Unlisted Securities Investors Lose N30bn in One Week

By Adedapo Adesanya

Those who buy and sell stocks via the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD) Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange lost about N30 billion last week, which was the 31st week of trading in 2022.

Business Post reports that the market barometers pointed south in the week as a result of the decline in the share price of FrieslandCampina WAMCO Nigeria Plc and NASD Plc, with the former losing 13.9 per cent to close at N90.00 per unit in contrast to the preceding week’s N104.50 per unit, while the latter shed 9.8 per cent to trade at N16.19 per share versus the earlier week’s value of N17.95 per share.

The duo erased the 5.8 per cent week-on-week growth posted by Citi Trust Plc, which finished at N11.00 per share compared with the N10.40 per share it quoted the previous week.

Consequently, the market capitalisation went down by 2.8 per cent to N1.000 trillion from the preceding week’s N1.030 trillion as the NASD Unlisted Securities Index (NSI) lost 21.7 points to settle at 761.27 points compared with 782.97 points.

In the week, the total value of trades increased by 799.5 per cent to N304.0 million from N33.8 million, while the volume of trades increased by 95.7 per cent to 1.7 million units from 873,608 units, with the number of deals decreasing by 18.9 per cent to 43 trades from 53 trades of the previous week.

A breakdown showed that Niger Delta Exploration and Production (NDEP) Plc was the most traded security by volume with 1.0 million units, Food Concepts Plc traded 348,214 units, Nipco Plc exchanged 140,000 units, CitiTrust Holdings Plc traded 102,000 units, while NASD Plc sold 45,000 units.

In terms of the value of trades in the week, NDEP Plc topped with N287.1 million, Nipco Plc recorded N8.1 million, FrieslandCampina WAMCO Nigeria Plc traded N3.9 million, VFD Group Plc posted N2.5 million, while Citi Trust Plc had N1.1 million.

On a year-to-date basis, unlisted securities investors have transacted 3.2 billion units worth N22.4 billion in 1,777 deals at the NASD OTC exchange, with the NSI posting a year-to-date gain of 2.5 per cent.