Rates on the secondary bond market inched up during the second week of October, 2021, particularly on the short to medium yields as investors eyed the 3-yr issue .

The rate in the medium term securities increased by 0.3 percent to settle at 20.3 percent. In the previous week, it stood at 20 percent.

However, short-dated Treasury yields, which reflect expectations of where interest rates will be in the future, lost further grounds at the end of this week’s auction. Yields on the short term 91-Day Government of Ghana (GoG) instruments declined by 0.22 percent amidst inflationary pressures. In the first week of October, the 91-Day instrument was issued at the rate of 12.47 percent. The rates marginally dropped to 12.45 percent in the week under review. Consequently, the year-on-year rates for the 91-day bills also fell by 11.72 percent.

On the other hand, the yield on the six month treasury notes on Friday, October 15, touched 13.14 per cent, which is a 0.06 decline on the previous bills. This led to the year-on-year treasury bills rate also going down by 7.11 per cent. However, the 3 year instrument rate remained unchanged. It stood at 16.27 per cent as the year-on-year declined by 4.11 per cent.

Equities Market

In stock markets, four equities recorded gains during the week, but the stock market failed to extend its positive run as the GSE Composite Index was held back by three decliners.

Republic Bank Ghana Limited (RBGH) led the weekly gainers chart with GHS0.52 share price appreciation. This represented a 20.93 per cent gain. Another biggest gainer in the week was Benso Oil Palm Plantation Ltd (BOPP), it gained a total of 15.94 per cent on its share price. Whereas, MTN Ghana was the biggest laggard in the week under review. MTN Ghana lost a total of 2.44 per cent of its share price.

Trading activities, however, recorded higher volumes and values compared to the previous week.

In addition, in the final trading day of the week, Cal Bank was the lone gainer, with 1.33 per cent share price appreciation. CAL closed its trading day (Friday, October 15, 2021) at GHS0.76 per share on the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE), recording gains of GHS0.01 over its previous closing price of GHS0.75.

The final weekday of trading on the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE), saw a total of 3,872,396 shares, corresponding to a market value of GHS 4,939,697.49, traded.

MTN Ghana recorded the highest volume of 3.7 million traded shares, followed by Ghana Oil Company (112,086), GCB Bank (56,085) and CAL Bank (2,744).

With regards to the performance of GSE market indices, the benchmark GSE Composite Index (GSE-CI) inched up 0.6 points to close at 2,847.90, representing a 1-week loss of 0.73%, and a 4-week gain of 2.18%.

The GSE Financial Stocks Index (GSE-FSI) also increased by 0.05% to reach 2,070.00 points, making it a 1-week gain of 0.86% and a monthly gain of 4.67%, and a year-to-date gain of 16.11%.

Commodities Market

Domestic consumers might see their pockets being squeezed further at the pump in the weeks ahead as Brent crude hit fresh three-year highs this week, climbing above $85 a barrel on the back of supply deficit.

Gold also experienced a rise in price by 1.33 percent, settling at 1,782.86 US$/TOZ. Conversely, Ghana’s number one export earner, cocoa, price slightly dipped by 2.4 per cent to rap up the week.

However, analysts and expects all predicted market activities to pick up as investors are fired up for the week ahead.