Adedapo Adesanya
By Adedapo Adesanya
It was a negative outcome for unlisted securities trading on the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange on Wednesday.
It was the first trading session of the week after a two-day absence due to the public holiday declared by the federal government to allow Muslims celebrate the end of Ramadan.
At the midweek session, the equity market size of the bourse fell by 1.31 percent or N6.65 billion to N499.11 billion from N505.76 billion it quoted last Friday.
Also contracting was the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI), which lost by 1.31 percent or 9.05 points to end the day at 679.46 points as against 688.51 points it recorded at the previous session.
Business Post reports that the unlisted securities market finished the day with no single price gainer or loser, according to the market data.
However, the activity chart closed mixed as there was a drop in the total volume of securities traded on Wednesday by investors as a total of 47,750 stocks exchanged hands. In comparison to the previous trading volume, there was a 85.5 percent decrease from the 320,210 units of securities transacted by market participants.
These trades came from six deals executed from two stocks during the session. These were transactions carried out on FrieslandCampina WAMCO Nigeria Plc (two deals) and Niger Delta Exploration and Production (NDEP) Plc (four deals). At the preceding session, a total of 5 deals were executed by investors, indicating a 20 percent increase in the number of deals.
In addition, all the shares traded yesterday amounted to N13.7 million, higher than the N7.3 million realised last Friday by 88 percent.
At the close of business, ARM Life Plc ended the session as the company with the highest number of shares traded by investors (year-to-date) with 7.4 billion units worth N4.6 billion. It was closely followed by Food Concept Plc, which has traded 110.0 million units worth N77 million, and Lighthouse Financial Service Plc, which has transacted 48 million units of its shares valued at N24 million.
By the value of transactions (year-to-date), ARM Life Plc also topped the activity chart with 7.4 billion units of its shares sold for N4.6 billion. NDEP has transacted 6.9 million units worth N2.15 billion, while FrieslandCampina WAMCO Nigeria Plc has exchanged 2.4 million units of its securities valued at N294.5 million.
