Unlisted Securities Extend Rally by 0.38% at Midweek

By Adedapo Adesanya

The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange returned from the Eid-el-Maulud holiday on Wednesday, October 20 on a positive note with the bulls retaining control of the floor by a further gain of 0.38 per cent.

This was made possible by the growth in the share prices of three securities; Niger Delta Exploration and Production (NDEP) Plc, NASD Plc and Central Securities Clearing Systems (CSCS) Plc.

The price of NDEP Plc went up by N5 or 2 per cent to close at N250.00 per unit as against N245.00 per unit of the preceding session, while NDEP Plc rose by N1.15 or 8.5 per cent to sell at N13.50 per share compared to N12.35 per share it traded on Monday, with CSCS Plc rising by 19 kobo or 1.1 per cent to settle at N16.80 per unit versus the previous session’s N16.61 per unit.

As a result of the gains posted by the trio, the NASD market capitalisation jumped by N2.36 billion from N617.20 billion to N619.56 billion, while the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) appreciated by 2.87 points to end the day at 749.92 points as against 747.05 points it recorded at the previous session.

At the unlisted securities market yesterday, the volume of securities traded went up by 492.5 per cent to 1.4 million units from the 237,189 units transacted by market participants on Monday.

Likewise, the value of shares traded at the bourse at the midweek session increased by 393.6 per cent to N24.8 million from the previous session’s N5.0 million and these transactions were executed in 22 deals, 120 per cent higher than the 10 deals carried out on Monday.

When the market closed for the day, Food Concepts Plc was the most active stock by volume (year-to-date) with 11.4 billion units of its shares worth N14.4 billion. Lighthouse Financial Service Plc trailed with the sale of 1.1 billion units valued at N546.1 million, while Geo Fluids Plc was in third place with 1.0 billion units worth N700.1 million.

In terms of value, Food Concepts Plc was also the most active stock since the year started as 11.4 billion units of its traded securities valued at N14.4 billion have been transacted by investors. It was followed by Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Group Plc with 456.4 million units worth N9.2 billion, while VFD Group Plc was third with 10.4 million units valued at N3.5 billion.