The Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE) at the end of trading session on Tuesday, May 11, 2022 recorded a decline in market capitalization.

According to the GSE market summary report, the GSE market capitalization plummeted by GH¢100 million, ending the day at GH¢63.8 billion. Previously, the market capitalization stood at GH¢63.9 billion.

Meanwhile, the dip in market capitalization also affected major indices on the market. The Ghana Stock Exchange Composite Index (GSE-CI), a key performance indicator of stocks on the local bourse, has recorded a year-on-year decline of about 3.72 percent in its growth. The benchmark GSE Composite Index (GSE-CI) also pared by 5.24 points to close at 2,685.70 points. This equates to a decline of 0.19 per cent, representing a week on week loss of 0.2 per cent, and a further month on month loss of 0.31 per cent.

That notwithstanding, the GSE Financial Stocks Index (GSE-FSI) maintained its value at 2,209.24 points, making it a week on week loss of 0.02 per cent, a 4-week loss of 0.27 per cent, and a year-to-date gain of 2.67 per cent.

Market Activity Improves

At the end of Tuesday’s trading session on the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE), a total of 66,121 shares, corresponding to a market value of GH¢ 82,078.56, were traded. Compared with the previous GSE trading day (Monday, May 9), Tueday’s data showed 135 per cent improvement in volume and 163 per cent improvement in turnover.

In total, 15 GSE listed equities participated in trading, ending with one loser, namely Total Petroleum Ghana, with 9.82% share price depreciation.

Total Petroleum Ghana (TOTAL) closed its last trading day (Tuesday, May 10, 2022) at GH¢4.50 per share on the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE), recording a 9.8 per cent drop from its previous closing price of GH¢4.99. However, Total Petroleum began the year with a share price of GHS5.02 but has since lost 10.4 per cent off that price valuation, ranking it 33rd on the GSE in terms of year-to-date performance.

Total Petroleum Ghana, moreover is the 20th most traded stock on the Ghana Stock Exchange over the past three months (Feb 4 – May 10, 2022). TOTAL has traded a total volume of 38,321 shares valued at GHS 187,544 over the period, with an average of 608 traded shares per session. A volume high of 20,684 was achieved on April 6, for the same period.

On the volume front, MTN Ghana recorded the highest volume of 17,405 traded shares, it was followed by Produce Buying Company with 15,000 traded volume of shares. Societe Generale Ghana PLC also recorded 10,260 traded shares and Total Petroleum Ghana with 7,555 traded shares.

According to experts, the decline in the key performance indicators of stocks on the local bourse can be attributed to investors minimizing their exposure to risk from the adverse economic conditions in the country.