The Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE) has made a significant comeback from its recent poor performance by beating the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSX) to become the best performing Exchange on the continent in the last three months.
In the last three months ending August, 2023, the Ghana Stock Exchange recorded 22.84 per cent year-on-year performance to emerge the first. In comparison, the NGX recorded 19.33 per cent, followed by Malawi, which stood at 15.79 per cent.
Meanwhile, the gains in last month alone was worth noting. The market capitalization of the Ghana Stock Exchange which opened the trading month at GHS70 billion to ended at GHS 72.9 billion.
However, taking into consideration the Benchmark Composite Index, the local bourse started the month of August with 3,122.86 points, but disappointingly ended with 3,084.79 points – suffering a decline of 38.07 points in the process.
Performance By Nigerian Stock Exchange in Last Month
Crossing the border to one of the nearest neighbors, Nigeria, A performance breakdown indicated that NGX’s market capitalization rose from N20,034 trillion at the beginning of June to N36,422 trillion on August 31. The market capitalization, which opened the trading month of August at N35.011 trillion, closed the month at N36.422 trillion, hence gaining N1.41 trillion.
On the other hand, the ASI, which is the broad index that measures the performance of Nigerian stocks, opened the trading month at 64,337.52 index points at the beginning of trading on August 3, 2023, and closed at 66,548.99 points at the end of the month on August 31, gaining 2,211.47 basis points or 3.44 per cent.
Giving perspective to the development, it can be seen that the equities market resilience reflected heightened investor optimism for domestic growth with renewed hope by promulgation of long-needed policies.
The development Is coming despite Ghana’s soaring inflation rate. The country’s inflation rose in July, settling at 43.1%, up from June’s 42.5% per cent. Moreover rising interest rates and the foreign exchange rate crisis are some important macro variables that have dealt blow to the investment community. That not withstanding, the local bourse managed to perform remarkably.
However, with the final quarter having taken a center stage, it is yet to be known if the GSE will repeat its jaw dropping performance in the last three months, to end the year flying high.
The Ghana Stock Exchange is the principal stock exchange of the country located in the capital Accra. The GSE has various investor protection provisions such as rules against insider trading as well as a fidelity fund to compensate investors for losses incurred as a result of malpractice by a licensed dealing member of the bourse.
In January 2011, the GSE began publishing two indices, namely, the GSE Composite Index (GSE-CI) and the GSE Financial Stocks Index (GSE-FSI). The GSE-CI is a market capitalization weighted index comprising all listed ordinary shares with the exception of those of listed companies that have shares listed on other markets.
