By Nkiruka Nnorom

AS investors await the release of full year financial reports by quoted companies, analysts and other dealing members in the capital market have said that the expectation will dictate the direction of the market this month starting from this week.

Though they said that the market may not enjoy the level of rally it recorded at the beginning of the year (January), they stated that reactions would be based on the performance of individual companies.

The floor of Stock exchange

According to Mr. David Adonri, Managing Director/CEO, Highcap Securities Limited, the equities market is expected to be stable this week.

However, the level of either upward or downward movement on individual companies would be dependent on how impressive their full year result turns out to be.

He said: “After the January rally, there was correction early in February. Next week, the equities market is expected to be stable with up or down spikes for different stocks based on their full year expectations.

“It is not likely that the market wide rally we saw in January shall be repeated this month. Reactions will be elicited, based on performance of each company”.

In their own view, analysts at Cordros Capital said: “Nigerian equities recorded a strong start to the year, leaning on positive macroeconomic conditions and encouraging market fundamentals.

Our outlook for Nigerian equities remains positive, supported by improving macroeconomic conditions and still-positive market fundamentals. Plus, we look for investors taking position ahead of Q4-17 earnings season”.

They advised investors to pay particular attention to the shares of Access Bank Plc, Chemical and Allied Products Plc, Flour Mills of Nigeria Plc, United Bank for Africa and Forte Oil Plc among others. Meanwhile, investors gained N327 billion last week as the market continues to correct itself.

Consequently, the equities capitalisation rose to N16.019 trillion from N15.692 trillion, representing 2.09 percent increase. Similarly, the All Share Index, ASI, appreciated by 1.98 percent to settle at 44,639.99 points from 43,773.76 basis points.