By Adedapo Adesanya
The performance of the unlisted securities market in Nigeria remained bearish on Tuesday as it went down by 0.33 per cent at the close of business.
The market suffered the second loss in the week and the first in the last month of the year, no thanks to Niger Delta Exploration and Production (NDEP) Plc, which had a bad day on the NASD Over-the-Counter Securities Exchange.
Business Post reports that the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) depreciated by 2.44 points yesterday to close at 729.85 points in contrast to 732.29 points of the previous day, while the market capitalisation reduced by N1.81 billion to settle at N542.50 billion compared with N544.31 billion it ended on Monday.
As earlier stated, the poor performance of the market was caused by the negative price movement in the shares of the oil and gas investment company as it lost N10 or 3.2 per cent to close at N300 per share versus N310 per share.
During the session, the volume of transactions fell by 88.6 per cent as 89,500 units were exchanged compared to 784,026 units of Monday, while the value of the trades equally went down by 92.6 per cent to N17.9 million from N242.8 million.
However, there was a rise in the total number of deals executed by traders at the market on Tuesday. A total of 10 deals were executed during the session in contrast to the eight deals executed on Monday, indicating a 25 per cent rise.
The day’s single decliner, NDEP Plc, made three deals, same as FrieslandCampina WAMCO Nigeria Plc and Central Securities Clearing Systems (CSCS) Plc. The remaining one deal was executed by Afriland Properties Plc.
At the close of business yesterday, ARM Life Plc remained as the most traded stock by volume (year-to-date) with 7.4 billion units of its shares worth N4.6 billion. CSCS Plc was in second place with 204.6 million units traded at N2.7 billion, while Food Concepts Plc followed in third place with 152.1 million units traded at N109.4 million.
In terms of the value of trades (year-to-date), ARM Life Plc also remained on top for trading 7.4 billion units worth N4.6 billion, while NDEP Plc has transacted 11.7 million units valued at N3.6 billion, with CSCS Plc exchanging 204.6 million valued at N2.7 billion.
