The Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE) hits a record high GHc72.73 million of monthly trading value for the month of May, 2021. This significant gain is as a result of the positive performance of some major stocks on the local bourse.

The Ghana Stock Exchange has improved on its indices since the beginning of the year compared to the previous year. However, the monthly trading value for May is the highest so far this year representing a month-on-month increase of 134%.

How the Previous Months Fared

Meanwhile, the value traded for January this year stood at GHc69 million. This value declined sharply in February, as the total trading value was GHc35.22 million. Similarly, the total share value traded for March and April was GHc48.45 million and GHc 31.09 million respectively.

Meanwhile, the trading value in the same period of last year 2020 was GHc 47,825,089.49 with 52% year-on-year increase. The trading value determines the worth of an asset and its performance on the stock market.

Furthermore, GSE recorded its second highest monthly share volume trade in May, 2021 which stood at 58.9million as compared to the initial highest trade volume of 98.7 million in January.

In addition, the GSE Composite Index (GSE-CI) which is based on the volume weighted average closing price of all listed stocks for the month of May 2021, advanced. It stood at 2,092.11 points compared to the previous year 2020 which was 1,941.03 points with 24.7% year-to-date return to investors following gains in major stocks including MTN Ghana, Cal Bank and GCB Bank.

Moreover, the Ghana Stock Exchange Financial Stock Index (GSE-FSI) increased by 6.74% in the month of May, 2021 with 1,902.90 points while it stood at 1,843.10 points.

Market Capitalization

On the other hand, market capitalization, which captures the total market value of all outstanding shares, hence, determining the worth of various companies listed on the local bourse, also increased by 9.12% to settle at GH¢ 59 billion from GH¢ 53 billion at the same period last year.

Also, total domestic capitalization hits GHc25.4 billion from previous year’s GHc19.6 billion, translating into an increase of (24.61%).

Also, the market for fixed income securities such as bonds and bills continued to increase as volumes traded for the year so far reached a little above GH¢92 billion. This is an increase of 128% over the same period last year.

MTN Ghana’s share was the most active stock on the GSE for the month under review. It has a total of GHc 45,126,871 whiles the total volume traded was 40,403,741 for the period of May, 2021.

The managers of the exchange described investor confidence as soaring. This is due to the performance of companies such as GOIL, GCB Bank, Societe Generale, Enterprise Group and Standard Chartered Bank.

Business confidence improved significantly and value trading reached higher levels, for the first time since the beginning of the year, as companies expressed positive sentiments about growth prospects for the month of June.