Ghana Equity Watch | 3 Aug 2015: Ghana equities begin the week and month on a negative note today …

Accra, Ghana (Capital Markets in Africa):- The Ghana equities began the week and the month on a negative note at the end of Monday’s trading session. Therefore, the market capitalization plunged by GHS 18.95 million to close at GHS 62,865 million relative to market capitalization of GHS 62,884 million recorded at previous trading session.

The benchmark composite index plunged by 3.48 points or 0.16 percent to close the day at 2,194.85 points, representing a year- to- date performance 0f -2.93 percent. The financial Index also plummeted by 5.45 points or 0.24 percent to trade at 2,234.65 points with a year-to-date return of -0.40 percent.

From the market activity perspective, the total volume was 36,216 (a fall of about 85.40 percent from previous trading session total volume of 248,041 shares) and total traded value was GHS 56,045 (a reduction of about 73.31 percent compared with previous trading session value of GHS 210,008).  Ghana Oil had 13,521 shares (almost 37.33 percent of the total volume) to value at GHS 21,376 (about 38.14 percent of the total value traded). Other most actively traded stocks were Societe Generale (recorded 5,100 shares at GHS 7,102), CAL Bank (recorded a volume of 2,391 shares valued at GHS 2,438), Enterprise Group (registered 2,304 shares valued at GHS 4,538) and Ecobank Transnational Incorporation (traded 390 shares with total value of GHS 116). The top five most actively traded stocks by volume accounted for almost 77 percent of the total volume and about 64 percent of the total value traded.

Looking at the price movers and shakers, out of the 14 traded securities via 111 transactions, two gainers and three laggards were recorded, so the market breath/sentiment ends negative. The Ghana Oil surged to GHS 1.58 by gaining GHS 0.01 or 0.64 percent and Enterprise Group added 0.51 percent to trade at GHS 1.97. However, the losers were CAL Bank dropped to GHS 1.02 from GHS 1.03 resulting to 0.97 percent drops and Ecobank Bank plunged by 0.61 percent to end at GHS 8.15. Ghana Commercial Bank also tumbled by 0.23 percent to settle at GHS 4.40.

On the foreign exchange market front, the Ghanaian Cedi continued to drop against major trading currencies. The Cedi traded against the US dollar at GHS 3.4648 by depreciating by 0.29 percent and traded at GHS 3.8256 against the Euro by falling by 1.42 percent. Likewise, the Cedi lost value against British pound and Swiss franc by settling at GHS 5.4211 and GHS 3.5982 by losing 0.72 percent and 0.97 percent respectively. Similarly, the Ghanaian currency dropped by 1.31 percent to close at GHS 0.2747 against South Africa rand.