By Adedapo Adesanya
The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange opened the new week in the bullish territory following a positive price movement in the shares of a market bellwether, FreislandCampina WAMCO Nigeria Plc, raising the market higher by 0.79 per cent at the close of transactions.
On Monday, the equity value of the milk-producing company rose by N5 or 3.9 per cent to close at N130.00 per unit from the previous session’s N125.00 per unit.
As a result of this growth, the market capitalisation of the exchange increased by N4.88 billion to close at N620.79 billion versus the preceding day’s N615.91 billion.
Equally, the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) grew by 5.91 points to end the day at 751.40 points as against 745.49 points it recorded last Friday.
A look at the level of activities showed that there was a fall in the volume of securities traded by investors yesterday as only 45,554 units were exchanged, 97.8 per cent lower than the 2.1 million units transacted at the last session.
Likewise, there was a drop in the value of shares traded by market participants as only shares worth N1.6 million were recorded at the unlisted securities market, 54.8 per cent lower than the N3.6 million made at the preceding session.
These transactions were executed in seven deals compared with the nine deals carried out last Friday, indicating a decline of 22.2 per cent.
When the market closed for the session, Food Concepts Plc remained as the most active stock by volume (year-to-date) as it has traded 11.4 billion units of its shares for N14.4 billion. Lighthouse Financial Service Plc trailed with 1.0 billion units traded for N546.2 billion, and Geo Fluids Plc, which exchanged 1.0 billion units worth N700.1 million.
In terms of value, Food Concepts Plc was also on top with the sale of 11.4 billion units of its securities for N14.4 billion, followed by Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Group Plc with 456.5 million units of its securities valued at N9.2 billion, and VFD Group Plc with 10.4 million units valued at N3.5 billion.
