Government raises GH¢434.5m from reopened 10-yr bond
The government has raised some GH¢434.5 million through a tap-in arrangement into a 10-year bond that took place on August 24 but settled the following day.
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The bond was reopened at its previous rate of 19 per cent and was marketed to resident and non-resident investors.
After the successful reopening, the bond’s yield-to-maturity came between 17.85 per cent and 18.25 per cent.
The bond was first issued in November, last and due to mature in 2026.
Proceeds of the bond are expected to help support the execution of the budget which projects a deficit of GH¢12.8 billion, equivalent to 6.3 per cent of GDP.
The mid-year review presented in July said total financing of the deficit would comprise a net foreign repayment of GH¢1.3 billion, while Net Domestic Financing (NDF) would amount to GH¢14.1 billion.
Just like the initial issue, the reopened bond will be listed and traded on the Ghana Stock Exchange.
Treasury bill market
At the close of trading, the 91-Day T-Bill rose by 56 basis points (bps) to settle at 13.19 per cent. The 182-Day T-Bill also increased by 33 bps to settle at 13.93 per cent.
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Yields on all other treasury securities remained unchanged.
Bids within the week totalled GH¢775.18 million. However, GH¢744.09 million bids were accepted, making the week’s target of GH¢979.00 million unachieved.
The government’s purchases were mainly the short-dated treasuries as they were the only bids scheduled for the week’s auction.
A total of GH¢1,092 million worth of bids are expected to be raised from both the 91-Day and 182-Day treasury bills this week.
Equity market
Positive performances continued to dawn on the equity market, underpinned, mainly by rising investors’ risk appetite for higher yielding assets.
The Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE), which had most of its trading sessions closing on the positive note, had its market indices rising to newer records since the beginning of the year. The GSE Composite Index rose by 2.52 per cent to an index level of 2,342.46 points whereas the GSE Financial Stock Index upticked by 2.73 per cent to settle at 2,164.94 points.
The year-to-date returns of these indices thus settled at 38.68 per cent and 40.09 per cent respectively.
In all, 24 equities actively participated in the week’s trading, recording a total volume of 3.63 million shares.
This had a corresponding value of GH¢6.59 million. The two most active traded stocks in terms of volume were the Ecobank Transnational Incorporated and CAL Bank Ltd, as they accounted for 66.50 per cent of the total volume.
In value terms, the Standard Chartered Bank Ltd and Ecobank Ghana Ltd dominated; they accounted for 59.84 per cent of the total value recorded for the week.
Market capitalisation witnessed an increase of 0.64 per cent to settle at GH¢ 57,758.46 million.
Price movements
At the closing bell, 16 equities recorded price movements.The Enterprise Group Ltd and Fan Milk Ltd were the highest gainers as they appreciated by 78 pesewas and 75 pesewas to trade at GH¢4.18 and GH¢17.01 per share respectively.
The Access Bank Ghana Plc, the third highest advancer, fully recovered the 50 pesewas loss from the previous week’s session to settle at GH¢4.00 per share.
The HFC Bank added 15 pesewas to trade at GH¢1.00 per share.The CAL Bank Ltd and SCB Bank Ltd upturned by nine pesewas and eight pesewas to trade at GH¢1.00 and GH¢26.62 per share respectively.
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Guinness Ghana Brewery Ltd, Ghana Oil Company Ltd, SIC Ltd and Societe Generale Ghana Ltd also made it on the list of advancers. Other gainers included The Trust Bank Gambia Ltd, Total Petroleum Ltd and Unilever Ghana Ltd.
On the flip side, GCB Bank, which resumed active trading after absorbing UT Bank and Capital Bank, lost four pesewas to close at GH¢5.10 per share.
Aluworks Ltd and PBC Ltd also witnessed a pesewa loss each to trade at 16 pesewas and four pesewas respectively.
Currency market
At the close of trading, the cedi lost against all the three major trading currencies.
Against the US dollar, the cedi tumbled against the greenback on the back of uneven demand and supply of the currency on the interbank currency market.
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It recorded a weekly depreciation of 0.28 per cent to close the week’s trading at GH¢4.40 per dollar, representing a year-to-date depreciation of 4.72 per cent.
The pound sterling rebounded from a two-month low on August 24, following a revised second quarter growth that remained at the initial reported rate of 0.3 per cent.
The pound thus closed the week with 0.59 per cent appreciation against the local currency. The cedi, which closed trading at GH¢ 5.67 per pound, had its year-to-date depreciation settling at 9.04 per cent.
Earlier losses of the Euro arising from declining business sentiment in Germany cancelled speculative trading prior to the Jackson Hole summit.
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The Euro recorded a weekly appreciation of 1.29 per cent as the cedi traded at GH¢ 5.22. Year-to-date depreciation of the local currency thus rose to 17.61 per cent. — IGS Financial Services/GB