By Adedapo Adesanya
The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) returned to the bearish territory at the final session of the week as it fell by 0.47 per cent on the back of loss recorded by Afriland Properties Plc.
The property investment company went down by 10 kobo or 9.5 per cent at the trading session to close at N1.05 per unit in contrast to N1.15 per unit it closed at the previous session.
This development triggered a N3.03 billion decline in the market capitalisation of the NASD OTC bourse as it finished at N638.39 billion compared with N641.42 billion it ended on Thursday.
In the same vein, the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) depreciated by 3.48 points to wrap the session at 734.48 points as against 737.96 points it recorded at the preceding session.
At the market yesterday, there was a fall in the volume of securities traded by investors as they exchanged 335,437 units, 67.7 per cent lower than the 1.0 million units traded a day earlier.
Also, there was a decline in the value of shares traded on Friday by 57.7 per cent to N4.8 million from N11.4 million, while the number of deals went down by 52.9 per cent to 8 deals from 17 deals of the previous trading day.
At the close of transactions, Food Concepts Plc was the most active stock by volume on a year-to-date basis with the sale of 11.4 billion units of its shares valued at N14.4 billion. Geo Fluids Plc followed with the sale of 1.0 billion units valued at N700 million, while Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Group Plc, which occupied third place, has transacted 456.5 million units valued at N9.2 billion.
In terms of value, Food Concepts Plc ended the session as the most traded stock on a year-to-date basis with 11.4 billion units worth N14.4 billion. NGX Group Plc came next as its 456.4 million units of securities were traded for N9.2 billion, while VFD Group Plc closed in third place for transacting 10.4 million units of its securities valued at N3.5 billion.
Modupe Gbadeyanka