It was yet another day for the bears on Tuesday as they maintained steam in the local equities market costing investors over two million Ghana cedis in losses from an extended negative performance on account of sell pressure on MTN Ghana.

MTN Ghana losing streak continued on Tuesday, November 23, 2021, as it ended the session in the red zone for four consecutive sessions since the proposed electronic transactions levy by government of Ghana, compounding the fears of investors. In all, five GSE equities participated in trading, ending with one loser, namely MTN Ghana, with 3.23 percent share price depreciation.

MTNGH closed its trading day at GHS1.20 per share on the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE), recording a GHS0.04 drop from its previous closing price of GHS1.24. MTN began the year 2021 with a share price of GHS0.64 and has since gained 87.5 percent on that price valuation. Nonetheless, investors fear for worst as they think the gains made will be eroded because the share price of MTN Ghana keeps depreciating, even before the eventual implementation of the e-levy next year.

On the flip side, MTN Ghana remains the number one most traded stocks on the Ghana Stock Exchange over the past three months (Aug 26 – Nov 23, 2021). MTNGH has traded a total volume of 58.4 million shares valued at GHS 71.6 million over the period, with an average of 927,107 traded shares per session. A volume high of 8.29 million was achieved on September 27, and a low of 871 on November 5, for the same period.

The trading activities on the market watered-down on Tuesday; and this was evidenced in the subdued performance from Enterprise Group Limited, Republic Bank Ghana Limited, Fan Milk Ghana, Standard Chartered Bank Limited, and sell-offs in MTN Ghana.

By the close of trading session on the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE), a total of 3,275,977 shares, corresponding to a market value of GHS 3,972,663.15, were traded. Compared with the previous GSE trading day (Monday, November 22), Tuesday’s data showed 20 percent decline in volume and 29 percent decline in turnover.

Comparatively, on the end of the first weekday of trading on the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE), a total of 4,104,202 shares, corresponding to a market value of GHS 5,614,603.65, were traded.

MTN Ghana recorded the highest volume of 3.24 million traded shares. This was followed by Enterprise Group (30,702), Republic Bank Ghana (1,000) and Fan Milk (100).

Performance of GSE market Indices

As a result of the upsetting show by MTN Ghana, the benchmark GSE Composite Index (GSE-CI) also declined by 46.97 points (-1.62%) to close at 2,860.13 points, after failing to maintain its grip on the 3,000 points crossed last week. This led to a 1-week loss of 5 percent, a 4-week gain of 0.14 percent, and an overall year-to-date gain of 47.31 percent.

On the other hand, the GSE Financial Stocks Index (GSE-FSI) maintained its value at 2,078.33 points, making it a 1-week gain of 0.17 percent, a 4-week loss of 0.18 percent, and a year-to-date gain of 16.58 percent.

The market capitalization of the Ghana Stock Exchange also plummeted by GHS500 million from 64.7 billion to settle at 64.2 billion.

Experts are worried for the sustained increase in sell off pressure on MTN Ghana stocks as a result of the e-levy. In the intervening time, individuals and CSOs are calling on the government of Ghana to take a second look at the proposed electronic tax.