It was a breath-taking moment for the Ghana Stock Exchange last week when the bulls finally returned to the market in the second half of the week and maintained the momentum till the close of the trading week – though NewGold ETF (GLD) tried to undermine the final rally, the market was rescued by gains from MTNGH and TOTAL.

During the week under review, the local bourse’s bullish run caused the GSE-Composite Index to advance by 3.45 percent. Meanwhile, the rising index indicates the likelihood that an upward trend in the stock index will continue this new week.

Similarly, the GSE-Financial Stocks Index also increased by 0.69 percent over the week, bringing their respective year-to-date performances to 21.51% and -16.44%. The surge in the financial index last week shows that some confidence is returning to the financial market after a steep fall caused by the domestic debt exchange programme that hit the banking sector like a tornado some couple of months ago.

Moreover, the bullish divergence experienced last week across board could be a sign that the stock index will start to head higher this week.

During the week under review, a total of twenty-four (24) equities were traded with GGBL, TOTAL, MTNGH, SOGEGH and CAL posting gains of GH¢0.23, GH¢0.10, GH¢0.07, GH¢0.06 and GH¢0.04 and closing at GH¢2.55, GH¢6.80, GH¢1.43, GH¢0.73 and GH¢0.64 respectively.

Guinness Ghana Breweries began the year with a share price of GHS 2.05 and has since gained 24.4% on that price valuation, ranking it fifth on the GSE in terms of year-to-date performance. Shareholders can be optimistic about GGBL knowing the stock has accrued 20% over the past four-week period alone—second best on GSE.

Guinness Ghana Breweries is the third most traded stock on the Ghana Stock Exchange over the past three months (May 2 – Jul 28, 2023). GGBL has traded a total volume of 9.23 million shares valued at GHS 16.6 million over the period, with an average of 146,525 traded shares per session. A volume high of 2.82 million was achieved on May 9 for the same period.

TotalEnergies also began the year with a share price of GHS 4.00 and has since gained 70% 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 5% over the past four-week period—fifth best on GSE.

Moreover, MTN began the year with a share price of GHS 0.88 and has since gained 62.5% 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 8% over the past four-week period—third best on GSE.

MTN Ghana remains the number one most traded stock on the Ghana Stock Exchange over the past three months (May 2 – Jul 28, 2023). MTNGH has traded a total volume of 27 million shares valued at GHS 34.1 million over the period, with an average of 427,872 traded shares per session.

Laggards of the Week

On the other hand, NewGold ETF (GLD) posted a loss of GH¢2.30 to close at GH¢218.90. NewGold ETF began the year with a share price of GHS 217.80 and has since gained 0.51% on that price valuation, ranking it seventh on the GSE in terms of year-to-date performance. However, the gold producing company has not gained for over a month now, sending shivers to its investors.

NewGold ETF is the ninth most traded stock on the Ghana Stock Exchange over the past three months (May 2 – Jul 28, 2023). GLD has traded a total volume of 337,660 shares valued at GHS 66.1 million over the period, with an average of 5,360 traded shares per session.

In all, a total of 4,897,980 shares cumulating to a value of GH¢ 8,419,861.25 were traded during the week, a steep rise in market activity compared to the previous week. Volume traded and value traded advanced by 1036.27% and 2316.26% respectively week-on-week. Scancom PLC. (MTNGH) traded the most volumes this week, totaling GH¢4,301,042.99 in traded value and constituting 51.08% of the week’s total traded value.

There was also a GH¢1,069.40 million jump in market capitalization from the previous week, seeing it settle at GH¢72.00 billion.

Meanwhile, last week’s result depicted that investors’ concerns over rising interest rates, slowing economic growth and persistently high inflation have subsided. This will help the local bourse to make more gains this week. All in all, given the latest series of bullish performances, it is safe to say the bulls have come to stay for a while and it will be difficult for the bears to dislodge them.