NDEP, CSCS Plunge Unlisted Securities Market to N6.1bn Loss

By Adedapo Adesanya

The unlisted securities market in Nigeria depreciated by 0.98 per cent on Wednesday following the decline in the prices of Niger Delta Exploration and Production (NDEP) Plc and Central Securities Clearing Systems (CSCS) Plc.

At the close of business, the market capitalisation of the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange went down by N6.1 billion to N609.81 billion from N615.86 billion, while the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) decreased by 7.33 points to wrap the session at 738.11 points compared with 745.44 points recorded at the previous session.

During the trading day, NDEP depreciated by N2.50 or 1.0 per cent to settle at N245.00 per share compared with the preceding day’s N247.50 per share, while CSCS went down by N1.12 or 6.8 per cent to N16.60 per unit from N17.72 per unit.

Yesterday, the market reported a surge in the volume of securities traded by investors by 33,063.5 per cent as investors exchanged 328.8 million units of stocks compared to the 991,482 units of stocks traded at the preceding session.

Similarly, the value of shares traded by market participants increased by 597.4 per cent to N169.9 million from the N24.4 million reported on Tuesday, while the number of deals slightly increased by 10.00 per cent to 11 deals from Tuesday’s 10 deals.

At the close of business, Food Concepts Plc was the most active stock by volume (year-to-date) as it has traded 11.4 billion units of its shares worth N14.4 billion. Geo Fluids Plc was in second place with 1.0 billion units worth N700.1 million, while Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Group Plc still maintained the third position with 456.5 million units of its shares worth N9.2 billion.

Also, the most active stock by value at the close of transactions yesterday on a year-to-date basis was Food Concept Plc as a result of the 11.4 billion units of its securities exchanged for N14.4 billion. It was followed by NGX Group Plc with a turnover of 456.5 million units worth N9.2 billion, while VFD Group Plc was third with 10.4 million units valued at 3.5 billion.