By Adedapo Adesanya
The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange ended the week in the positive territory on Thursday, December 24, rising by 1.02 per cent.
The growth witnessed at the unlisted securities market was largely propelled by the positive price movements from Niger Delta Exploration and Production (NDEP) Plc and Geo Fluids Plc.
At yesterday’s trading session, the shares of NDEP Plc moved up by N28.10 or 9.4 per cent to settle at N328.60 per share in contrast to N300.50 per share it closed at the previous session.
On its part, Geo Fluids Plc appreciated by 5 kobo or 8.6 per cent to settle at 63 kobo per share as against 58 kobo per share it was sold on Wednesday.
As earlier stated, the bullish performance of the two equities influenced the general outcome of the market on Thursday, causing the market capitalisation of the bourse to rise by N5.31 billion to N537.37 billion from N518.06 billion it ended a day earlier.
Likewise, the two stocks lifted the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) by 7.4 points at the trading session to settle at 729.41 points as against 722.01 points it settled at the previous session.
At the market, the level of activity also increased as the total number of shares transacted by investors rose by 18.1 per cent to 1.7 million units from 1.4 million units of the previous day.
Following the same pattern, the total value of shares transacted by traders skyrocketed by 1,297.8 per cent to N15.7 million from N1.1 million exchanged on Wednesday.
In the same vein, the number of deals grew by 250 per cent or five deals as seven deals were executed by market participants compared with the two deals carried out a day before.
A breakdown of the deals showed that they were carried out on four companies with NDEP Plc accounting for three deals, Geo Fluids Plc accounting for two deals and Central Securities Clearing Systems (CSCS) Plc and FrieslandCampina WAMCO Nigeria Plc accounting for one deal each.
At the close of business, ARM Life Plc remained as the highest most active stock by value (year-to-date) with 7.4 billion units traded for N4.6 billion. It was trailed by NDEP Plc, which sold 11.9 million units valued at N3.7 billion, and CSCS Plc, which has traded 213.7 million units valued at N2.9 billion.
ARM Life Plc was also the most traded stock by volume (year-to-date) with 7.4 billion units worth N4.6 billion. CSCS Plc has exchanged 213.7 million units worth N2.9 billion, while Food Concepts Plc has transacted 152.2 million units worth N109.5 million.
Dipo Olowookere