The apparently endless downward momentum of the Ghana stock market since the start of the week continued unabated into the new month on Wednesday with many stock prices withering as the day went along.

As a result of the losses suffered by the local bourse, the benchmark GSE Composite Index (GSE-CI) responded and dropped 18.78 (-0.77%) points to close at 2,408.03 points. This represents a 1-week loss of 0.17%, a 4-week gain of 2.29%, but an overall year-to-date loss of 1.47%.

Moreover, the GSE Financial Stocks Index (GSE-FSI) also decreased by 1.86% to settle at 1,946.57 points, making it a 1-week loss of 1.86 percent, a 4-week loss of 4.39 percent, and a year-to-date loss of 5.17 percent.

GSE Records Two Losers

At the end of the day, 18 GSE listed equities participated in trading, ending with disappointingly two losers, namely, Ecobank Ghana (-9.7%) and Fan Milk (-9.66%). There were no gainers.

Ecobank Ghana Limited (EGH) closed its trading day (Wednesday, March 1, 2023) at GHS5.40 per share on the Ghana Stock Exchange, recording a 58 pesewas drop from its previous closing price of GHS5.98. Ecobank began the year with a share price of GHS6.64 but has since lost 18.7% off that price valuation, ranking it 33rd on the GSE in terms of year-to-date performance.

Ecobank Ghana is the 12th most traded stock on the Ghana Stock Exchange over the past three months (Nov 28, 2022 – Mar 1, 2023). EGH has traded a total volume of 40,183 shares valued at GHS 262,873 over the period, with an average of 638 traded shares per session. A volume high of 34,613 was achieved on January 11 for the same period.

The second loser was Fan Milk Plc (FML). FML also closed its trading day at GHS1.87 per share on the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE), recording a 20 pesewas drop from its previous closing price of GHS2.07. Fan Milk began the year with a share price of GHS3.00 but has since lost 37.7% off that price valuation, ranking it 38 on the GSE in terms of year-to-date performance. Shareholders’ worries are compounded by the fact that FML has lost 25% of the stock’s value from February 1 to date.

Fan Milk is the 14th most traded stock on the Ghana Stock Exchange over the past three months (Nov 28, 2022 – Mar 1, 2023). FML has traded a total volume of 31,543 shares valued at GHS 86,709 over the period, with an average of 501 traded shares per session. A volume high of 11,033 was achieved on January 27 for the same period.

At the end of the trading session on the Ghana Stock Exchange, a total of 27,318 shares, corresponding to a market value of GHS 30,733.82, were traded. Compared with the previous GSE trading day (Tuesday, February 28), Wednesday’s data showed 69 percent decline in volume.

MTN Ghana recorded the highest volume of 10,933 traded shares, followed by CAL Bank (10,713), Ecobank Ghana (2,137) and Ecobank Transnational (1,787).

The local bourse ended the day with market capitalization of GHS 64 billion.