By Adedapo Adesanya
Trading activities on the floor of the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange at the midweek session closed bearish by 0.82 per cent.
The loss was influenced by the trio of FrieslandCampina WAMCO Nigeria Plc, Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Group Plc and Central Securities Clearing Systems (CSCS) Plc.
The three musketeers sliced the market capitalisation of the NASD Exchange by N5.21 billion on Wednesday to N634.74 billion from N639.95 billion it quoted on Tuesday.
Selloffs in the stocks were the major reason for the decline in their share prices and at the close of transactions, Friesland dropped N4.50 or 3.9 per cent to sell at N115.50 per cent compared with the previous day’s N120.00 per unit.
NGX Group depreciated yesterday by 19 kobo or 1.1 per cent to close at N17.07 per unit as against N17.26 per unit it traded on Monday, while CSCS lost 9 kobo or 0.6 per cent to sell at N16.48 per share compared to N16.57 per share of the previous session.
These losses forced 6.0 points off the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) at the close of business on Wednesday, closing at 730.28 points versus the preceding trading day’s 736.28 points.
A look at the level of activity showed that a total of 2.4 million securities exchanged hands yesterday compared with 5.7 million securities of the previous session, indicating a decline by 58.5 per cent.
Likewise, the value of stocks transacted by investors went down by 57.6 per cent to N41.6 million from N98.0 million, while the number of deals depreciated by 4.4 per cent to 22 deals from 23 deals recorded on Tuesday.
Business Post reports that Geo Fluids Plc maintained its position as the most traded stock by volume on a year-to-date basis yesterday with 1.0 billion units valued at N700.1 million. NGX Group Plc retained its second spot with the sale of 410.1 million units valued at N8.5 billion, while Food Concepts Plc closed in third place with 295.0 million units worth N386 million.
But NGX Group Plc finished as the most traded stock by value on a year-to-date basis for trading 410.1 million shares worth N8.5 billion. It was trailed by VFD Group Plc, which has traded 6.3 million units of its securities worth N2.0 billion, and Niger Delta Exploration and Production (NDEP) Plc, which has exchanged 3.3 million units of its shares worth N1.0 billion.
Modupe Gbadeyanka