NDEP, Friesland Halt Unlisted Securities Bull Run

By Adedapo Adesanya

The recent bullish streak at the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange ended at the opening trading day of the new month.

The unlisted securities market fell by 0.26 per cent on Thursday, April 1 as the bears chased out the bulls, which had held control for the past days.

The bears were invited to the market yesterday by Niger Delta Exploration and Production (NDEP) Plc and FrieslandCampina WAMCO Nigeria Plc, halting the seven-day gaining streak at the bourse.

NDEP Plc recorded a N15.85 or 4.8 per cent loss to close at N315 per unit compared to the previous closing price of N330.85 per unit.

On its part, Friesland saw its share price fall by 23 kobo or 0.2 per cent to settle at N130.50 per unit in contrast to N130.27 per unit of the preceding session.

These losses recorded by the two bellwethers caused the market capitalisation of the NASD Exchange to shed N1.37 billion to settle at N529.61 billion at the final session for the week compared with N530.98 billion it finished on Wednesday.

Equally, this affected the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI), which closed 1.93 points lower to 745.08 points from 747.01 points recorded the previous session.

However, VFD Group Plc extended its recent rally on Thursday as its share price further rose by 10 per cent or N20.42 to close at N224.66 per unit in contrast to N204.24 per unit it finished a day earlier.

Amid the quagmire, there was an increase in the total volume of shares transacted by investors yesterday by 27.5 per cent to 63,755 units from 50,505 units realized at the previous trading session.

The total value of traded securities also rose by 165.9 per cent to N14.6 million from N5.5 million worth of shares reported by Business Post at the preceding trading session.

Also, the total number of deals shot up by 66.7 per cent as five deals were executed on three companies compared to three deals printed at the previous session.

These deals were executed on NDEP Plc, FrieslandCampina WAMCO Nigeria Plc and the day’s single price advancer, VFD Group Plc.

UBN Property Plc ended the trading day as the most traded stock by volume on a year-to-date basis for trading 21.9 million units valued at N24.6 billion. It was followed by Central Securities Clearing Systems (CSCS) Plc, which traded 8.2 million units worth N126.3 million, and Friesland, which exchanged 3.5 million units worth N432.4 million.

By value (year-to-date), NDEP Plc was the most traded stock for transacting 2.2 million units for N674.8 million. Friesland trailed with the sale of 3.5 units of its securities valued at N432.4 million, while VFD Group Plc occupied the third position for exchanging 1.0 million units worth N155.0 million.

The market will not trade till Tuesday as the federal government has declared a public holiday for the Easter celebration from Friday, April 2 till Monday, April 5.