NDEP Opens New Week Bearish at NASD Exchange

By Adedapo Adesanya

It was the bears who appeared at the close of trading on Monday on the floor of the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange.

The appearance of the bears brought about a 0.50 per cent slip to the market, depleting the NASD unlisted securities index (NSI) by 3.7 points to close at 732.29 points as against 735.99 points it closed the previous trading day.

In the same trend, the bourse’s market capitalisation closed at N544.31 billion, as investors counted a loss amounting to N2.75 billion. At the previous session, the value stood at N547.06 billion.

The day’s loss was caused by the poor performance of Niger Delta Exploration and Production (NDEP) Plc as the price of the oil and gas investment company’s equities shed N15.15 or 4.7 per cent at the close of business. The share price ended at N310 per unit as against N325.15 per unit it previously sold.

A total of 784,026 shares were transacted during the session at the exchange in contrast to the 449,600 units traded the previous session, indicating a 74.4 per cent rise.

The trades were carried out in eight deals, 100 per cent higher than the four deals recorded at the preceding session and the value amounted to N242.8 million, 328.5 per cent higher than the N56.7 million achieved last Friday.

ARM Life Plc still remained the most traded stock by volume (year-to-date) with 7.4 billion units of its shares worth N4.6 billion traded. Central Securities Clearing Systems (CSCS) Plc was in second place with 204.6 million units traded at N2.7 billion while Food Concepts Plc followed in third place with 152.1 million units traded at N109.4 million.

In terms of the value of trades (year-to-date), ARM Life Plc still retained the top for trading 7.4 billion units worth N4.6 billion, while NDEP Plc traded 11.7 million units of its securities valued at N3.6 billion, with CSCS Plc transacting 204.6 million valued at N2.7 billion.