OVERVIEW
AIICO Balanced Fund is an open-ended mutual fund, investing in Fixed income instruments, Money market instruments and both Quoted and Unquoted equities.
INVESTMENT OBJECTIVE
The investment objective of the Fund is to create medium to long term capital growth as well as yearly income streams from declared dividends for unit holders. The fund also provides investors with the opportunity diversify their investments into products that would hitherto have been more difficult to invest in.
FUND PERFORMANCE
The AIICO balanced fund closed the month of Dec’22 with a YTD return of 10.63%, compared to 6.09% recorded in Nov’ 2022.
In December, the Nigerian Stock Exchange All Share Index (NGX ASI) appreciated by c.7.53% M-o-M, closing at 51,251.06 points, as we witnessed buying sentiments from market participants re-entering the market at attractive levels to close the year. The major drivers were the following bellwethers: AIRTEL, NESTLE and GTCO.
The Treasury Bills market sustained its bullish momentum for majority of the month, as we witnessed heavy demand from market participants amid prolonged ample system liquidity.
At the closing NTB auction, stop rates on the 91-day, 182-day and 364-day papers all closed lower at 2.749%, 7.15% and 8.49% respectively, c.3.67ppts lower on average from 6.50%, 8.05% and 14.84% recorded the previous month.
The local bonds market also traded on a bullish note, with demand seen particularly on the 2032 and 2037 papers as market participants took positions ahead of expected bull run in the early period of 2023.
At the monthly FGN Bond Auction, the Debt Management Office (DMO) lowered the stop rates to 14.600%, 14.7500% and 15.800% across the 2029, 2032 and 2037 papers respectively, from 14.7500%, 15.2000% and 16.2000% recorded the previous month.
