The Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE) has witnessed a decline in its main index as a result of losses suffered by two blue chips – MTN Ghana and Standard Chartered Bank PLC.

The losses extended to GSE-Composite Index which suffered significant losses of 11.91 points, closing at 2,559.15 points. The decline represents a 4.72% year-to-date return, raising concerns among investors and market participants.

The downward trend was further echoed in the GSE Financial Stocks Index, which dropped 0.24 points to close at 1,687.53 points, with a year-to-date return of -17.79 percent, making it a 1-week loss of 1.9 percent and a 4-week loss of 3.92%.

Out of the eight (8) major stocks that took part in Monday’s trading session, it ended with disappointingly two losers, namely, MTN Ghana (-0.88%) and Standard Chartered Bank (-0.08%) and no gainers.

Scancom PLC. (MTNGH), a leader in the telecommunication industry in the Ghanaian market, endured a challenging period, shedding GH¢0.01 for the second time in two weeks, closing at GH¢1.13.

MTN began the year with a share price of GH¢0.88 and has since gained 28.4% on that price valuation, ranking it fourth on the GSE in terms of year-to-date performance. Investors, however, may be cautious regarding the recent bad performance of MTN Ghana, having lost 6% of its value in the past four weeks.

Additionally, Standard Chartered Bank Gh. PLC. (SCB) also experienced a decline of GH¢0.01, closing at GH¢12.50.

Standard Chartered began the year with a share price of GH¢20.16 but has since lost 38% off that price valuation, ranking it 36th on the GSE in terms of year-to-date performance. Shareholders’ worries are compounded by the fact that SCB has lost 19% of the stock’s value from April 20 to date.

Market Capitalization Declines

These developments led to a decline in the market capitalization, amounting to GH¢124.25 million, culminating in a closing value of GH¢66.28 billion. The decline in market capitalization suggests that the uncertainty surrounding the Ghanaian stock market still persists.

The market activity, however, showed signs of improvement, with an impressive surge in both volume and value traded. The volume traded saw a remarkable increase of 2287.03%, while the value traded surged by an impressive 1906.26%.

A total of 2,012,103 shares were exchanged, valued at GH¢2,267,113.35, spanning across eight equities. Notably, Scancom PLC. (MTNGH) emerged as the dominant force in the trading chart, accounting for 98.16% of the total value traded, with 1,969,446 shares valued at GH¢2,225,473.98.

Ecobank Transnational Inc. (ETI) also made its presence felt, albeit to a lesser extent, trading 29,622 shares valued at GH¢4,443.30, representing 0.20% of the total value traded. The rest are, Produce Buying Company (10,000) and Standard Chartered Bank (2,909).

This performance further suggests that investors are still in decision making period, processing the news of the recent approval of the IMF loans to the country. Once this phase is over, the market is tipped to bounce back to its winning ways.