There was a 0.83 per cent loss at the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange on Wednesday, July 3 on the back of profit-taking in the duo of Aradel Holdings Plc and Afriland Plc.

While the energy firm depreciated by N89.17 to sell at N4,910.83 per unit compared with the previous day’s N5,000.00 per unit, Aradel Holdings Plc, a property company, lost 10 Kobo to trade at N18.00 per share, in contrast to Tuesday’s closing price of N18.10 per share.

Conversely, Purple Real Estate Plc gained 47 Kobo at midweek to quote at N5.15 per unit versus the previous day’s value of N4.68 per unit, and FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc improved its value by 8 Kobo to end at N50.08 per share compared with the N50.00 per share it was sold a day earlier.

At the close of business, the market capitalisation of the bourse went down by N17.41 billion to settle at N2.090 trillion compared with the previous day’s N2.108 trillion and the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) recorded a slide of 12.70 points to end the day at 1,525.77 points as against 1,538.47 points it recorded at the previous session.

The volume of securities traded at the bourse by investors increased yesterday by 130.5 per cent to 275,994 units from the 119,714 units recorded a day earlier, the value of securities transacted by the market participants at the midweek session jumped by 884.2 per cent to N429 million from N45.4 million, and the number of deals surged by 25 per cent to 40 deals from the preceding day’s 32 deals.

Aradel Holdings Plc ended the session as the most active stock by value on a year-to-date basis with 6.4 million units worth N17.4 billion, followed by Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc with 101.6 million units sold for N2.5 billion, and Capital Hotels Plc with 259.6 million units valued at N1.3 billion.

Capital Hotels Plc closed the trading day as the most traded stock by volume on a year-to-date basis with 259.6 million units valued at N1.3 billion, trailed by Industrial and General Insurance (IGI) Plc with 218.8 million units sold for N46.1 million, and Mixta Real Estate Plc with 139.8 million units worth N240.1 million.