By Adedapo Adesanya
The decline in the prices of two stocks admitted on the trading platform of the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange caused a reduction in the total value of shares at the market by 0.67 per cent on Tuesday.
At the close of business yesterday, the market capitalisation of the OTC market went down by N4.34 billion to N640.92 billion from N645.26 billion, while the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) decreased by 4.99 points to wrap the session at 737.39 points compared with 742.38 points recorded at the previous session.
The duo of Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Group Plc and Central Securities Clearing Systems (CSCS) Plc were responsible for the poor outing of the unlisted securities market on Tuesday.
NGX Group Plc lost 9 kobo or 0.7 per cent to settle at N13.04 per share compared with the previous day’s N13.13 per share, while CSCS Plc depreciated by N1.04 or 5.8 per cent to finish at N16.95 per unit in contrast to the previous closing price of N17.99 per unit.
However, NASD Plc maintained its upward trajectory during the session as its value further went up by 15 kobo or 1.3 per cent to close at N11.65 per share in contrast to N11.50 per share it closed on Monday.
UBN Property Plc appreciated by 9 kobo or 9.1 per cent to trade at 99 kobo per unit as against 90 kobo per unit of the earlier trading day, while Food Concepts Plc improved by 8 kobo or 9.6 per cent to 83 kobo per unit from 75 kobo per unit.
A look at the level of activity showed that it was a quiet day at the NASD exchange on Tuesday as the volume of shares transacted by investors went down by 99.5 per cent to 7.8 million units from 1.4 billion units traded at the preceding session.
Also, the value of shares decreased by 97.8 per cent to N40.2 million from Monday’s N1.4 billion, while the number of deals reduced by 23.3 per cent to 23 deals from 30 deals of the preceding day.
At the close of transactions, Food Concepts Plc was the most active stock by volume (year-to-date) with 3.2 billion units worth N3.9 billion, Geo Fluids Plc in the second spot has traded 1.0 billion units for N700.1 million, while NGX Group Plc in third place has transacted 454.1 million units for N9.2 billion.
But in terms of value, NGX Group Plc maintained its top position with 454.1 million units worth N9.2 billion, followed by Food Concepts Plc with 3.2 billion units valued at N3.9 billion, and VFD Group Plc with 10.4 million units traded for N3.5 billion.
Dipo Olowookere