NASD OTC Exchange Closes Bearish Friday

By Adedapo Adesanya

The last trading session of the week at the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange closed bearish on Friday despite the rise in the trading value.

At the session, investors transacted shares worth N157.5 million, 979.6 per cent higher than the N14.6 million worth of securities recorded the previous day.

However, in the midst of this increase in the total value of unlisted stocks traded by investors, the market depreciated by 0.84 per cent.

This led to the 6.01 points lost by the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI), closing at 706.44 points compared with the previous session’s 712.45 points.

It also led to the N4.41 billion decline in the market capitalisation of the exchange to N518.93 billion from N523.34 billion it closed on Thursday.

Business Post reports that the number of deals executed by market participants yesterday reduced by 8.33 per cent or one deal to 11 deals from 12 deals of the preceding trading session.

These deals were carried out on four different stocks, with the FrieslandCampina WAMCO Nigeria Plc contributing 5 five deals, Niger Delta Exploration and Production (NDEP) Plc accounting for three deals, Afriland Properties Plc contributing two deals and Central Securities Clearing Systems (CSCS) Plc accounting for one deal.

At the close of transactions yesterday, two of these four deals closed on the losers’ chart.

FrieslandCampina lost 11 kobo or 0.91 per cent on Friday to close at N121 per share in contrast to the previous day’s N121.11 per share, while NDEP Plc went down by N18.35 or 5.7 per cent to close at N306.65 per share versus N325.

Yesterday, the total number of shares traded by market participants decreased by 42.9 per cent to 750,578 units from 1.3 million units quoted on Thursday.

ARM Life Plc finished the day as the most active stock by value (year-to-date) with 7.4 billion units of its shares worth N4.6 billion. CSCS Plc followed with 198 million units exchanged for N2.6 billion, while NDEP Plc has traded 7.9 million units of its securities valued at N2.4 million.

Also, ARM Life Plc was the most active equity by volume (year-to-date) with 7.4 billion units of its shares worth N4.6 billion, while CSCS Plc maintained the second place with 198 million units worth N2.6 billion, with Food Concept Plc trading 125 million units of its shares worth N88 million.