Ghana Stock Exchange soars 50% in 2024 despite plunging trade volumes

Ghana's equity market has demonstrated remarkable strength in 2024, with the Composite Index surging nearly 50% year-to-date through November, significantly outpacing the 29.71% gain recorded in the same period last year.

The market's robust performance extended to the financial sector, where the Financial Stock Index posted a healthy gain of 23.64%, marking a dramatic turnaround from the previous year's contraction of 2.71%.Total market capitalization expanded substantially, climbing 46.66% to reach GHc108.36 billion, tripling the 15.08% growth witnessed in November 2023.

However, trading activity has seen a sharp decline.

Trading volume plummeted by 92.9%, falling from 131.71 million shares in November 2023 to just 9.35 million shares. 

Similarly, the value of traded shares experienced a significant decrease of 83.85%, dropping from GHc172.37 billion to GHc27.84 billion.

The contrasting trends between market performance and trading activity suggest a shifting dynamic in Ghana's equity market, with strong price appreciation occurring despite substantially reduced trading volumes.