By Adedapo Adesanya
The bears tightened their grip on the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange on Thursday as the major market barometers further declined marginally by 0.03 per cent.
The market capitalisation lost N340 million to close at N1.007 trillion in contrast to the N1.008 trillion it quoted at the previous session, while the NASD Unlisted Securities Index (NSI) scraped off 0.3 points to end the day at 766.4 points as against the 766.7 points it recorded on Wednesday.
The decline was buoyed by FrieslandCampina WAMCO, which lost 81 kobo or 0.4 per cent to trade at N192.52 per share compared with N193.33 per share it finished a day earlier.
However, there was a price advancer at the session as Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc added 9 kobo 0.5 per cent to its value to close at N17.00 per unit compared with N16.91 per unit in the previous session.
During the session, the volume of securities traded by investors went down by 99.6 per cent as a total of 200,864 units exchanged hands compared with the 51.6 million units transacted at the midweek session.
Likewise, the value of trades went down by 91.9 per cent to N35.2 million from N432.3 million, while the number of deals depreciated by 28.3 per cent to 33 deals from the 46 deals carried out on Wednesday.
At the close of business, CSCS Plc was the active stock by value on a year-to-date basis with the sale of 661.1 million units valued at N13.9 billion, followed by AG Mortgage Plc with the sale of 2.3 billion units worth N1.2 billion, and FrieslandCampina with the sale of 5.9 million units valued at N861.5 million.
But AG Mortgage Bank Plc was the most traded stock by volume on a year-to-date basis as it has transacted 2.3 billion units of its stocks valued at N1.2 billion. CSCS Plc occupied second place with 661.1 million exchanged for N13.9 billion, while Food Concepts Plc was in third place with 69.0 million units valued at N56.0 million.
Modupe Gbadeyanka