For Another Week, NASD Investors Lose N4.25bn

By Adedapo Adesanya

It was another week of loss for investors trading stocks at the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange as their wealth depleted by N4.25 billion in week 12.

This caused the market capitalisation of the bourse to close at N597.13 billion compared to N601.38 billion in week 11, though the NASD Securities Index (NSI) increased by 12.93 points or 1.8 per cent to 723.12 points from 710.19 points.

Business Post reports that last week’s decline in the total value of the exchange was caused by the removal of Providus Bank from the platform.

Also, a drop in the price of Niger Delta Exploration and Production (NDEP) Plc had an impact as its share price fell by 1.9 per cent to settle at N177.00 per unit compared with the previous N180.38 per unit.

Despite the poor outcome, three companies closed in the positive territory, with Friesland Campina Wamco Nigeria Plc gaining 9.1 per cent to trade at N124.50 per unit in contrast to the preceding session’s N114.10 per unit.

Further, NASD Plc appreciated by 20.9 per cent to N13.84 per share from the previous close of N11.45 per share, while Afriland Properties Plc gained 4.74 per cent to sell for N1.13 per unit versus the previous week’s N1.08 per unit.

In terms of trading activities, there was a 1,786.9 per cent surge in the total value of transactions in the week to N1.3 billion from N68.8 million, while the trading volume rose by 31,500.2 per cent to 2.3 billion units from 7.147 million units, with the number of deals decreasing by 54.4 per cent to 21 deals from 46 deals.

At the close of the week, AG Mortgage Bank Plc was the most traded security by volume with 2.2 billion units, NASD Plc traded 9.3 million units, Food Concepts Plc exchanged 4.0 million units, Afriland Plc traded 25,706 units, while FrieslandCampina Wamco Plc recorded 20,110 units.

In terms of the value of trades in the week, AG Mortgage Bank Plc also topped with N1.2 billion, NASD Plc recorded N123.2 million, Food Concept Plc traded N3.2 million, FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc expended N2.5 million while NDEP Plc posted N885,000.

In the year so far, the NSI has recorded a loss of 2.7 per cent, while investors have traded 2,997,218,057 units of securities worth N16.3 billion in 521 deals.