The Ghana stock market retreated last week, failing to sustain gains with the GSE Composite Index, falling by 0.37 percent to close the week.

Equities remained under pressure throughout the week as investors seem to be responding to the policy hike by the Bank of Ghana Monetary Policy Committee (MPC). The benchmark GSE Composite Index (GSE-CI) pared 0.26 points on the final day of the week to close at 2,554.79 points, representing a 0.01 percent decline. Meanwhile, the decline further extended the month-on-month loss as the local bourse recorded a 4-week loss of 5.34 percent and an overall year-to-date loss of 8.41 percent.

Under the week in review, Total Petroleum Ghana was the only price gainer, with its share price appreciating by 0.99 percent. TOTAL closed its trading week at GHS4.10 per share on the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE), gaining 4 pesewas on its previous share price of GH¢4.06.

However, Total Petroleum Ghana began the year with a share price of GHS5.02 but has since lost 18.3 percent off that price valuation, ranking it 32nd on the GSE in terms of year-to-date performance.

The Laggards of the Last Trading Day of the Week Under Review

On the contrary, the domestic market ended last trading day of the week with three laggards which were dominated by the financial sector stocks. The losers were led by Ecobank Transnational Incorporated with a 5.26 percent depreciation. It was followed by GCB Bank PLC which closed its trading day (Friday, May 27, 2022) at GHS5.06 per share on the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE), recording a 1 pesewa drop from its previous closing price of GHS5.07.

Cal Bank was another laggard with a 4.43 percent decline in its share price. Cal Bank plummeted from GH¢0.91 to close the week at GH¢0.87.

Meanwhile, Cal Bank is the third most traded stock on the Ghana Stock Exchange over the past three months (Feb 23 – May 27, 2022). CAL has traded a total volume of 6.44 million shares valued at GHS 5.51 million over the period, with an average of 102,173 traded shares per session. A volume high of 1.77 million was achieved on March 4, for the same period.

The fall in financial stocks led to the GSE Financial Stocks Index (GSE-FSI) also decreasing by 0.02 points to settle at 2,192.57 points, making it a 1-week loss of 0.81 percent, a month on month loss of 1.4 percent, and a year-to-date gain of 1.89 percent.

Trading Activity on the Final Trading Session of the Week

At the end of the final weekday of trading on the Ghana stock market, a total of 22,847 shares, corresponding to a market value of GHS 73,236.47, were traded. Compared with the previous GSE trading day (Thursday, May 26), Friday’s data showed a 9 percent decline in volume but a 40 percent improvement in turnover.

Enterprise Group recorded the highest volume of 9,022 traded shares, followed by GCB Bank with 5,614 traded shares. CAL Bank also managed to secure 3,681 percent, while MTN Ghana with 1,418 traded shares.

The week ended with market capitalization plummeting by GHS200 million from GHS 62.5 billion to close the week at GHS 62.3 billion.