OTC Stock Exchange Gains 0.09% as Turnover Improves

By Adedapo Adesanya

Transactions on the floor of the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange closed higher by 0.09 per cent on Wednesday, March 23 amid improvement in the level of activity.

It was the first time this week the OTC stock exchange was closing in the green territory this week and it was buoyed by renewed interest in unlisted securities.

The market had been very dull before yesterday as there was no trade on Monday and the next day, it closed flat.

It was observed that the good performance at the midweek session was triggered by gains posted by NASD Plc, which rose by N1.14 or 9.1 per cent to settle at N12.59 per unit compared with the previous closing price of N11.45 per unit.

At the close of transactions, the market capitalisation of the exchange grew by N510 million to N586.97 billion from N586.46 billion, while the NASD Unlisted Securities Index (NSI) increased by 0.62 basis points to end the day at 710.81 points as against 710.19 points it recorded a day earlier.

A look at the level of activity showed that a total of 2.2 million units of securities were transacted on Wednesday compared with the 1,124 units of securities transacted on Tuesday, indicating a 200,143,004.9 per cent jump in the trading volume.

In the same pattern, the value of trades increased during the session by 870,344.4 per cent to N1.2 billion from the N139,938 recorded at the preceding session, while the number of deals rose by 300 per cent to four deals from the one deal reported on Tuesday.

The most active stock by volume on a year-to-date basis was AG Mortgage Plc with the sale of 2.3 billion units valued at N1.2 billion, trailed by Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc with 658.8 million units worth N13.8 billion, and NASD Plc with 36.4 units valued at N371.4 million.

However, the most traded stock by value on a year-to-date basis was CSCS Plc with the sale of 658.8 million units for N13.8 billion, followed by AG Mortgage Plc with 2.3 billion units valued at N1.2 billion, and NASD Plc with 36.4 million units worth N371.4 million.