Tag: Ghana Stock Exchange

The Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE) has officially expelled Worldwide Securities Limited (WSL) from its Licensed Dealing Membership (LDM), citing multiple regulatory breaches. The decision, which takes immediate effect, bars WSL from operating as a broker or dealing in securities on the exchange.

In a statement, the GSE outlined the reasons for WSL’s expulsion, highlighting key violations of the Exchange’s Dealing Membership Rules. 

According to the GSE, WSL failed to renew its broker-dealer license with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), a requirement under Rule 9(2)(e). Additionally, the firm defaulted on its financial obligations to the Exchange, violating Rule 9(2)(b).

Further infractions included the company’s inability to maintain the necessary staff to run its brokerage operations, breaching Rules 6(j) and 6(k). The Exchange also found that WSL was not actively engaging in its broker-dealer business at an acceptable level, contravening Rule 6(L).

Due to these breaches, WSL is now prohibited from opening or managing brokerage and investment accounts for the public. It is also barred from trading securities across any of the Exchange’s markets and from presenting itself as a member of the GSE.

The Exchange has advised clients of WSL to make immediate arrangements to transfer their securities accounts and holdings to other Licensed Dealing Members. “Clients of WSL should contact the Exchange for assistance with transferring their securities accounts and holdings to any Licensed Dealing Member of their choice,” the GSE stated.

This action reinforces the Exchange’s commitment to upholding strict regulatory compliance and ensuring the integrity of Ghana’s capital markets. The GSE emphasized its dedication to maintaining a robust and transparent market, warning that non-compliance with regulatory standards will not be tolerated.

Franklin Cudjoe, the Founding President of IMANI Africa, has shared his thoughts on U.S. President Donald Trump’s plan to shut down USAID. He believes that instead of getting rid of foreign aid completely, it should be improved to focus more on trade, job skills, and technology sharing.

According to Mr. Cudjoe, too much money is wasted on unnecessary processes and middlemen before it reaches the people who actually need help. He insists that fixing these issues would make aid more effective.

Franklin Cudjoe, who has long criticized foreign aid in articles for major newspapers like The Wall Street Journal and The Telegraph, pointed out similar concerns raised by economist Jeffrey Sachs.

Mr Sachs estimated that a large chunk of aid money goes to consultants, emergency relief, and debt payments, leaving little transparency on how much actually helps the poor.

Cudjoe also referenced Rwandan President Paul Kagame, who has criticized how aid money is often wasted on administration instead of directly helping people in need.

“Prof. Sachs is right about tougher seeds but not about more aid. By his own calculation, ‘out of every dollar of aid given to Africa, an estimated 16% went to consultants from donor countries, 26% went into emergency aid and relief operations, and 14% went into debt servicing.’ He could not account for how much of the remaining 44% got siphoned off by corrupt officials, nor could he explain why $400 billion dollars of aid over the last 30 years has left the average African poorer.

“Rwandan President Paul Kagame told Ugandan journalist Andrew Mwenda in April, ‘There are projects here worth $5 million and when I looked at their expenses, I found that $1 million was going into buying these cars, each one of them at $70,000. Another $1 million goes to buy office furniture, $1 million more for meetings and entertainment, and yet another $1 million as salaries for technical experts, leaving only $1 million for the actual expenditure on a poverty-reducing activity. Is this the way to fight poverty?” he stated.

The Institute of Economic Affairs’ Director of Research, Dr. John Kwakye, urges the Ghana Stock Exchange to move away from upholding colonial concepts and instead address the ownership concerns related to the nation’s mineral resources.

Dr. Kwakye emphasizes that prioritizing ownership issues is essential. These remarks come in light of the Ghana Stock Exchange’s collaboration with various stakeholders to create climate finance and carbon trading instruments.

“Please let’s sort out ownership of our mineral first before you start talking about listing on the GSE. Don’t just propagate colonial concepts. The colonial African is even more dangerous than his colonial master,” he wrote on X on December 13, 2023.

The Managing Director of the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE), Abena Amoah, has revealed the exchange’s intention to collaborate with the Ghana Carbon Market Office of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), along with all capital market stakeholders and the business community.

The goal is to thoughtfully develop climate finance and carbon trading mechanisms that will attract domestic, regional, and international capital to support the country’s just transition targets by 2070.

Amoah made this announcement during the inaugural GSE Ring the Bell for Climate Change initiative, dedicated to highlighting and celebrating issuers on the GSE market that have implemented innovative technologies to address climate change in Ghana.

With an estimated requirement of approximately $562 billion, Ghana aims to finance its energy transition and achieve a net-zero emission target by 2070. This ambitious objective aligns with the National Energy Transition Framework, which aims to decarbonize the energy sector.

Despite challenging economic conditions, the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE) has continued its robust performance, achieving a remarkable 30.75 percent growth in its overall composite index, according to the revelation by GSE’s Managing Director, Abena Amoah.

This significant growth positions GSE as the third-best performing stock market on the continent.

The positive momentum is particularly noteworthy considering the challenges faced by the economy. The performance marks a substantial improvement from the end of 2022 when the Accra bourse recorded a year-to-date (YTD) return of -12.38 percent and -4.61 percent for the Composite Index and Financial Stock Index, respectively.

This recent growth suggests a promising outlook for the GSE.

“A bright light in our year has been the GSE Composite and Financial Stock Indices’ performance. I am happy to share that our Composite Index is up 30.75 percent as of November 13, making us third-best in Africa so far this year – while our FSI continues to improve as well,” she said.

She was speaking at the Ghana Stock Exchange’s (GSE) annual ‘Ring the Bell’ programme to mark the local bourse’s 33rd anniversary celebration themed “Resilience and adaptability: thriving in challenging times”.

In its 33-year existence, the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE) has diligently pursued its vision to boost national economic development by facilitating access to long-term capital and investment. During this period, the GSE has achieved significant milestones, including the establishment of three markets (the Main Market, GAX, and GFIM), hosting 45 issuers, and featuring 240 listed securities valued at GH¢356 billion.

Furthermore, companies listed on the GSE have successfully raised over GH¢26 billion in long-term capital across its markets, with GH¢6 billion in equity and GH¢20 billion in debt.

According to Ms. Abena, over GHȼ750 billion worth of securities have been traded, with the fixed-income market prominently contributing to this liquidity. Additionally, the GSE has expanded its reach from three brokerage firms to currently having 52 licensed companies actively trading across its markets.

“Our trading and settlement processes are fully automated, and improvements in our technology solutions have twice won us the Most Innovative African Exchange award by ai Investor. There are 1.4 million securities accounts in the Central Securities Depository, with many more Ghanaians investing through collective investment schemes. We have trained over 70,000 people through our securities and investment education courses.

“The past 12 to 18 months have tested our collective resilience like never before. Our macroeconomic challenges, the DDEP and global developments have impacted our issuers, intermediaries and investors alike. Volumes and values traded are significantly lower in 2023 compared to 2022. In all, 69 billion securities have been traded so far in 2023 versus 196 billion in the same period of 2022 on the GFIM; and 424 million versus 1.3 billion on the equities market,” she stated.

Progress

According to the Managing Director, the years ahead will see GSE unveil an array of products and initiatives: including a Commercial Paper Market; Over the Counter Market; Securities Lending and Borrowing; Asset-backed Securities (ETFs); Margin Trading; Market Making; and Underwriting and Issuing House Rules.

These, she said, will help diversify investment avenues, embolden investors and invigorate the market’s vibrancy.

Collaboration

Head of Bank and Non-Bank Unit, Ministry of Finance, Andrew Ameckson, in his address commended the exchange for setting the pace in the investment landscape and capital market as a whole.

He further urged players to intensify collaboration and be deliberate to ensure the market attains higher heights and becomes a beacon of hope for development.

“Despite this progress, you will agree with me that we must do more to develop our industry. Let us intensify our collaboration to ensure our market leapfrogs to higher heights and becomes the beacon of hope for the development of Ghana and the continent.

“We should be deliberate with market collaboration, as it will promote a reduction of costs and inefficiencies for issuers and investors – ultimately contributing to a more connected and robust infrastructure in the region. We need to be poised for entering a new era of opportunities as we better integrate into and align with the country’s development,” he admonished.

Director-General, Securities and Exchange Commission, Rev. Daniel Ogbarmey Tetteh, noted that to achieve resilience, financial literacy must be prioritised; saying it serves as a guiding beacon for prudent financial planning, diversification and balancing risk-return expectations – all crucial tools for resilient market participants.

He added it will play an essential role in enhancing investor protection and resilience, boosting confidence and encouraging active engagement in financial planning and decision-making.

He therefore encouraged all market operators, especially the brokers and fund managers, to invest time and resources to help close the financial literacy gap.

He commended GSE’s financial literacy efforts, urging it to redouble its efforts to augment the number of listed securities across all its trading platforms.

Deputy Chief Exchange Officer-Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC), Yaw Afriyie, underscored the need to embrace digital innovation to create new opportunities for future business, which will have positive cascading benefits for business culture, jobs and livelihoods.

Boosted by improved market sentiments driven by the International Monetary Fund-support programme, the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE) delivered a 14.9% return for investors in cedi terms during the first half of 2023.

This positive performance followed a challenging economic period in 2022 that necessitated debt restructuring.

Ranking fourth among 15 stock markets in Africa, the GSE demonstrated its resilience. However, the dollar return for investors stood at -10.0%.

Notably, non-banking stocks led the gains in the equity market, contributing to an increased market capitalization of ¢69.59 billion as of June 30, 2023, according to data from the GSE.

Conversely, the Financial Stock Index experienced a decline of 17.57% in value during the first six months of 2023. This decrease was primarily attributed to the impact of the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme on the balance sheets of financial institutions.

In summary, the Accra Bourse performed as the fourth-best stock market in Africa in cedi terms, yet placed eleventh when considering the performance in dollar terms.

In all, six stocks recorded gains as compared to 10.

Meanwhile, the best-performing stock market in the first six months of this year was Benso Oil Palm Plantation (84.44%).

It was followed by TotalEnergies (70.00%), Unilever (60.82%) and MTN Ghana (50%).

Per reports, the biggest losers were Fanmilk (-56%), Societe Generale (-41.0%) and Standard Chartered Bank (-35.96%).

Country	Year-To-Date Return (Cedi)	Year-To-Date Return (dollar)	Positions
Malawi MASI	76.27%	71.75%	1st
Nigeria NGSE	21.21%	-29.43%	2nd
Egypt  EGX	21.01%	-3.14%	3rd
Ghana GSE	15.28%	-10.10%	4th
Zambia LUSE	12.28%	17.75%	5th
Tunisia TUNINDEX	10.43%	10.82%	6th
Morocco MASI	6.74%	13.29%	7th
Botswana BSE	4.48%	-0.99%	8th
South Africa JSE	3.30%	-6.31%	9th
Ivory Coast BVRM	-0.75%	2.10%	10th
Mauritius SEMDEX	-2.73%	-6.08%	11th
Namibia NSX	-3.41	-12.60%	12th
Tanzania DSE	-3.80%	-4.66%	13th
Kenya ASI	-15.73%	-26.04%	14th
Uganda USE	-16.57%	-15.53%	15th

Ten state owned enterprises (SOEs) have been prepared and ready for listing on the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE).

The 10 SOEs were identified by the GSE, together with the State Interest and Governance Authority (SIGA) and the Public Enterprises Ministry after a market readiness assessment was done.

This was disclosed by the Managing Director of GSE, Abena Amoah, at the just ended SIGA annual stakeholder meeting held in Kwahu Abetifi in the Eastern region.

She, however, did not mention the SOEs identified for listing.

Despite controlling about half of the country’s assets, SOEs in Ghana have largely been a drain on the country’s resources rather than being a tool for economic development.

The 175 SOEs, contribute just five per cent to the country’s gross domestic product (GDP).

The underperformance of these SOEs have largely been due to mismanagement, which has led to some legacy debts which in turn has made it difficult for them to raise additional capital to expand their businesses.

At the moment, most of these SOEs have made appeals to the government through the Ministry of Finance to assist them to recapitalise their businesses.

Contributing to a panel discussion, Abena Amoah said the stock market presented the best opportunity to raise additional capital for these SOEs.

“The stock exchange presents an opportunity to strengthen and grow SOEs. GCB Bank, Goil, SIC, among others are some of our success stories on how the stock market can help develop SOEs.

She said the President could, therefore, sign off the 10 identified SOEs to enable them list on the market.

“At the stock exchange, we focus on accountability and transparency and these are very important to build sustainable businesses.

“Aside giving you capital, being on the market also ensures that you are able to manage your capital and be a long term global player,” she stated.

There is money in Ghana

Ms Abena Amoah pointed out that there was enough money in the country which could be assessed by these SOEs through the local capital market.

“Government has been able to borrow a GH¢130 billion that it seeks to restructure now. Our private pensions industry has about GH¢40 billion under management. SSNIT has over GH¢12 billion under management.

“There is money in Ghana and the lesson is that international capital markets are closed to us but domestic capital markets can be built to raise the money we need to develop our country,” she stated.

She said companies listed on the Ghana bourse have collectively raised over GH¢20 billion on the stock market; GH¢12 billion from the Ghana Fixed Income Market and GH¢8 billion from the main equities market.

“We need SOEs like Ghana Re, Ghana Gas and the stronger ones to list on the market. What makes capital markets grow is when you bring your best, because the investors need a strong success story.

“We are willing and able to work with the rest progressively. When they have a massive capital plan that has a good balance, we will migrate them onto the market,” she noted.

Let’s be cautious

In an interview with Graphic Business, the Director General of SIGA, Mr Edward Boateng, said the country must be cautious in the listing of some of its SOEs.

He said the country must be careful not to list some of its strategic assets whereby they may fall into foreign hands.

It’s not just Ghanaians who invest on the capital market, with funds coming in from Abu Dhabi, Toronto, and all over the world.

On the equities market, 60 per cent of trades are by foreign investors.

Mr Boateng said the country must, therefore, ensure that there is local capacity such that when some of these strategic SOEs are listed, the local entrepreneurs and local institutions could take them up.

“So, we are looking at all those options but definitely some of these SOEs are going to be listed on the stock exchange or in some cases privatised or divested off government hands so that government can focus on its core mandate,” he stated.

Trading on the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE) was subdued in January due to the challenging macroeconomic conditions facing the country.

The performance of the Accra stock exchange was negative, reflecting investor attitudes against the Ghanaian economy.

In its review of January 2023 market activity given to the Ghanaian Times, the GSE stated that “the GSE markets’ performance in January reflected investor views in the general macroeconomic climate and the Domestic Debt Exchange scheme.”

It said on the equities market, the GSE composite and financial stock indices recorded negative returns of 3.68 percent and 0.81 percent respectively.

It said the thin trading resulted in a dip in the number of transac­tions to 1,249, a decline of 16.12 percent compared to the same period 2022.

“The month closed with 1.55 million shares traded valued at GH¢ 6. 67 million. The figures recorded represent a 95.52 per cent and 82.58 per cent decrease in volume and value traded respec­tively over the same period last year,” the GSE stated.

It said the top price gainers were Benso Oil Palm which saw its shares rising by 15.03 percent, NewGold ETF saw an apprecia­tion of its shares by 11.66 percent and TotalEnergies shares rose by 1.50 percent.

On the fixed-income market, the total volume traded was GH¢ 10.09 billion, a decline from the GH¢ 11.40 billion traded in the previous month and a drop of 39.86 percent compared to the GH¢ 16.50 billion traded in Janu­ary 2022.

“Volume traded on the debt market closed the month at GH¢10. 09 billion, which was 39.98 percent lower than the same period last year” the GSE said.

The GSE explained that the number of trades during the month was 51,273, which was 50.05 percent more than the same period last year.

It said the total market cap­italisation in January 2023 sat at GH¢ 63, 706.71 million, a decline of negative 1.22 percent of the GH¢64,495.20 million in January 2022.

As a result of the sustained sell-off of shares on the Ghana Stock Exchange, which has impacted the market value of publicly traded companies, Daniel Ofori, a Ghanaian businessman and serial investor, has seen the market value of his stake in GCB Bank fall by more than $11 million since the start of 2022.

According to data tracked by Billionaires.Africa, the market value of his stake has dropped by GH¢25.6 million since the beginning of 2022, resulting in a total value loss of $11.2 million after adjusting for the recent depreciation of the Ghanaian cedi against the U.S. dollar.

GCB Bank, which ranks as the ninth most valuable company on the Ghana Stock Exchange, is one of Ghana’s largest banks in terms of total operating assets and industry deposits.

According to Tesha Capital, a Ghanaian asset management firm, the bank is the country’s second-largest bank, accounting for more than 11 percent of banking industry deposits.

Ofori, a prominent businessman and the wealthiest investor on the Ghana Stock Exchange, owns 7.49 percent of GCB Bank, making him the banking group’s third-largest shareholder after the Social Security and National Insurance Trust and the Ghanaian government.

The market value of his stake has dropped by GH¢25.6 million ($11.2 million) since the start of the year, from GH¢104 million ($16.92 million) on January 1 to GH¢8.4 million ($5.69 million) at the time of writing this report.

The drop can be attributed to the bank’s share price falling 24.6 percent year to date, from GH5.24 ($0.853) at the start of the year to GH¢3.95 ($0.286). The group’s market capitalization is worth GH¢1.05 billion ($75.5 million) at the current price level.

Despite a recent drop in GCB Bank’s market capitalization, which has resulted in millions of dollars in losses for shareholders and investors, the Ghana-based financial services group continues to create value for its shareholders, with profits exceeding GH¢463 million ($33.3 million) at the end of the first nine months of its 2022 fiscal year.

The group’s profit after tax increased by 28.4 percent from GH¢360.4 million ($26 million) to GH¢463.14 million ($33.4 million), according to figures contained in its recently published financial statement for the nine months period of its current fiscal year.

The increase in the bank’s earnings puts Ofori and other shareholders on track to receive a substantial dividend from the bank’s operations when the 2022 dividend is declared and approved in 2023.

Deputy Managing Director of Ghana Stock Exchange, Abena Amoah, has said about 7 state-owned institutions have been shortlisted for this year’s listing on the stock market.

This comes after two committees – steering and technical [committees] -were set to review the performances of about 30 companies. 

She noted that the government of Ghana owns most of the market-ready companies, however, some jointly operate with private sectors.  

Speaking at a press briefing in Accra, Abena Amoah said, “The GSE and SIGA have formed two committees, a steering and a technical committee. And throughout the whole of last year, we worked to review about 30 companies. Out of that, we came out with the first shortlist of about 18 companies, and we have narrowed it down to the first 7 companies that we believe are market-ready. Many of these companies, the Government of Ghana owns 100% in them. There are some of them in the larger group that are in joint ventures with other private sectors.” 

Speaking during a meeting with the media in Accra, Deputy Managing Director of the Ghana Stock Exchange, Abena Amoah, noted that the move forms part of efforts to make state entities profitable and capable of contributing significantly to the development of the country.

In 2018, 2019, state enterprises and specified entities run at a 200% loss, a report by the Auditor-General showed. 

As of 2020, state institutions run at a loss of GH¢5.3 billion.

Source: www.ghanaweb.com

The benchmark index advanced further by 31.72 points (+1.66%) on the back of three banking counters to close the holiday-shortened week at 1,941.59 with a -13.98% year-to-date return while the market capitalization increased by 0.61% to settle at GH¢54.38 billion.

Ecobank Ghana (9.92%), Standard Chartered (+5.23%) and GCB Bank (+1.25%) pushed the GSE Financial Index upward by 57.63 points (+3.34%) to close at 1,782.76 with a -11.73% year-to-date return.

The SAS Manufacturing Index recorded no gains or losses, closing at 1,701.33 with a year-to-date return of -51.13%.

Trading activity strengthened as 30,218,537 shares valued at GH¢13,598,638 changed hands from 13,241,564 shares valued at GH¢8,502,553 last week. GOIL Company dominated trades by volume, accounting for 56.87% of the total volume traded while MTN Ghana dominated trades by value, accounting for 61.06% of the total value traded.

We expect trading activity to surge.

Source: SAS

The GSE Composite Index opened the week flat at 1,841.38 with a -18.42% year-to-date return while the market capitalization stayed at GH¢53.17 billion.

Accordingly, the GSE Financial Index recorded no gains or losses to close at 1,669.29 with a -17.35% year-to-date return while the SAS Manufacturing Index remained unchanged at 2,028.66 with a year-to-date return of -41.77%.

Trading activity surged as 5,836,214 shares valued at GH¢3,736,899 changed hands from 25,666 shares valued at GH¢35,925 in the previous session.

MTN Ghana dominated trades by volume and value, accounting for 88.70% of the total volume traded and 83.12% of the total value traded.

We expect activity levels to increase as investors take advantage of bargain stocks.

Source: SAS Ghana

The Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE) has gone through a lot of barren periods in recent years. Between 2015 to 2019, the only year it returned a positive was in 2017 when the market gained 52.73%.

The rest of the years has been negative. -11.77% in 2015, -15.33 in 2016, -0.29 in 2018 and -12.25 in 2019. If 2020 ends in a negative (July figure is -16.81) it would be the second election year in a row the market has returned a negative; the last time was in 1992 when it returned -3.63.

Beyond 2015, the biggest gain till date happened in 2013 when the market chalked more than 70% by year end.

People have questioned the potential of the GSE to return good to investors. In the article; Accra Bourse: the highs and lows of 2018 the Young Investors Network showed readers how some investors earned more than 60% within a short period in 2018 on individual stocks, though the market as a whole returned -0.29%. The rational behind the writeup was to portray that short-term investors can also patronize the stock market.

After a strong performance in 2017, investors took positions in expectation that the trend would continue in the following year, 2018.

The first half of 2018 was generally good for investors as it recorded a year high of 35.62%.

Within the period, some individual stocks such as Societe General, GOIL, CAL Bank and TOTAL also recorded year highs of 65.83%, 45%, 44.67% and 41.17% respectively.

What this means is that when you purchase stocks and pay attention to it, you are likely to make some income within a short period then you can sell off.

The troubles of the market coincided with the announcement by the Bank of Ghana in August 2018 of the consolidation of Unibank Ghana Ltd, The Royal Bank Ltd, Beige Bank Ltd, Sovereign Bank Ltd, and Construction Bank Ltd to form a new bank called Consolidated Bank Ltd. Around the same period, Menzgold too had been clamped down. Liquidity in the financial system became an issue.

The GSE thrives on liquidity. Basically, because the GSE is a risky area and investors normally use dispensable funds to enter.

Though the consolidated banks were not listed entities, pension fund managers, who are mainly the drivers of the Ghana Stock Exchange where hugely hit because of their exposure to the collapsed institutions.

Most investors had to fall on the stock market to cater for short term obligations. Between August 2018 and present, pension fund managers have sold more equities than they have purchased.

Individual investors have found no reason to commit funds into the market.

This shows that the main reason why the stock market remained down in the last few years was because the financial sector crises remained unresolved.

The financial sector cleanup was in fact very necessary. The five-year bond that was proposed for settlement however was going to compound matters. The decision therefore to pay cash has the potential to shore up public confidence in the financial system.

Pension Fund Managers will have to revert to their statutory requirement of purchasing equities as part of their portfolios under management.

Our article, The GSE: How the Banks Have Performed in the Last Five Years, showed how the banks have performed between 2015 and 2019.

Shareholders are being rewarded with dividends for the sterling performance in 2019. The strong performance has continued in 2020. Strong financials have been produced. The share prices are very low.

It is essential for investors to speak to their stock brokers and investment advisors to enable them take positions within the market especially within the banks as soon as possible. This is not the time to wait and see.

Young Investors Network (YIN) is a financial education organization with a commitment to educating the youth in financial literacy, business skills and dedicated to preparing the next generation of investors.

Its mission is to inspire youth to be outstanding investors investors in companies, investors in their communities, and investors in themselves. Please visit www.younginvestorsghana.org for more.

Source: goldstreetbusiness.com

The GSE Composite Index began the week flat, closing at 1,862.77 with a -17.47% year-to-date return while the market capitalization stayed at GH¢52.57 billion.

Consequently, the GSE Financial Index recorded no gains or losses, closing at 1,725.21 with a -14.58% year-to-date return while the SAS Manufacturing Index remained unchanged at 2,581.74 with a year-to-date return of -25.84%.

Trading activity weakened as 79,837 shares valued at GH¢125,780 changed hands from 20,924,985 shares valued at GH¢11,717,464 in the previous session.

MTN Ghana dominated trades by volume, accounting for 51.81% of the total volume traded while GCB Bank dominated trades by value, accounting for 69.76% of the total value traded.

We expect activity levels to increase as investors take advantage of bargain stocks.

Source: SAS Ghana

MTN Ghana (-1.72%), the sole decliner at the session, moderated the benchmark index by 11.84 points (-0.63%) to close at 1,865.69 with a year-to-date return of -17.34% while the market capitalization decreased by 0.23% to settle at 52.60 billion.

The GSE Financial Index recorded no gains or losses, closing at 1,706.66 with a -15.50% year-to-date return while the SAS Manufacturing Index remained unchanged at 2,599.53 with a year-to-date return of -25.33%.

Trading activity strengthened as 85,632 shares valued at GH¢53,668 changed hands from 18,815 shares valued at GH¢18,954 in the previous session.

CAL Bank dominated trades by volume and value, accounting for 58.39% of the total volume traded and 60.56% of the total value traded.

We expect activity levels to increase as investors take advantage of bargain stocks.

Source: SAS Ghana

The Ghana Stock Exchange has recorded a total of more than 262.2 million traded shares valued at GH¢194 million in the first six months of 2020 amid the uncertainty of the Coronavirus crisis.

The performance, from January to June 2020, represents 107.9 percent growth in volumes and 87.7 percent in value traded for the same period in 2019.

On a month-on-month basis, trading volumes recorded a dip of 16 percent at the end of June after an impressive run in May 2020.

A volume of 60.74 million shares were recorded at the end of June compared with 72.61 million shares in May.

This resulted in a total value of GH¢46.983 million recorded in June 2020 as against GH¢47.825 million recorded at the end of May 2020, representing a slight fall of 1.76 percent.

The daily average value recorded in June was GH¢2.174 million compared to GH¢2.517 million recorded in May 2020.

The GSE Composite index at the end of June 2020 continued the downward trend to record a decline of-15.83 percent (YTD) compared to the-14.01 percent (YTD) recorded at the end of May 2020.

On the bonds market, trade volume for the first six months were up 49.7 percent over the same period in 2019.

Again the half-year trade volume of 49,519 million is 89 percent of the total trade volume in 2019,” the Ghana Stock Exchange said.

The volume of securities traded for the month of June 2020 increased by 145 million from the May 2020 figure of more than 8.8 billion while the liquidity of the market went up to 54 percent at the end of June from 32 percent in May, 2020.

Source: GNA

The GSE Composite Index advanced by 33 points (+1.77%) on the back of two telecom and oil marketing counters, MTN Ghana (+5.36%) and GOIL Company (+3.13%) to close at 1,899.90 with a year-to-date return of -15.83% while the market capitalization increased by 0.65% to 52.95 billion.

CAL Bank (-3.95%) moderated the GSE Financial Index by 3.34 points (-0.19%) to close at 1,725.04 with a -14.59% year-to-date return.

The SAS Manufacturing Index shed 35.59 points (-1.35%) to close at 2,608.43 with a year-to-date return of -25.08% due to Fan Milk (-10.00%).

A total of 202,472 shares valued at GH¢63,538 changed hands from 48,249 shares valued at GH¢65,407 in the previous session.

Intravenous Infusions dominated trades by volume, accounting for 67.

02% of the total volume traded while CAL Bank dominated trades by value, accounting for 35.41% of the total value traded.

We expect activity levels to increase as investors take advantage of bargain stocks.

Source: SAS Ghana

The benchmark index remained downbeat at the session, declining by 16.82 points (-0.88%) to close at 1,903.03 with a year-to-date return of -15.69% due to GCB Bank (-4.23%) and Standard Chartered (-5.88%) while the market capitalization decreased by 0.33% to settle at 52.98 billion.

Consequently, the GSE Financial Index tumbled 31.04 points (-1.76%) to close at 1,732.56 with a -14.21% year-to-date while the SAS Manufacturing Index remained unchanged at 2,658.25 with a year-to-date return of -24.06%.

Trading activity weakened as 149,895 shares valued at GH¢1,616,654 changed hands from 593,483 shares valued at GH¢1,981,648 in the previous session.

Standard Chartered dominated trades by volume and value, accounting for 60.71% of the total volume traded and 90.06% of the total value traded.

We expect activity levels to increase in the next session.

Source: SAS Ghana

Trading activities on the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE) picked up in May this year despite the bite of the novel Coronavirus on markets and the global economy.

A summary of May 2020 trading activities released by the GSE said trading activities on the local bourse jumped in May with a 147 percent increase over the trades recorded at the end of April.

The total volumes of shares traded at the end of May stood at 72,618,971 compared with the 29,372,476 shares recorded at the end of April this year.

“Total value increased by 114 percent to end May 2020 with GH¢47,825 million as against GH¢22,354 million recorded at the end of April, 2020,” the GSE said.

The GSE explained that the daily average value recorded in May was GH?2, 517 million compared to GH¢1,117 million recorded in April this year.

It said the total traded stocks between January and May 2020 was 201,504,907 shares valued at GH¢147,024,696.05 representing 135 percent and 73 percent respectively over volume and value traded for the same period in 2019.

The GSE said the GSE Composite index, at the end of May recorded a decline of 14.01 percent (YTD) compared to the 8.74 (YTD) recorded at the end of April 2020, adding that that “this was due to selling pressure from investors on the market”.

It said the top five volumes of stocks traded were MTN Ghana, 188,381,392, Cal Bank, 3,422,624, Ecobank Transnational Incorporated, 1,910,027, Ecobank Ghana Limited, 1,389,555 and Aluworks 1,197,862.

The GSE indicated that the MTN Ghana led the group terms of the top five in terms of the value of stocks traded with 121,630,336.6, EGH with 7,681,211.59, GCB with 5,219,371.46, SCB with 5,084,297.64 and Cal with 2,940,235.26.

On the Fixed Income Market, the GSE said the volumes of securities traded for the month of May 2020 went down by 298 million from the April 2020 figures of 9,188,273,051.00 and the total volume of 8,889,357,142 securities were traded at a value of GH¢9, 198,499,234.00.

“The total cumulative trades executed on the Fixed Income Market from January 2020 to the end of May 2020 stands at 40,485,145,499, a 50 percent increase over the same period in 2019 and 73 percent of the entire 2019 trade volume.

Liquidity of the market has increased to 32 percent at the end of May from 26 percent in April 2020,” the GSE said.

It said the top five securities traded in the period under review were the Government of Ghana securities which ranged from two and ten-year bonds.

For the two-year bond, the GSE said the volume traded was 969,296,001 at an interest rate of 15.78 percent with 1,536 of trades, while the volume traded for the three-year bond was 2,571,258,449 at an interest rate of 13.04 percent which attracted 1,933 trades.

The GSE said the volume traded for the five-year bond was 1,852,858,846 at an interest rate of 16.08 percent with 1,821 trades and the volume traded for the six-year bond was 741,096,647 at an interest rate of 20.20 with trades of 95 percent and the volume for the 10-year bond was 1,125,352,866 at an interest rate of 20.56 percent with 359 trades

Source: ghanaiantimes.com.gh

The benchmark index shed 24.31 points (-1.22%) due to downward price movements in three counters, Fan Milk (-0.29%), MTN Ghana (-3.33%) and Benso Oil (-5.66%) to close at 1,975.81 with a -12.46% year-to-date return.

The market capitalization decreased by 0.47% to settle at GH¢53.90 billion.

The GSE Financial Index remained unchanged at 1,840.80 with a year-to-date return of -8.86% while the SAS Manufacturing Index moderated by 9.77 points (-0.33%) to end its changeless streak after four successive sessions at 2,980.13 with a -14.40% year-to-date return.

Trading activity jumped as 10,100,023 shares valued at GH¢5,840,219.56 changed hands from 157,769 shares valued at GH¢59,604 in the previous session.

MTN Ghana dominated trades by volume and value, accounting for 99.06% of the total volume traded and 99.36% of the total value traded.

We expect trading activity to pick up as investors take advantage of bargain stocks.

Notification of Resignation of Managing Director

Intravenous Infusions PLC – (GSE: IIL)

IIL has announced the resignation of Mr. David Klutse as the Managing Director of the company effective 15th May 2020. The company also announces the appointment of Mr. Moukhtar Soalihu the Head of Finance as the Acting Managing Director.

Notification of Change of Directorship

Tullow Oil PLC (GSE: TLW)

Tullow Ghana has announced that Kweku Awotwi, Managing Director of Tullow Ghana, and Executive Vice President of Tullow Oil plc, will be retiring on 30th June. He will hand over his responsibilities to Wissam Al Monthiry who becomes Managing Director, Tullow Ghana and Cynthia Lumor, Corporate Affairs Director, over the coming weeks.

Source: SAS Ghana

The GSE Composite Index shed 17.30 points (-0.81%) as a result of downward price movements in five counters in the financial and oil sectors to close at 2,116.74 with a -6.22% year-to-date return while market capitalization decreased by 0.34% to settle at GH¢55.36 billion.

The GSE Financial Index declined by 30.90 points (-1.65%) to close at 1,846.88 with a year-to-date return of -8.55% due to Standard Chartered (-0.21%), Societe Generale (-1.33%) and Ecobank Ghana (-7.69%).

The SAS Manufacturing Index remained unchanged at 3,203.29 with a -7.99% year-to-date.

Trading activity strengthened as 12,492 shares valued at GH¢73,336 changed hands from 3,783 shares valued at GH¢3,728 at the previous session. Ecobank dominated trades by volume and value, accounting for 80.85% of the total volume traded and 82.63% of the total value traded.

We expect trading activity to pick up as investors take advantage of bargain stocks.

Preference Share Dividend Payment

Standard Chartered Bank Limited (GSE: SCB)

SCB has announced a dividend payment of GH¢0.0471 per preference share in respect of the dividend period 31st March, 2020 to 30th September, 2020. The Dividend Rate (interest) is 18.1519%.

Source: SAS Ghana

Three more companies have sought for permission from the Ghana Stock Exchange to submit their 2019 Audited Financial Statements to latter dates.

The companies are Quantum Terminals Plc, Mega African Capital and Bayport Savings and Loans Company.

They are asking for 15 May 2020; 30 April 2020 and 3rd April 2020 as the new dates for submission of their financial statements.

The Listing Committee of the GSE is however yet to take a decision on their request.

Already, the GSE has granted approval to six companies for an extension in the deadline for the submission of their 2019 audited financial statements.

The firms are Enterprise Group Limited, Intravenous Infusions Limited, Fan Milk Limited, Total Ghana Limited, Aluworks Limited and GOIL Company Limited.

The new dates for the submission of their 2019 audited financial statements are; April 30, 2020 for Enterprise Group Ghana; April 14, 2020 for Intravenous Infusions Limited and April 30, 2020 for Fan Milk Ghana Limited.

Total Petroleum, Aluworks and GOIL are also to submit their 2019 audited financial statements by April 30, 2020; August 31, 2020 and April 30, 2020.

Source: classfmonline.com

The Ghana Stock Exchange has granted approval to six companies for an extension in the deadline for the submission of their 2019 audited financial statements.

The firms are Enterprise Group Limited, Intravenous Infusions Limited, Fan Milk Limited, Total Ghana Limited, Aluworks Limited and GOIL Company Limited.

The GSE has, therefore, granted the firms new deadline dates to submit their audited financials.

The new dates for the submission of their 2019 audited financial statements are; April 30, 2020 for Enterprise Group Ghana; April 14, 2020 for Intravenous Infusions Limited and April 30, 2020 for Fan Milk Ghana Limited.

Total Petroleum, Aluworks and GOIL are also to submit their 2019 audited financial statements by April 30, 2020; August 31, 2020 and April 30, 2020.

It is, however, unclear why the firms requested an extension in publishing their 2019 audited financial statements.

Per the Listing Regulation, every firm listed on the GSE is expected to published its audited financial statement every quarter of the financial year.

source: classfmonline.com