The stock market continued its 2022 end of year upward trend into the New Year (2023) with investors recording N188 billion gains at the opening session yesterday.
Stock or equity market researchers had predicted that the bulls would retain their dominance in the first week and first month of the year as investors position to benefit from 2022 full year earnings releases.
Analysis of the trading activity yesterday showed that the value of all listed equities (market capitalisation) rose by 0.67 percent to close at N28.103 trillion from N27.915 trillion.
The All Share Index (ASI) also rose by the same margin to close at N51,595.66 points from 51,251.06 points.
The positive performance was driven primarily by gains in tier-1 banks and other big capitalised stocks with BUA Foods Plc (10%), followed by Access Bank Plc (3.53%), FBN Holdings Plc (3.21%) and GTBank Plc (1.09%).
The sectoral performance for the day was largely positive. With the exception of the oil & gas sector that recorded a 0.02 percent decline, three sectors – consumer goods, banking, and insurance – advanced by 3.6 percent, 2.6 percent, and 2.55 percent respectively, while the industrial goods sector closed flat.