The first quarter in 2023 offered glimpse of hope to the local bourse as it leapfrogged its successive quarter performances since last year to end the first quarter of the year with a positive market indices.

In the first quarter, the Ghana Stock Exchange Composite Index (GSE-CI) grew by 14.01% in March 2023 compared to previous month, bringing the year-to-date gain to 12.33 percent.

According to the March 2023 Market Report from the Ghana Stock Exchange, the continued rally of the GSE-CI was underpinned by dividend announcements from some listed companies and investors seeking to diversify their holdings.

Volumes and values traded were up significantly by 2,730% and 588% respectively, over the previous month mostly due to block trades in MTN Ghana shares.

Total Energies shares grew by 39.82 percent during the period, and that of MTN Ghana shares also grew by 35.87 percent. The rest are Unilever Ghana (33.78%), Benso Oil Palm Plantation (BOPP) (20.93%), and Guinness Ghana Breweries Limited (9.49%) were the top five price gainers of the month.

The current share price of MTN Ghana (MTNGH) is GHS1.26. MTN began the year with a share price of GHS0.88 and has since gained 43.2% on that price valuation, ranking it third on the GSE in terms of year-to-date performance. Shareholders can be optimistic about MTNGH knowing the stock has accrued 33% over the past four-week period alone—third best on GSE.

MTN Ghana is the number one most traded stock on the Ghana Stock Exchange over the past three months. MTNGH has traded a total volume of 171 million shares valued at GHS 156 million over the period, with an average of 2.72 million traded shares per session. A volume high of 160 million was achieved on March 24, for the same period.

The current share price of TotalEnergies Marketing Ghana (TOTAL) is GHS 6.39. TotalEnergies began the year with a share price of GHS4.00 and has since gained 59.8% on that price valuation, ranking it second on the GSE in terms of year-to-date performance. Shareholders can be optimistic about TOTAL knowing the stock has accrued 6% over the past four-week period—fifth best on GSE.

TotalEnergies Marketing Ghana is the eighth most traded stock on the Ghana Stock Exchange over the past three months (Jan 6 – Apr 6, 2023). TOTAL has traded a total volume of 162,076 shares valued at GHS 895,722 over the period, with an average of 2,573 traded shares per session. A volume high of 41,152 was achieved on January 30 for the same period.

GSE Fixed Income Market Dips

On the other hand, the GSE’s Ghana Fixed Income Market closed March 2023 with a volume traded of 5.57 billion, a decline of 39.26 percent and 80.18 percent respectively over the previous month’s and same period in 2022 numbers.

Yields on short-term government securities came down significantly during the month.

The 91-day Treasury bill ended the month at 19.39 percent from 35.55 percent at the beginning of March 2023.

The new Government of Ghana bonds witnessed thin trading during its first full month on trading, post Domestic Debt Exchange Programme.