The Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE) was adrift on the first day of the week, as one major stock posted gains and another one also posted losses at the end of a mixed session, while the market continued to witness bargain hunting for value stocks from investors on a debased trading activity.

Strong demand in the stocks of NewGold ETF was not enough to buoy the performance of the listed equities as GSE all-share index further inched down. Meanwhile, a loss in GCB Bank PLC reduced the performance of the local bourse.

In aggregate, 17 GSE listed equities participated in trading, ending with only one gainer, namely NewGold ETF, with 4.1% share price appreciation and also one loser, namely GCB Bank (-9.82%).

NewGold ETF, which was the lone gainer on the day closed its trading day (Monday, August 15, 2022) at GHS170.20 per share on the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE), recording a GHS6.70 gain over its previous closing price of GHS163.50.

NewGold ETF began the year with a share price of GHS108.60 and has since gained 56.7 percent on that price valuation, ranking it second on the GSE in terms of year-to-date performance. Shareholders can be optimistic about NewGold ETF knowing the stock has accrued 23 percent over the past four-week period alone- best on GSE.

The Loser on at the end of Trading Day

GCB Bank’s losing streak continued as it closed its trading day at GHS4.50 per share on the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE), recording a GHS0.49 drop from its previous closing price of GHS4.99. GCB began the year with a share price of GHS5.24 but has since lost 14.1 percent off that price valuation, ranking it 32nd on the GSE in terms of year-to-date performance. Shareholders’ worries are compounded by the fact that GCB has lost 10 percent of the stock’s value from July 15, to date.

GCB Bank PLC is the sixth most traded stock on the Ghana Stock Exchange over the past three months (May 17 – Aug 15, 2022). GCB has traded a total volume of 394,932 shares valued at GHS 1.96 million over the period, with an average of 6,269 traded shares per session. A volume high of 120,700 was achieved on August 12, for the same period.

Trading Activity Goes Southward

At the end of the first weekday of trading on the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE), a total of 129,836 shares, corresponding to a market value of GHS 597,903.63, were traded. Compared with the previous GSE trading day (Friday, August 12), Monday’s data showed 72 percent decline in volume and 37 percent decline in turnover.

MTN Ghana recorded the highest volume of 62,053 traded shares, followed by CAL Bank (34,178), GCB Bank (20,000) and Benso Oil Palm Plantation (5,150).

At the end of the trading day, the benchmark GSE Composite Index (GSE-CI) shed 12.45 (-0.49%) points to close at 2,548.04 points, representing a 1-week gain of 6.64 percent, a 4-week gain of 3.41 percent, but an overall year-to-date loss of 8.65 percent.

Similarly, the GSE Financial Stocks Index (GSE-FSI) also declined by 1.08 percent to 2,062.87 points, making it a 1-week loss of 0.76 percent, a month-on-month loss of 4.63%, and a year-to-date loss of 4.14%.

The current market capitalization of the Ghana Stock Exchange stands at GHSGHS 64.7 billion.