Bears Rip NASD Exchange Open by 0.14%

By Adedapo Adesanya

The bears won the supremacy tussle on opening day on the floor of the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange, ripping the exchange open by 0.14 per cent at the close of business.

The unlisted securities market fell to the control of the bears as a result of losses recorded by FrieslandCampina WAMCO Nigeria and Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Group Plc.

Friesland Plc lost N5.90 or 5.1 per cent to close the session at N115.10 per share in contrast to N121 per share of the last trading session, while NGX Group Plc declined by 46 kobo or 2.9 per cent to close at N16.12 per unit compared to N16.58 per unit of last Friday.

As a result, the market capitalisation of the bourse went down on Monday by N900 million to N639.15 billion from N640.05 billion, while the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) dropped 1.03 points to wrap the session at 735.35 points compared with 736.38 points of the previous session.

Business Post reports that the NASD Exchange saw two price gainers yesterday; Central Securities Clearing Systems (CSCS) Plc and Afriland Properties Plc.

While CSCS Plc grew by N1.12 or 6.3 per cent to N17.78 per unit from N16.66 per unit, Afriland Plc gained by 12 kobo or 9 per cent to N1.33 per share from N1.21 per share of the previous session.

During the session, the volume of securities traded by investors declined by 87.9 per cent to 395,603 units from 3.3 million units, while the value of shares traded reduced by 86.4 per cent to N7.5 million from N55.2 million, with the number of deals declining by 59.2 per cent to 20 deals from 49 deals.

Like in the past trading days, Geo Fluids Plc was the most traded stock by volume (year-to-date) with 1.0 billion units worth N700 million. NGX Group Plc followed with 414.0 million units valued at N8.6 billion, while Food Concepts Plc has transacted 295.0 million units worth N386 million.

O the flip side, NGX Group Plc finished the trading day as the most traded stock by value (year-to-date) for selling 414.0 million units worth N8.6 billion. It was followed by VFD Group Plc with 6.6 million units worth N2.2 billion and Niger Delta Exploration and Production (NDEP) Plc with 3.3 million units valued at N1.0 billion.