The equity market experienced a downturn in Thursday’s trading session as a decline in share price of Ecobank Ghana (EGH) drove the equity market downtown, following the previous day’s trajectory.

Thursday’s trading session witnessed an influx of major equities listed on the local bourse participating in trade. However, they were unable to make any substantial difference to turn the course of the market northward. In the aggregate, 18 GSE listed equities participated in trading, ending with one loser, namely Ecobank Ghana, with 9.72% share price depreciation. The rest traded flat with no gainer.

EGH closed the trading day (Thursday, August 24, 2023) at GHS3.90 per share on the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE), recording a 42 pesewa drop from its previous closing price of GHS4.32. Ecobank began the year with a share price of GHS6.64 but has since lost 41.3% off that price valuation, ranking it 37th on the GSE in terms of year-to-date performance. Shareholders’ worries are compounded by the fact that EGH has lost 28% of the stock’s value from July 26 to date.

Ecobank Ghana is the 18th most traded stock on the Ghana Stock Exchange over the past three months (May 26 – Aug 24, 2023). EGH has traded a total volume of 50,458 shares valued at GHS 236,371 over the period, with an average of 801 traded shares per session. A volume high of 11,953 was achieved on August 24 for the same period.

Ecobank Ghana Limited is currently the eighth most valuable stock on the GSE with a market capitalization of GHS 1.26 billion, which makes about 1.73% of the Ghana Stock Exchange equity market.

Composite Index Goes Down Again

However, the share price drop in Ecobank Ghana (EGH) dragged down the Composite Index (GSE-CI), causing it to drop by 12.46 (0.41%) points. As a result, the index ended the day at 3,049.56 points, with a year-to-date (YTD) return of 24.78%.

Similarly, EGH being a financial stock, has also affected the financial index. The Financial Stocks Index (GSE-FSI) transitioned unto the dip in EGH share price causing the index to trim 23.51 (1.40%) points to close the day at 1,658.10 points with an 19.22% year-to-date loss.

Similarly, the market capitalization also suffered a similar fate as the indices after holding on for some time now. The market capitalization of the Ghana Stock Exchange declined from GHS73 billion to the current GHS 72.9 billion.

At the end of Thursday’s trading session on the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE), a total of 39,611 shares, corresponding to a market value of GHS 97,070.03, were traded. Compared with the previous GSE trading day (Wednesday, August 23), Thursday’s data showed 37% decline in volume.

MTN Ghana recorded the highest volume of 21,895 traded shares, followed by Ecobank Ghana (11,953), TotalEnergies Marketing Ghana (1,599) and SIC Insurance Company (1,410).