GSE ends in the red despite MTN listing

The Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE) last week had Ghana’s telecommunication giant – MTN Ghana Ltd, listed after successfully attaining the minimum requirement for enlistment.

In spite of the wider options for trading, equity indices continued to nosedive on account of bearish closure of some top companies in the financial and energy sectors.

With the equity indices dropping in most trading sessions, the GSE Composite Index lowered by 0.91 per cent to settle at an index level of 2,871.06 points, corresponding to a year-to-date return of 11.29 per cent.

The GSE Financial Stocks Index also went down by 1.08 per cent to settle at 2,661.97 points, representing a year-to-date return of 15.21 per cent.

Following the wider options for investing activities, market outturns significantly outstripped previous week’s records. At the closing bell, total traded volume stood at 7.10 million shares valued at GH¢7.40 million.

This represented 212.56 per cent increment over previous week’s total traded volume.

The newly listed stock – MTN Ghana Ltd — was the main driver of liquidity on the bourse as it accounted for 70.58 per cent of the week’s total traded volume.

The market capitalisation also surged by 15.75 per cent to GH¢64,784.40 million.

Stock price movements

The week’s market activities ended with three advancers and 11 laggards recorded.

CAL Bank Ltd was the highest price gainer as it added 20 pesewas to its opening price to close the week at GH¢1.30 per share. Total Petroleum Ltd and Standard Chartered Bank Ltd upped their opening prices by seven pesewas and a pesewa to settle at GH¢4.70 and GH¢26.03 per share respectively.

On the downside of the market, Ecobank Ghana Ltd suffered the most loss, trimming 47 pesewas of its opening value to close at GH¢8.50 per share.

Benso Oil Palm Plantation Ltd keenly followed with 24 pesewas loss to end the trading week at GH¢7.00 per share. Societe Generale Ghana Ltd and Access Bank (Ghana) Ltd slipped by 12 pesewas and 11 pesewas to close at GH¢1.06 and GH¢3.80 per share respectively.

Ghana Oil Company Ltd and Guinness Ghana Brewery Ltd went down by seven pesewas each to close at GH¢2.92 and GH¢2.41 per share respectively.

Enterprise Group Ltd and PZ Cussons dropped by two pesewas and a pesewa to close at GH¢3.07 and 49 pesewas per share respectively. Other laggards were Starwin Products Ltd, Ecobank Transnational Incorporated and GCB Bank Ltd.

Treasury securities

Interest rates on the short-dated treasury securities continued to witness mixed adjustment.

At the close of the week’s auction, the yield on the 91-Day T-Bill rose marginally to settle at 13.36 per cent while the yield on the 182-Day T-Bill dropped by 10 basis points to settle at 13.93 per cent.

The yield on the other treasury securities, however, remained unchanged.

The Government of Ghana raised a total amount of GH¢568.08 million after accepting all the bids tendered at the auction.

This falls below the week’s target of GH¢571.00 million, with the 91-Day T-Bill accounting for 88.58 per cent of the total accepted bids.

Commodities

Brent crude oil eased as the general bullish outlook of the greenback in the week under review halted further demand of the energy commodity due to its relative expensiveness for non-dollar holders.

The anticipation by investors that an attempt to impose an extra tariff on imported Chinese goods could trim global demand also weighed on the black gold in the trading week. Brent crude oil thus shed US$1.20 to close at US$76.22 per barrel.

Gold gained marginally as gains from the global trade war uncertainties narrowed after the release of upbeat labour market data from the US economy.

Rising wage data and narrowing unemployment data signalled inflationary pressure and a possibility of rate hike consideration hence reducing gains recorded prior to Friday’s trade. Gold thus added 40 cents to its opening price to close at US$1,200.70 per ounce.

Cocoa went down as rising supply outstripped demand. Favourable climatic conditions in the top grower kept the soft crop in the back foot as it increased the availability of the beans onto the global market.

Recent projections of better harvesting season also weighed on the soft crop as buyers offered lower quotations. Cocoa thus dropped by US$74.00 to close at US$2,259.00 per metric tonne.

Coffee rebounded as the Brazilian real made some advances against other major trading currencies to offer support to the soft crop. Coffee which overturned a 12-year low on the back of the gains in the real was also supported by speculative activities.

The soft crop thus added a cent to end the week’s trade at US$1.03 per pound. —GB