NASD, Friesland Sink Unlisted Securities Market by 0.23%

By Adedapo Adesanya

The unlisted securities market closed lower by 0.23 per cent on Friday as the duo of NASD Plc and FrieslandCampina WAMCO Nigeria Plc dampened the mood at the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange.

The fall in the prices of the two stocks contributed to the loss achieved yesterday as investors take stock of their trades in the year, which is just a few days to wind up.

The value of NASD Plc declined by N2.04 or 10.9 per cent yesterday to close the session at N18.70 per share in contrast to N20.74 per share of the previous session.

On its part, Frieslandlost 57 kobo or 0.5 per cent to close at N118.43 per unit compared to N119.00 per unit it was sold at the last trading session.

As a result, the market capitalisation of the bourse depreciated by 0.23 per cent or N1.46 million to close the day at N622.23 billion compared with Thursday’s N623.69 billion.

In the same vein, the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) went down by 1.72 points to wrap the session at 734.82 points compared with 736.54 points of the previous session.

The day’s trading activity revealed that there was an increase in the volume of securities traded at the bourse as investors bought 133,621 units compared to the previous trading day’s 11,107 units, indicating a 1,103.0 per cent appreciation.

The value of shares transacted during the session increased by 5,495.5 per cent to N14.8 million from N265,198.50, while the number of deals increased by 150 per cent to five deals from the preceding session’s two deals.

When the market closed for the day, Food Concepts Plc remained as the most active stock by volume (year-to-date) as it has traded 11.4 billion units of its shares for N14.4 billion. Lighthouse Financial Services Plc was the next highest traded stock with 1.1 billion for N546.2 million, while Geo Fluids Plc was in third place with 1.0 billion units worth N700.1 million.

On the flip side, Food Concepts Plc was also the most traded stock by value (year-to-date) with the sale of 11.4 billion units traded for N14.4 billion. The now-exited Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Group Plc remained in the second spot with 456.5 million units of its securities valued at N9.2 billion, followed by VFD Group Plc with 10.4 million units valued at N3.5 billion.