For the third straight week, the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD) Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange ended in the negative territory as there was a 0.57 per cent depreciation in the 18th week of trading this year.
This happened as there were two price losers and two price gainers in four days of trading, which saw the market capitalisation drop N10 billion to N1.000 trillion from the preceding week’s N1.010 trillion.
On its part, the NASD Unlisted Securities Index (NSI) lost 4.19 points to wrap the week at 726.02 points compared with 730.21 points recorded in the previous week.
The price decliners were made up of FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc, which slumped 6.9 per cent to end the week at N73.97 per unit versus N79.42 per unit, and Industrial and General Insurance (IGI) Plc lost 12.5 per cent to 7 Kobo per share from 8 Kobo per share.
On the gainers’ angle, Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) recorded a 7.1 per cent rise to end the week at N13.20 per share, in contrast to the previous week’s N12.33 per share, as Geo-Fluids Plc improved by 6.4 per cent to N2.50 per unit versus N2.35 per unit.
In the 18th week, there was a 52.7 per cent decrease in the total value of transactions as investors traded N20.9 million worth of stocks compared to N44.3 million worth of stocks achieved in the previous week.
Also, the volume of trades during the week slumped by 36.4 per cent week-on-week to 12.8 million units compared to the 20.0 million units reported in the previous week.
At the close of the week, IGI Plc was the most traded security by volume with 12.10 million units. Afriland Properties Plc achieved 340,000 units, FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc exchanged 256,225 units, Geo-Fluids Plc traded 53,333 units, and CSCS Plc transacted 11,920 units.
By value, FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc led with N19.1 million, IGI Plc posted N0.8 million, Afriland Properties Plc traded N0.8 million, CSCS Plc recorded N0.2 million, and Geo-Fluids Plc posted N0.1 million.
The NASD OTC market year-to-date (YTD) has witnessed the sale of 1.66 billion stocks valued at N4.34 billion in 1,068 deals.