The Ghana Stock Market came alive again in mid-week halting its corrective consecutive days of decline with a massive gain owing largely to the decision of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) to maintain the policy rate on the face of spiraling inflation rate.

A total of GHS 60,933.83 was gained by investors on Wednesday, July 27, 2022 as the trading session ended on a positive note in the midst of price appreciation in selected large-cap names and recoveries in other stocks with beaten-down prices as a result of the Monetary Policy rate outcome.

The return of strong investor confidence is highly evident in the performance of some sector stocks resulting from the broad-based rally on the local bourse. This spectacular performance of the local bourse may resonate with domestic institutional investors to begin to take a big bet on the local equities.

The profit taking moment was buoyed by gains recorded in some of the tickers within the telecommunication sector and the banking sector stocks.

In total, significant number of GSE listed equities (19) participated in trading, ending with two gainers and no losers. The two gainers that were responsible for the gains on the local bourse were MTN Ghana (+9.64%) and Trust Bank Gambia (+9.09%)

MTN Ghana closed its trading day at GHS0.91 per share on the local bourse, recording GHS0.08 gain over its previous closing price of GHS0.83. The gains will give some relief to MTN investors despite knowing that MTN which began the year with a share price of GHS1.11 has since lost 18% off that price valuation, ranking it 33rd on the GSE in terms of year-to-date performance.

In the financial sector stocks, Trust Bank Gambia Limited (TBL) closed its trading day at GHS0.48 per share on the Ghana Stock Exchange, recording a 4 pesewa gain over its previous closing price of GHS0.44. Trust Bank Gambia began the year with a share price of GHS0.34 and has since gained 41.2% on that price valuation, ranking it second on the GSE in terms of year-to-date performance. In the intervening time, shareholders can be optimistic about TBL knowing the stock has accrued 9% over the past four-week period- second best on GSE.

Both Indices Increase

A cursory analysis points to the fact that the stellar outing has majorly improved investor sentiment which led to a strong buying interest which in turn spurred bullish sentiments on the benchmark indexes. The benchmark GSE Composite Index (GSE-CI) soared 85.72 (3.51%) points to close at 2,525.34 points, representing a week-on-week gain of 3.36 percent. Unfortunately, this led to a month-on-month loss of 0.66 percent, and an overall year-to-date loss of 9.46 percent.

Similarly, the GSE Financial Stocks Index (GSE-FSI) also increased by 0.07 percent to settle at 2,115.91 points, making it a 1-week loss of 0.24 percent, a 4-week loss of 2.51 percent, and a year-to-date loss of 1.67 percent.

Heading into the second half of the week, equities analysts have expressed the view that there exist attractive buying opportunities for profit taking in the market on key sectors like consumer goods, and petroleum sector while the expectation for inflation and depreciation increase, is likely going to weigh on broad based sentiments in the market.