By Adedapo Adesanya
The unlisted securities market in Nigeria opened the new trading week on a positive note after it closed 1.26 per cent on Tuesday.
It was the first day of transactions on the floor of the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange after the holiday declared by the federal government for Monday in commemoration of this year’s Workers’ Day.
The NASD Unlisted Securities Index (NSI) increased by 9.98 points yesterday to wrap the session at a new Year-to-Date (YTD) high of 799.87 points compared with 789.89 points recorded last Friday.
In the same vein, the market capitalisation of the bourse expanded by N7.1 billion to close the day at a new YTD high of N568.56 billion in contrast to N561.46 billion it closed at the previous session.
Business Post reports that the bullish run was extended on Tuesday by the positive price movement in the shares of Central Securities Clearing Systems (CSCS) Plc.
CSCS appreciated at the alternative exchange yesterday by N1.60 or 9.6 per cent to settle at N18.35 per unit as against N16.75 per unit of the preceding session.
But it was not all rosy during the session as the share price of Niger Delta Exploration and Production (NDEP) Plc went down by N5 or 1.5 per cent to close at N335 per unit versus N340 per unit, while Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Group Plc dropped 42 kobo to close at N29.84 per share compared with the previous N30.26 per share.
At the market, the total units of shares traded went down by 52.8 per cent to 4.7 million units from 9.8 million units recorded at the previous session.
Equally, the value of transactions dropped by 50.1 per cent to N148.7 million from N297.8 million, while the number of deals increased by 5.7 per cent to 56 deals from 53 deals.
These deals were executed on five companies led by the NGX Group with 48 deals, CSCS with three deals, FrieslandCampina WAMCO Nigeria Plc with three deals, NDEP with one deal and Air Liquide Plc also with one deal.
At the close of business, NGX Group was the most active stock by volume (year-to-date) with 132.8 million units worth N3.0 billion, followed by CSCS with 25.7 million units worth N392.1 million and UBN Property Plc with 21.9 million units worth N24.6 million.
In terms of value (year-to-date), NGX Group was also the most traded with 132.8 million units valued at N3.0 billion. NDEP closely followed with 2.3 million units worth N720.2 million, while Friesland was third with 4.2 million units valued at N524.8 million.
