Bellwether Stocks of the Ghanaian Equities market paused for a breather on midday trading session February 22, 2023 as benchmark indices staged a strong pullback but unable to cross the line, ending on a flat base.

The market opened on a positive note with the external geopolitical tension vividly in the mind of investors. It soon nosedived into the red zone as major stocks looked destined to end in the red zone. However, it managed to crawl into the flatline and remained glued until the bell rang for an end to the session.

At the end of the trading day, eleven (11) GSE equities participated in trading. There were no gainers nor losers, meaning that the market ended the day as it started.

Despite taking a negative turn last few days, the Ghana Stock Exchange Index climbed with positive traction with 0.8 percent week on week gain as the market witnessed some buy-back activity that weighed on the index performance. That notwithstanding, the local bourse recorded a 4-week loss of 0.78 percent and an overall year-to-date loss of 1.3 percent. The market closed at the same mark as it opened at 2,412.20 points.

Meanwhile, stocks such as Cal Bank, Ecobank Transnational Incorporated and Standard Chartered contributed to the collective decline of the financial index on week-on-week basis. The GSE Financial Stocks Index (GSE-FSI) maintained its value at 1,983.51 points, making it a week-on-week loss of 0.02 percent, a 4-week loss of 2.9 percent, and a year-to-date loss of 3.37 percent.

MTN Ghana (MTNGH) closed the trading day (Wednesday, February 22, 2023) at GHS0.90 per share on the Ghana Stock Exchange after opening at the same share price. MTN began the year with a share price of GHS0.88 and has since gained 2.27% on that price valuation, ranking it fourth on the GSE in terms of year-to-date performance.

MTN Ghana is the number one most traded stock on the Ghana Stock Exchange over the past three months (Nov 21, 2022 – Feb 22, 2023). MTNGH has traded a total volume of 28.1 million shares valued at GHS 24.7 million over the period, with an average of 445,560 traded shares per session. A volume high of 13.1 million was achieved on December 23, 2022 for the same period.

Overall, the level of trading activities across the market ended in the blue as the total value and volume traded during the mid-week day improved tremendously. The market recorded 527% improvement in turnover.

Volume of Shares Traded

At the end of Wednesday’s trading session on the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE), a total of 199,809 shares, corresponding to a market value of GHS 181,151.11, were traded.

Leading the charts for the most traded sector by volume was the telecommunication sector with MTN Ghana recording the highest volume of 156,830 traded shares. This was followed by the insurance sector, with SIC Insurance PLC recording 17,098 traded shares. Banking stocks followed with GCB Bank PLC securing 8,445 traded shares while Cal Bank PLC also managed 7,937 traded shares.

Analysts described the recent trading activities as aggressive profit-taking, coupled with concerns over macroeconomic conditions such as: inflation, foreign exchange volatility, fiscal deficit, and the implementation of E-levy.

Going into the second half of the new week, analysts expect mixed sentiment, amid cherry-picking activities to see off the week.