The bears returned to the Ghana Stock Exchange with renewed force, wiping a staggering GH¢3.3 billion from the market’s value in a single trading session as heavy selling pressure pushed the benchmark GSE Composite Index sharply lower.
The latest session delivered a sobering reversal for investors who had watched the local equities market post substantial gains over the year. The GSE Composite Index fell 260.50 points, representing a 1.83% decline, to close at 13,960.70 points.
The sharp drop pushed the index deeper into negative territory over the shorter term, with a one-week loss of 1.28% and a four-week decline of 5.9%. Despite the latest selloff, the benchmark remains up 59.18% year-to-date.
GH¢3.3bn wiped from market value
The biggest shock came from the market’s overall valuation.
Ghana Stock Exchange market capitalization plunged from GH¢270.9 billion to GH¢267.6 billion, representing a massive GH¢3.3 billion decline in one session.
In US dollar terms, the market ended at approximately $22.6 billion.
Such a steep decline highlights how quickly sentiment can shift in an equity market, particularly when some of the market’s heavily traded counters come under intense selling pressure.
The fall also comes at a time when the GSE has already recorded significant gains this year. Investors who entered the market during earlier periods of strong momentum are now facing a much more volatile environment as recent losses eat into those gains.
The four-week decline of 5.9% is particularly notable because it shows that the latest drop is not an isolated movement. Selling pressure has persisted over several weeks, creating a more challenging short-term environment for market participants.
GSE-FSI bucks the broader market trend
While the broader market suffered a sharp setback, financial stocks managed to hold their ground.
The GSE Financial Stocks Index increased marginally by 0.04% to close at 7,521.47 points. Despite that small gain, the index recorded a one-week loss of 0.44% and a four-week loss of 4.57%.
Its year-to-date performance remains strong, however, with a gain of 61.85%.
The contrasting performance between the Composite Index and Financial Stocks Index suggests that selling pressure was concentrated across selected counters rather than uniformly distributed throughout the market.
That distinction matters because financial stocks remain a major component of Ghana’s listed equities market. Their relative stability helped prevent an even sharper decline in the financial stocks segment.
GOIL and MTN Ghana face heavy selling
The session produced only three gainers against five losers among the 27 listed equities that participated in trading.
Ghana Oil Company emerged as the biggest casualty, with its share price falling 5.55% to GH¢5.62.
MTN Ghana followed closely, dropping 3.96%. Intravenous Infusions declined 1.82%, while Societe Generale Ghana slipped 0.98%.
MTN Ghana’s decline stands out because the telecommunications giant also dominated trading activity by volume.
A total of 12.9 million MTN Ghana shares changed hands, dwarfing the volumes recorded by several other actively traded stocks. CalBank followed with 118,025 shares, while Kasapreko recorded 112,726 shares and Digicut Production & Advertising traded 102,269 shares.
The combination of heavy volume and a sharp price decline in MTN Ghana placed considerable weight on the overall market during the session.
A few stocks manage to defy the selloff
Amid the widespread weakness, a handful of counters managed to attract buying interest.
Meridian-Marshall Holdings emerged as the strongest gainer, recording an 8.33% increase to close at GH¢0.13 per share.
Ecobank Transnational gained 0.6%, while Kasapreko advanced 0.53%.
The gains, however, were not enough to offset the losses recorded by larger counters.
The imbalance between gainers and losers reflected the cautious mood that dominated the session. While some investors continued to find opportunities in selected stocks, the broader market remained firmly under pressure.
Trading activity remains significant
Despite the sharp fall in market capitalization, trading activity remained substantial.
A total of 13,384,344 shares were traded during the session, generating a market value of GH¢82,252,358.02.
The figures show that investors remained active even as prices came under pressure. Heavy activity during a declining session can often signal that market participants are repositioning portfolios, taking profits or responding to changing expectations around individual companies and the wider market.
The latest performance therefore leaves the GSE in a more delicate position. Its 59.18% year-to-date gain remains impressive, but the recent sequence of losses is forcing investors to pay closer attention to valuation, liquidity and the sustainability of earlier gains.
With the Composite Index now below the 14,000-point level, attention will turn to whether bargain hunters can step in to support prices or whether the bears will continue to dominate subsequent sessions.
The next few trading sessions could prove crucial in determining whether this latest decline becomes another temporary correction or develops into a deeper market retreat.
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