 billion units worth N700.1 million.

In terms of value, Food Concepts Plc was also the most traded stock on a year-to-date basis with a turnover of 11.4 billion units of its securities traded for N14.4 billion, followed by Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Group Plc with 456.5 million units of its securities valued at N9.2 billion, and VFD Group Plc with 10.4 million units worth N3.5 billion.