The performance of Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE) trading activity further plummeted again at the close of market on the first day of the new month, Wednesday, September 1, 2021.
According to Wednesday’s market reports, a total of 90,697shares, corresponding to a market value of GHc 260,750.53 were traded. Compared with the previous GSE trading day (Tuesday, August 31, 2021), Wednesday’s data show 88% decline in volume and 72% decline in turnover. However, the total volume of shares traded on Tuesday was 752,717 Shares.
Market Performance
The decline is as a result of major stocks on the local bourse trading flat. In the aggregate, 14 GSE equities participated in trading, ending with only one gainer, namely Fan Milk, with 3.12% share price appreciation. This means that, the opening prices of all the other thirteen equities listed were the same as the closing prices. Some of the top movers in the last session were: Ecobank Transnational Incorporated, SOGEGH, MTN GH, FML and GOIL.
Meanwhile, Unilever Ghana came on top of the volume chart. It recorded the highest volume of 30,139 traded shares. This was followed by MTN Ghana which secured 18,765 total traded shares. CAL Bank also followed in the third position as the total number of shares traded stood at 14,697 share. In addition, Fan Milk also managed to secure 10,658 shares traded before the close of market.
However, the poor performance of these major equities impacted the indices.
Market Indices
Regarding the performance of GSE market indices, the benchmark GSE Composite Index (GSE-CI) inched up Marginally by 0.55 points to close at 2,750.92, representing 0.02 per cent. This also represents a 1-week gain of 0.42 per cent and a 4-week gain of 0.83 per cent and a further overall year-to-date gain of 41.68 per cent.
However, the GSE Financial Stocks Index (GSE-FSI) maintained its value at 1,929.19 points, making it a 1-week gain of 0.82 per cent and a 4-week gain of 2.07 per cent. It also recorded a year-to-date gain of 8.21 per cent.
The GSE Financial Stocks Index helps investors compare current price levels with past prices of financial stocks to calculate market performance.
In the same vein, the market capitalization also maintained its value. The current market capitalization of the Ghana Stock Exchange as at last trading session on Wednesday stood at GHc 62.9 billion.
Some experts suggest that the current underperformance of some major stocks on the local bourse can be as a result of flight to safety by most investors due to the volatility in the market which can partly be blamed on economic conditions in the country.
However, an improvement in investor confidence alongside a compelling market valuation may drive the demand for stocks across the telecommunication, banking, insurance and oil sectors in the rest of the days of the week.
Meanwhile, other analysts also state that they expect trading activity to pick up in the coming days because demand for bargain stocks has increased.
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