Unlisted Securities Market Starts October on Negative Note, Loses 0.20%

By Adedapo Adesanya

The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange commenced the first trading session in October 2023 on the wrong foot after it shed 0.20 per cent on Tuesday.

The unlisted securities market closed its doors to traders on Monday because of the public holiday declared by the federal government to mark Nigeria’s 63rd Independence Day.

When the market opened for business yesterday, it shrank due to the losses posted by the duo of FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc and Nipco Plc, outweighing the rise in Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc.

FrieslandCampina depreciated by N1.60 to close the day at N73.30 per share versus last Friday’s N74.90 per share, and Nipco Plc declined by N8.50 to close at N86.50 per unit, in contrast to the preceding session’s N95.00 per unit.

As for the sole gainer, CSCS Plc, it recorded a 50 Kobo improvement to finish at N18.00 per share compared with the preceding closing price of N17.50 per share.

At the close of business, the NASD Unlisted Securities Index (NSI) went down by 1.63 points to end the day at 814.02 points as against the 815.65 points it recorded at the previous session, while the market capitalisation depleted by N1.22 billion to close at N1.104 trillion versus last Friday’s N1.105 trillion.

During the trading day, the volume of securities traded at the bourse went down by 49.70 per cent to 116,434 units from 231,488 units of securities, and the number of deals shrank by 52.6 per cent to nine deals from the 19 deals achieved in the preceding trading session, while the value of shares bought and sold rose by 2.7 per cent to N15.1 million from N14.7 million.

The most traded stock by volume (year-to-date) was CSCS Plc with the sale of 1.1 billion units for N22.2 billion, trailed by UBN Property Plc with 946.2 million units valued at N942.2 million, and Geo-Fluids Plc with 667.3 million units worth N1.2 billion.

Also, CSCS Plc was the most traded stock by value (year-to-date) with 1.1 billion units worth N22.2 billion, trailed by VFD Group with 26.6 million units valued at N5.9 billion, and Aradel Holdings Plc with 6.2 million units valued at N2.2 billion.