Market rises by 0.12% as investors position ahead of full year results

The usual January momentum continued to dominate Nigeria’s stock trading sessions as investors on Wednesday furthered their positioning ahead of the full-year results of listed companies.

The market has risen this year by 0.79 percent. Stocks like Nigerian Breweries, NAHCO, FCMB and Fidelity Bank helped push the market higher.

Lagos-based Vetiva research analysts had ahead of Wednesday’s trading anticipated investors to start snapping up names in anticipation of the full-year results.

At the close of the trading session on Wednesday, January 4, the market’s benchmark performance indicators – Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) All-Share Index (ASI) and its Market Capitalisation increased from the preceding day’s low of 51,595.66 points and N28.102 trillion respectively to 51,657.56 points and N28.136 trillion.

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Nigerian Breweries moved up from N41 to N45.10, up by N4.10 or 10 percent, followed by NAHCO which rose from N7 to N7.70, up by 70kobo or 10percent.

FCMB moved up from preceding day low of N3.51 to N3.86, up by 35kobo or 9.97percent, while Fidelity Bank rose from N4.36 to N4.79, up by 43kobo or 9.86percent.

In 4,156 deals, investors exchanged 265,725,890 shares valued at N13.528billion.

“We anticipate a muted performance from the NGX in first quarter (Q1) 2023 as focus turns to the general elections in February. However, given our expectation of a recovery in second half (H2) 2023, we continue to anticipate that the NGX will provide double-digit returns in 2023,” said FBNQuest Capital research analysts in their January 4 note to investors.