The Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE) closed the second trading week of October in the red as selling pressures in blue-chip companies weighed on the equity indices.
At the closing bell, the GSE Composite Index declined by 1.49 per cent to settle at an index level of 3,006.86 points, corresponding to a year-to-date return of 16.56 per cent.
The GSE Financial Stocks Index also backtracked by 1.67 per cent to close the week at 2,576.68 points, reflecting a year-to-date gain of 11.52 per cent.
Market outturns were also below the previous week’s performance.
At the ended of the trading week, total traded volume stood at 1.43 million shares valued at GH¢4.58 million as compared with the 4.02 million shares valued at GH¢6.51 million traded in the previous week.
Enterprise Group Ltd closed as the highest liquidity contributor as it accounted for 35.23 per cent of the overall traded volume.
Market capitalization scaled down by 0.70 per cent to GH¢66,123.80 million on account of the selling pressure witnessed in the week’s trade.
Stock price movements
At the pairing of the opening and closing prices for the week’s trade, a total of 12 equities changed hands.
Ghana Oil Company Ltd led the advancers with 13 pesewa gains to close at GH¢2.95 per share.
GCB Bank Ltd also advanced by a pesewa to trade at GH¢5.35 per share.
On the bears list, Benso Oil Palm Plantation Ltd occupied the bottom with a loss of 92 pesewas to trade at GH¢5.45 per share.
Ecobank Ghana Ltd and Access Bank (Ghana) Ltd tumbled by 45 pesewas and 27 pesewas to close at GH¢8.00 and GH¢3.13 per share respectively.
Societe Generale Ghana Ltd and The Trust Bank (Gambia) Ltd went down by four pesewas each to close the week at GH¢1.00 and 20 pesewas per share respectively.
MTN Ghana Ltd for the first time appeared on the laggards list after trimming two pesewas to close at 91 pesewas per share.
Unilever Ghana Ltd, CAL Bank Ltd, Tullow Oil Plc and Enterprise Group Ltd also recorded price declines in the week’s trade.
Treasury securities
Interest rates on the Government of Ghana Treasury Securities continued to record marginal increments largely attributed to investors’ concern on inflationary hikes, debt profile of the economy and general economic sentiments.
At the end of the trading week’s auction, the yield on the 91-Day T-Bill rose by six basis points to settle at 13.47 per cent.
The yield on the 182-Day T-Bill also surged by five basis points to settle at 14.32 per cent.
The interest rate on the 1-year note however, remained unchanged at 15 per cent. Yields on the other treasury securities also remained the same as they were not scheduled for auction for the reporting week.
A total amount of GH¢592.02 million was raised by the Government of Ghana after accepting all the tendered bids. The GH¢796.00 million expected to be raised by the Government of Ghana was however, not achieved. This is on the back drop of lower volumes of bids tendered by investors. The 91-Day T-Bill continued to be the most accepted bid as it constituted 78.49 per cent of the overall accepted bids.
Commodities
Brent crude oil decelerated to its lowest in six weeks following reports of over supply of the energy commodity onto the international commodities market.
According to the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries – OPEC, oil production by its members in the month of September rose significantly to more than make up for the continuing decline in output arising from the double US sanction on Iraq’s production.
This coupled with the downward review in global demand by the International Energy Agency heavily affected the value of the black gold. Brent crude oil thus dropped by US$4.24 to settle at US$79.92 per barrel.
Gold closed with a week-on-week gain despite slipping on the last trading session on account of a resurgent dollar.
The dollar which has an inverse effect on the value of the precious metal was considered relatively expensive for multinationals, hence, trimming gains arising from lower than expected inflation data from the US. Gold thus recorded a weekly gain of US$17.60 to close at US$1,223.30 per ounce.
Cocoa rebounded strongly to recoup some of its recent losses on the international commodities market largely associated with uncontrolled levels of bumper harvest in top grower – Ivory Coast.
The upward movement in the price of the beans of the soft crop came on the back of growing concerns in the gradual reduction in rainfall in Ivory Coast. Cocoa thus added US$132.00 to trade at US$2,156.00 per metric tonne.
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