NASD Sinks Deeper into Danger Zone by 0.29%

By Adedapo Adesanya

For the third straight trading session, the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange closed bearish on Thursday with a 0.29 per cent loss.

At the market yesterday, the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) depreciated by 2.15 points to wrap the session at 728.13 points compared with 730.28 points of the previous session.

Also, the market capitalisation of the bourse decreased by N1.87 billion to close the day at N632.87 billion in contrast to N634.74 billion it ended on Wednesday.

The poor performance of the exchange on Thursday was driven by the negative price movements in the shares of Central Securities Clearing Systems (CSCS) Plc and Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Group Plc.

CSCS Plc lost 37 kobo or 2.3 per cent to close at N16.11 per share in contrast to N16.48 per share of the previous trading day, while NGX Group Plc fell by 0.1 per cent or one kobo to close at N17.16 per unit compared to N17.17 per unit it was sold at the last trading session.

A look at the trades showed that there was a decrease in the volume of securities traded at the bourse by investors yesterday by 59.8 per cent as 956,706 units exchanged hands in contrast to the previous day’s 2.4 million units.

However, the value of the transactions rose by 241.1 per cent to N141.7 million from N41.6 million, while the number of deals depreciated by 31.8 per cent to 15 deals from 22 deals executed at the midweek session.

Geo Fluids Plc closed the session as the company with the highest volume of transactions on a year-to-date basis by selling 1.0 billion units of its shares worth N700 million. NGX Group Plc trailed with the sale of 410.5 million units valued at N8.5 billion, while Food Concepts Plc was in third place with 295.0 million units worth N386 million.

In terms of value, NGX Group Plc was on top on a year-to-date basis with 410.5 million units valued at N8.5 billion and was followed by VFD Group Plc with 6.6 million units worth N2.2 billion, Niger Delta Exploration and Production (NDEP) Plc for exchanging 3.3 million units valued at N1.0 billion.