By Adedapo Adesanya
The 19th trading week of the year 2021 on the floor of the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange ended bearish on Friday, May 14 as a result of the 1.24 per cent loss recorded last week.
This shortened the NASD Security Index (ASI) by 9.61 points to 768.42 points from 778.03 points and reduced the market capitalisation by N6.83 billion to N546.2 billion from N553.03 billion.
Business Post reports that the bearish outcome at the market followed the losses recorded by three market bellwethers led by the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Group Plc, which depreciated by 15.9 per cent to close at N22.25 per unit compared with the previous close of N26.48 per unit.
FrieslandCampina WAMCO Plc lost 2.9 per cent to settle at N130.00 per share in contrast to the previous close of N134.00 per share, while Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc dropped 2.5 per cent to trade at N17.65 per share as against N18.11 per share it ended the preceding week.
However, Nipco Plc witnessed a rise in its share value in the week by 0.7 per cent as it closed at N70 per unit in contrast to N69.50 per unit it finished in the earlier week.
On the activity chart, there was a 2.7 per cent decrease in the total value of securities traded by investors during the week to N893.9 million from N918.9 million.
However, the trading volume grew by 259.4 per cent to 124,897,362 units from 34,751,553 units, while the number of deals increased by 21.4 per cent to 233 deals from 192 deals.
The most traded stock for the week was SWAP Technologies and Telecomms Plc as it transacted 46.6 million units. It was followed by NGX Group with 23.8 million units, CSCS Plc with 1.0 million, Friesland with 234,745 units and Afriland Properties Plc with 119,915 units.
But by value, NGX Group was the most active stock in the week with N552.8 million. SWAP Technologies and Telecomms Plc followed with N41.0 million, Friesland traded N30.5 million, Niger Delta Exploration and Production (NDEP) Plc exchanged N24.0 million, while CSCS Plc traded N17.5 million.
In the year so far, the NASD OTC Securities Exchange has increased by 3.6 per cent, with investors trading 350.6 million securities worth N6.6 billion in 1474 deals.
