Investors of Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE) cashed in some gains, but traders’ appetite in a wide range of stocks, including mid-caps, turned things around for the market, with the majority of listed companies ending up with gains.

The benchmark of the Ghana stock market somehow avoided posting a loss on Wednesday, 15th March 2023, as a few blue chips managed to lift it out of the red and into the blue for yet another day, taking it to a fresh high.

Out of the 19 GSE equities that participated in midweek trade, the session ended with three gainers and one loser. Unilever Ghana led the gainers with 9.76% share price appreciation closing at GHS 3.60 per share, followed by MTN Ghana (+5.45%) and NewGold ETF (+3.17%). The only equity that lost value on the day was Societe Generale Ghana (-10%).

Unilever Ghana Limited (UNIL) closed the trading day (Wednesday, March 15, 2023) at GHS3.60 per share on the Ghana Stock Exchange, recording a GHS0.32 gain over its previous closing price of GHS3.28. The latest gain means that Unilever has made 6 consecutive gains spanning from last week.

The second gainer was MTN Ghana. The Telco giant extended it’s gaining streak by one more day. MTNGH closed its trading day (Wednesday, March 15, 2023) at GHS1.16 per share on the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE), recording a 6 pesewa gain over its previous closing price of GHS1.10. MTN began the year with a share price of GHS0.88 and has since gained 31.8% on that price valuation, ranking it third on the GSE in terms of year-to-date performance.

MTN Ghana continues to dominate the volume of shares traded. It is the number one most traded stock on the Ghana Stock Exchange over the past three months (Dec 12, 2022 – Mar 15, 2023). MTNGH has traded a total volume of 29.1 million shares valued at GHS 26 million over the period, with an average of 461,356 traded shares per session.

NewGold ETF (GLD) completed the list of gainers by closing its trading day at GHS236.25 per share on the Ghana Stock Exchange, recording GHS7.25 gain over its previous closing price of GHS229.00. NewGold ETF began the year with a share price of GHS217.80 and has since gained 8.47% on that price valuation, ranking it fourth on the GSE in terms of year-to-date performance.

The Only Loser on the Day

Societe Generale Ghana Ltd. (SOGEGH) was the only laggard on the day. SOGEGH closed its trading day at GHS0.81 per share on the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE), recording a 9 pesewa drop from its previous closing price of GHS0.90.

Societe Generale began the year with a share price of GHS1.00 but has since lost 19% off that price valuation, ranking it 34th on the GSE in terms of year-to-date performance. Shareholders’ worries are compounded by the fact that SOGEGH has lost 10% of the stock’s value from February 14, to date.

Societe Generale Ghana is the eighth most traded stock on the Ghana Stock Exchange over the past three months (Dec 12, 2022 – Mar 15, 2023). SOGEGH has traded a total volume of 345,985 shares valued at GHS 344,920 over the period, with an average of 5,492 traded shares per session. A volume high of 332,388 was achieved on December 23 for the same period.

Societe Generale Ghana Limited is currently the 14th most valuable stock on the GSE with a market capitalization of GHS 574 million, which is about 0.857% of the Ghana Stock Exchange equity market.

Regarding the performance of GSE market indices, the benchmark GSE Composite Index (GSE-CI) soared 66.45 (2.55%) points to close at 2,672.51, representing a 1-week gain of 11.74%, a 4-week gain of 10.88%, and an overall year-to-date gain of 9.35%.

The GSE Financial Stocks Index (GSE-FSI), on the other hand, decreased by 0.59% to 1,873.79 points, making it a 1-week loss of 0.64%, a 4-week loss of 5.55%, and a year-to-date loss of 8.71%.

At the end of the trading session on the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE), a total of 134,929 shares, corresponding to a market value of GHS 202,876.61, were traded.

Ghana Oil Company recorded the highest volume of 93,543 traded shares, followed by CAL Bank (25,864), MTN Ghana (5,006) and Unilever Ghana (3,001).