Trading activity in terms of volumes on the stock market decreased by 63.25% in the week under review as volumes of shares traded scaled down by 2,029,759. Further, the total values of shares traded decreased to GHS 674,456 representing 91.42% depreciation week on week. There were 8 gainers and 1 loser at week-close.
The stock market recorded exceptional growth in the first half of 2017 compared to the same period in 2016. The market churned out impressive returns for the first half of 2017 with financial stocks leading the gainers’ list. GCB topped the financial stocks performance in terms of gains where it recorded 44.44% at close of HY-2017. CAL, EGH, ETI, SCB and SOGEGH returned capital gains of 11.84%, 7.69%, 30.00%, 39.56% and 20.97% respectively.
Trading activity could be largely influenced by anticipated mid-year performance of listed companies. Company profitability will by a large extent influence investors trade decisions on the local bourse.
An analytical outlook into 2017 pictures YTD key market indices closing the year relatively better than 2016. Commodity-based stocks are expected to follow in an upward trajectory following an anticipated relative stability of major commodity prices on the world market. Most financial stocks may fail again to drive over-all returns on the market as the banking industry continues to record high levels of NPLs, financial stocks however may record lesser price volatilities as compared to 2016.
Trading activities on the Ghana Alternative Market closed the week with 3,600 shares of IIL valued at GHS288.00 changing hands.
HORDS currently lead record capital gains on the GAX, appreciating by 25% from 2016 year open.
The Cedi gained marginally to the British Pound and lost to the US Dollar and Euro at week close. The local currency exchanged at a mid-rate of GHS 4.3645 to the USD, GHS 5.6573 to the GBP and GHS 4.9778 to the EURO as at week close. GN Market Analysts posit that, the Cedi is poised to exhibit some stability on the forex market in the short-term.
The GCFM Cedi index, a measure of the holistic performance of the Cedi on the interbank market now records a year-to-date depreciation of 7.22% losing at an average daily rate of 7.12 per cent for the week under review.
Join GhanaStar.com to receive daily email alerts of breaking news in Ghana. GhanaStar.com is your source for all Ghana News. Get the latest Ghana news, breaking news, sports, politics, entertainment and more about Ghana, Africa and beyond.
