Ghana Equity Markets | 23 Sep 2015: 3.44% Falls in Financial Sector Pull Ghana Composite Index 9bps Lower

Accra, Ghana Capital Markets in Africa  —  Ghana Stock Exchange equity markets started the week in bearish mood. The equities market capitalization lost GHS 10.02 million (about US$ 2.64 million) to close at GHS 62,329.54 million relative to market capitalization of GHS 62,339.27 recorded at previous trading session.

The benchmark composite index lost 0.09 percent or 1.83 points to close the day at 2,037.29 points, representing a year-to-date performance 0f -9.90 percent. The financial Index sagged by 3.44 percent or 0.17 points to trade at 1,989.11 with a year-to-date return of -11.34 percent.

From the market activity perspective, the total volume was 253,597 (a fall of about 47.15 percent from previous trading session total volume of 479,522 shares) and total traded value was GHS 199,834 million (a decreased of about 53.15 percent compared with previous trading session value of GHS 426,522.70). Ghana Oil Limited recorded 67,470 shares (almost 33.75 percent of the total volume) to value at GHS 94,458 (about 37.25 percent of the total value traded). Other most actively traded stocks were CAL Bank (recorded 64,100 shares at GHS 53,991), PZ Cussons  (recorded a volume of 44,954 shares valued at GHS 44,954), Ecobank Transnational Incorporation (registered 13,511 shares valued at GHS 4,053) and Standard Chartered (traded 4,240 shares with total value of GHS 68,985). The top five most actively traded stocks by volume accounted for almost 97.21 percent of the total volume and about 93.4 percent of the total value traded.

Looking at the price movers and shakers, out of the 14 traded securities via 91 transactions, three gainers and two losers were recorded, so the market breath/sentiment ended positive. Aluworks surged to GHS 0.06 by adding GHS 0.01 or 20.00 percent, Fan Milk soared to GHS 6.79 from GHS 0.01 by gaining 0.15 percent and Standard Chartered Bank  increased by 0.06 percent to trade at GHS 16.27. Whereas, HFC Bank sagged by 0.99 percent to end at GHS 1.00 and Ecobank Ghana plunged by 0.51 percent to close at GHS 7.80.  

On the foreign exchange market front, the Ghanaian Cedi appreciated against major trading currencies. The Cedi traded against the US dollar at GHS 3.7931 after appreciated by  0.47 percent and traded at GHS 4.2489 against the Euro after adding by 0.05 percent. The Cedi appreciated against Swiss franc to settle at GHS 3.8879 after surging by 0.14 percent. Ghanaian currency surged by 0.84 percent to close at GHS 5.7568 and soared 0.97 percent to end at GHS 0.2736 against British pound and South Africa rand respectively.