By Adedapo Adesanya
The bears took over proceedings on the first trading day of the new week at the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange on Monday.
The unlisted securities market went down by 0.99 per cent yesterday, causing the portfolios of investors to deplete by N5.43 billion at the close of business.
The decline suffered by unlisted stocks in Nigeria was caused by the poor performance of three companies admitted on the NASD Exchange.
These three securities were Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Group Plc, FrieslandCampina WAMCO Nigeria Plc and Central Securities Clearing Systems (CSCS) Plc.
Friesland lost N2.95 or 2.3 per cent to close at N130.93 per unit as against the previous N138.88 per unit, NGX Group depreciated by 50 kobo or 2.5 per cent to close at N22.85 per share compared with the previous N23.42 per share, while CSCS Plc lost 51 kobo or 2.9 per cent to end the session at N17.09 per unit compared to N17.60 per unit of the preceding session.
The losses printed by these firms reduced the market capitalisation of the exchange to N544.31 billion from N549.74 billion and weakened the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) by 7.63 points to 765.76 points from 773.39 points.
At the market yesterday, the trading volume increased by 154.6 per cent to 7.7 million units from 3.0 million units published last Friday.
In the same pattern, the trading value went up by 157.4 per cent to N187.1 million from N72.7 million, while the number of deals increased by 88 per cent to 37 deals from 34 deals.
NGX Group accounted for 17 deals, Friesland contributed 11 deals, CSCS Plc recorded eight deals each, while Lighthouse Financial Services Plc executed one deal.
When trading activities were rounded up for the day, NGX Group was still the most active by volume (year-to-date) with 226.1 million units worth N5.1 billion. Swap Technologies and Telecomms Plc trailed with 46.0 million units worth N41.0 million, while CSCS Plc held the third position with 27.6 million units worth N425.5 million.
Also, NGX Group was the most active stock by value (year-to-date) with 226.1 million units of its securities valued at N5.1 billion, followed by Niger Delta Exploration and Production (NDEP) Plc with 2.5 million units valued at N763.8 million and Friesland with 4.7 million units valued at N588.2 million.