By Adedapo Adesanya
The bears stayed a day longer on the floor of the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange on Thursday after trading activities closed lower by 0.51 per cent.
Business Post reports that this was spurred by the loss recorded by the shares of Central Securities Clearing Systems (CSCS) Plc, a market bellwether.
During the session, the single price loser shed 54 kobo or 3.3 per cent to close at N16 per unit in contrast to N16.54 per unit it closed at the previous session.
This lukewarm performance of CSCS had an effect on the NASD unlisted securities index (NSI), which depreciated by 3.77 points to 735.84 points from Wednesday’s 739.61 points.
It equally weakened the bourse’s market capitalisation by N2.7 billion as it closed at N527.98 billion compared with the previous session’s N530.68 billion.
A look at the level of transactions showed that the total volume of securities traded by investors depreciated yesterday by 25.5 per cent as only 504,750 shares exchanged hands compared to the 677,540 units transacted at the previous session.
Also, the value of the trades reduced significantly by 86.6 per cent as shares worth N8.8 million were transacted by the market participants in contrast to the N65.6 million achieved a day earlier.
In the same vein, the number of deals executed by traders during the fourth trading session of the week reduced by 50 per cent to five deals from the 10 deals recorded at the midweek session.
These deals were carried out on three companies led by FrieslandCampina WAMCO Nigeria Plc and Niger Delta Exploration and Production (NDEP) Plc, which accounted for two deals apiece, while the day’s price loser, CSCS Plc, recorded one deal.
When trading activities were halted yesterday, UBN Property Plc remained as the most traded stock by volume (year-to-date) with 15.5 million units worth N16.8 million. CSCS Plc was in second place with 2.9 million units traded at N45.8 million, while Food Concept Plc occupied the third place with 1.9 million units traded at N240.6 million.
In terms of the most traded security by value (year-to-date), FrieslandCampina topped the chart with the sale of 2.0 million stocks worth N240.1 million. NDEP Plc has traded 487,711 shares for N161.5 million, while CSCS has exchanged 2.9 million securities valued at N45.8 million.
