By Adedapo Adesanya
The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange shrank for the fourth consecutive trading session on Thursday by 1.34 per cent on the back of a sustained selloff.
The four securities were responsible for deteriorating the health of the unlisted securities market yesterday and they were Central Securities Clearing Systems (CSCS) Plc, FrieslandCampina WAMCO Nigeria Plc, Nipco Plc, and Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Group Plc.
Friesland lost N4.75 or 3.9 per cent to close the session at N115.25 per unit compared with the previous N120 per unit, NIPCO declined by N3.70 or 5.0 per cent to trade at N70 per share in contrast to the previous N73.70 per share, NGX Group went down by 19 kobo or 0.9 per cent to trade at N20.80 per share compared with the previous N20.99 per share, while CSCS dropped 12 kobo or 0.7 per cent to finish at N17.99 per unit versus N18.11 per unit it closed on Wednesday.
The depreciation in these stocks reduced the total value of securities on the NASD Exchange by N7.2 billion to N529.45 billion from N536.65 billion and plunged the NASD Unlisted Securities Index (NSI) by 10.13 points to 744.85 points from 754.98 points.
During the session, the trading volume went down by 89.8 per cent to 260,952 units from 2.6 million units of the preceding trading day and it was the first time the market has recorded trading volume below a million units since the NGX Group was admitted to the platform following its demutualisation in March.
Also, the trading value slumped by 74.4 per cent to N15.9 million from N62.3 million achieved on Wednesday, while the number of deals increased by 45 per cent to 29 deals from 21 deals.
NGX Group accounted for 11 deals, Friesland accounted for nine deals, CSCS Plc made five deals, Nipco Plc recorded two deals, while Niger Delta Exploration and Production (NDEP) Plc and UBN Property Plc both made one deal each.
At the close of business, NGX Group was the most traded stock by volume (year-to-date) with 257.1 million units worth N5.8 billion, followed by Swap Technologies and Telecomms Plc with 46.6 million units worth N41 million and CSCS with 29.9 million units of its shares worth N464.8 million.
Also, NGX Group was the most traded stock by value (year-to-date) with 257.1 million units worth N5.8 billion, followed by NDEP Plc with 2.9 million units worth N900.2 million and Friesland with 5.9 million units worth N749.3 million.
