Ghana Equity Markets | 29 Sep 2015: Bear Persists, Market Cap US$57 Million down …

Accra, Ghana Capital Markets in Africa  —  On Tuesday, Ghanaian equity markets continued the bearish mood, as a result equities market capitalization lost GHS 214 million (about US$ 57 million) to close at GHS 62,115.13 million relative to market capitalization of GHS 62,329.54 recorded at previous trading session.

The benchmark composite index sagged by 1.98 percent or 40.3 points to close the day at 1,995.99 points, representing a year-to-date performance 0f -11.68 percent. The financial Index slumped by 2.84 percent or 56.54 points to trade at 1,932.57 with a year-to-date return of -11.86 percent.

From the market activity perspective, the total volume was 82,544 (a fall of about 67.45 percent from previous trading session total volume of 253,597 shares) and total traded value was GHS 199,834 (a decreased of about 53.15 percent compared with previous trading session value of GHS 199,834). UT Bank recorded 24,425 shares (almost 29.59 percent of the total volume) to value at GHS 2,553 (about 2.73 percent of the total value traded). Other most actively traded stocks were SIC Insurance (recorded 16,600 shares at GHS 1,995), Ghana Commercial Bank  (recorded a volume of 9,218 shares valued at GHS 34,207), Societe Generale (registered 8,085 shares valued at GHS 6,468) and Ecobank Ghana (traded 4,300 shares with total value of GHS 30,760). The top five most actively traded stocks by volume accounted for almost 76 percent of the total volume and about 81.2 percent of the total value traded.

Looking at the price movers and shakers, out of the 15 traded securities via 105 transactions, one gainer and one loser were recorded, so the market breath/sentiment ended neutral. Unilever Ghana increased to GHS 7.70 by adding GHS 0.05 or 0.65 percent while Ecobank Ghana sagged by 9.74 percent to end at GHS 7.04.

 On the foreign exchange market front, the Ghanaian Cedi appreciated against major trading currencies. The Cedi traded against the US dollar at GHS 3.7779 after appreciated by  0.40 percent and traded at GHS 4.2349 against the Euro after adding by 0.33 percent. The Cedi appreciated against Swiss franc to settle at GHS 3.8689 after surging by 0.49 percent. Ghanaian currency surged by 0.33 percent to close at GHS 5.7377 and soared 1.47 percent to end at GHS 0.2696 against British pound and South Africa rand respectively.