By Adedapo Adesanya
On Friday, the unlisted securities market further appreciated by 1.53 per cent and it was the fourth trading session the market was closing bullish.
The growth reported yesterday at the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange was buoyed by an increase in the share price of FrieslandCampina WAMCO Nigeria Plc and the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Group Plc.
Friesland appreciated by N8.5 or 6.6 per cent to close the session at N128.50 per share in contrast to N128 per share it ended the previous session, while NGX Group improved by N1.43 or 6.9 per cent to finish at N20.80 per unit versus the previous N19.37 per unit.
Unlike the preceding trading days, the market was without a price declined but the gains of the session expanded the market capitalisation of the exchange by N8.30 billion to N549.61 billion from N541.31 billion, while the NASD Security Index (NSI) rose by 11.67 points to close at 773.22 points compared with from 761.55 points of Thursday.
During the session, the total volume of trades transacted dropped 23.6 per cent as 2.6 million units of securities were traded as against 3.4 million traded on Thursday.
In the same trend, the total value of trades went down by 20.9 per cent to N54.8 million on Friday from N69.3 million achieved the previous session.
The number of deals, however, rose by 16.3 per cent to 50 deals from 43 deals and these trades were carried out on four companies led by NGX Group with 44 deals. Central Securities Clearing Systems (CSCS) Plc executed three deals, UBN Property Plc carried out two deals, while Friesland executed a single deal.
At the close of business, NGX Group was the most active stock by volume (year-to-date) for transacting 249.1 million units for N5.7 billion. Swap Technologies & Telecomms Plc was in second place with 46.6 million units worth N41.0 million while CSCS Plc held the third position with 29.1 million units worth N452.1 million.
Also, NGX Group was the most active stock by value (year-to-date) for trading 249.1 million securities worth N5.7 billion. NDEP Plc remained in the second spot with 2.9 million securities worth N882.5 million, while Friesland has exchanged 5.7 million securities worth N725.7 million.
