The Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE) has revealed that MTN Ghana dominated trading activity on the local bourse to close the second month of this year, exceeding its Initial Public Offering (IPO) price.
In a recent summary of market activities, the Ghana Stock Exchange mentioned that the GSE-Composite Index (GSE-CI) continued its “impressive run,” gaining 8.57 percent during the month of February to bring the year-to-date gain on the equities market to 13.36 percent. This index is derived based on the volume weighted average closing price of all listed stocks.
The performance of the equities market can also be attributed to gains in Information and Communications Technology (ICT) stocks particularly from MTN Ghana. Additionally, the Telecommunications giant declared a final dividend of GH¢0.05 per share, bringing their full year 2020 dividend to GH¢0.08 per share.
“MTN Ghana led the charge, recording a year-to-date increase of 28.13% in its share price and trading above its IPO price again
“MTN Ghana dominated activities with 84.84% and 78.78% of volume and value traded respectively”.
GSE
The Ghana Stock Exchange further asserted that the month under review witnessed volume traded of 44.5 million shares valued at GH¢35.23 million on the equities market.
“The volume and value traded represents a decrease of 53.92% in volume and 49.47% in value as compared to the previous month [January]”.
GSE
The market capitalization increased by 3.29% to settle at GH¢57.15 billion by the end of February 2021, compared to GH¢55.33 billion recorded the previous month. It captures the total market value of all outstanding shares on the local bourse and can be used in determining the worth of various companies listed on the stock exchange.
Also, Jason Fernando, a Value Investing Specialist proposes that the market cap is simple and effective for risk assessment and as such can be helpful to investors in deciding which stocks to purchase and ways to diversify various portfolio with companies of different size.
Likewise, the performance of the Ghana Fixed Income Market (GFIM) was also quite remarkable in the second month of the year with liquidity remaining high, albeit falling below January’s record, the report disclosed.
“Liquidity in the debt market remained high, with Government of Ghana bonds accounting for 12.1 billion (80%) and corporate bonds accounting for 3.05 billion (20%) of the total volume traded during the month.
“Compared to the same period in 2020, the volume trade during February 2021 was 137.52% higher, and the cumulative year-to-date volume traded of 33.30 billion was 134.81% higher.
“The GFIM market set its second highest ever monthly trade volume of 15.15 billion, right on the heels of the January 2021 all-time high of 18.15 billion”.
GSE
Highlighting some upcoming events for the month of March, the Ghana Stock Exchange mentions that it is partnering the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to host an information session today, March 3 on Biodiversity Offsets and Credit Trading scheme .
Also, GSE will mark International Women’s Day by joining 88 other stock exchanges to “Ring the Bell for Gender Equality”. The GFIM plans to launch Frontclear Academy Program to offer training opportunities to market participants.
