Investors on the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE) continue to tread carefully in the local market as the authorities set to disburse the IMF loan which was granted last week.

On Tuesday, investors reduced their activity to the bare minimum, with the majority of stocks and the benchmark at the Accra bourse posting heavy losses, while the day’s turnover was the lowest of the week so far.

In the aggregate, 14 GSE listed equities participated in trading, ending with only one gainer, namely TotalEnergies Marketing Ghana, with 0.31% share price appreciation and two gainers. The two losers on the day were MTN Ghana (-1.77%) and GCB Bank (-1.25%).

TOTAL closed its last trading day (Tuesday, May 23, 2023) GHS6.45 at per share on the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE), recording a 0.3% gain over its previous closing price of GHS6.43. TotalEnergies began the year with a share price of GHS4.00 and has since gained 61.3% on that price valuation, ranking it second on the GSE in terms of year-to-date performance.

The Two Laggards

One of the two laggards on the day was MTN Ghana. MTNGH closed its trading day (Tuesday, May 23, 2023) at GHS1.11 per share on the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE), recording a 2 pesewa drop from its previous closing price of GHS1.13, making the second day of losses for the Telco giant in this week alone.

That notwithstanding, MTN began the year with a share price of GHS0.88 and has since gained 26.1% 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 (Feb 17 – May 23, 2023). MTNGH has traded a total volume of 191 million shares valued at GHS 180 million over the period, with an average of 3.03 million traded shares per session.

The second loser on the day was GCB Bank PLC. GCB also closed its trading day at GHS3.15 per share on the Ghana Stock Exchange, recording a 4 pesewa drop from its previous closing price of GHS3.19. GCB began the year with a share price of GHS3.94 but has since lost 20.1% off that price valuation, ranking it 34th on the GSE in terms of year-to-date performance.

GCB Bank is the fourth most traded stock on the Ghana Stock Exchange over the past three months (Feb 17 – May 23, 2023). GCB has traded a total volume of 3.81 million shares valued at GHS 12.1 million over the period, with an average of 60,418 traded shares per session.

Regarding the performance of GSE market indices, the benchmark GSE Composite Index (GSE-CI) dropped 24.35 (-0.95%) points to close at 2,534.80, representing a 1-week loss of 6.9%, a 4-week loss of 7.34%, but an overall year-to-date gain of 3.72%.

The GSE Financial Stocks Index (GSE-FSI) also decreased by 0.11% to 1,685.69 points, making it a 1-week loss of 2.01%, a 4-week loss of 4.02%, and a year-to-date loss of 17.87%.

At the end of the trading session on the Ghana Stock Exchange, a total of 54,453 shares, corresponding to a market value of GHS 99,880.95, were traded.

MTN Ghana recorded the highest volume of 27,300 traded shares, followed by CAL Bank (7,815), Societe Generale Ghana (7,764) and TotalEnergies Marketing Ghana (5,818).

The current market capitalization of the Ghana Stock Exchange is GHS 66 billion.

Meanwhile, analysts predicted that the first tranche of the $3 billion IMF loan which hit the account is likely to turn the fortunes of the local bourse around. However, recent results depict the fact that investors are still hesitant, perhaps they are treading cautiously while trying to assess the market conditions for future investment decisions.