The Ghanaian Equities market halted its corrective decline on Monday, February 14, 2022 as benchmark indices staged a strong pullback but unable to cross the line, ending on a flat base.

The market opened on a positive note amid the cherry merry of the Valentine’s day celebration. It soon nosedived into the red zone as the stocks looked destined to end in the red zone on the red day.

At the end of the trading day, fourteen (14) GSE equities participated in trading. There were no gainers nor losers. That means that the market ended the day as it started.

Despite taking a negative turn on last week day of last week, the Ghana Stock Exchange Index posted 0.24 percent week on week gains as earnings results continue to shape market sentiment and as the market witnessed some significant buy-activity in the banking sector that weighed on the index performance with a slight recovery in the banking space led by Cal Bank, Ecobank Transnational Incorporated and Standard Chartered.

On the other hand, the benchmark GSE Composite Index (GSE-CI) did not see any change, closing at the same mark as it opened at 2,730.37 points. As a result, it led to a month on month loss of 1.27 percent, and an overall year-to-date loss of 2.11 percent.

The GSE Financial Stocks Index (GSE-FSI) maintained its value at 2,117.65 points, making it a week on week loss of 0.2 percent, a month on month loss of 1.64 percent, and a year-to-date loss of 1.59 percent.

Overall, the level of trading activities across the market ended in the red as the total value and volume traded during the first week day declined by 69 percent and 28 percent, respectively.

Volume of Shares Traded

At the end of the first weekday of trading on the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE), a total of 611,067 shares, corresponding to a market value of GHS 531,241.30, were traded.

Leading the charts for the most traded sector by volume was the banking sector with CAL Bank recording the highest volume of 599,980 traded shares. This was followed by the telecommunication sector, MTN Ghana recording 7,739 traded shares. Another banking stocks followed with Ecobank Transnational securing 1,726 traded shares while Standard Chartered Bank also managed 538.

Last week, major buying activities in banking tickers such as Cal Bank Plc, Ecobank Transnational Incorporation drove a positive outing for some major stocks on the local bourse as the benchmark index and market capitalization inched northward to close the week. However, the narrative was not the same on the first week day of trading session as the market capitalization plummeted from GH¢63,7 billion that was previously recorded to the current market capitalization of GH¢63.2 billion.

Analysts described the recent trading activities as aggressive profit-taking, coupled with concerns over macroeconomic conditions such as: inflation, foreign exchange volatility, fiscal deficit, and uncertainty over the impending E-levy continues to bite.

Going into the rest of the new week, analysts expect mixed sentiment, amid cherry-picking activities to see off the new week.