Kofi Yamoah
The Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE) began the year 2017 on a positive with no losses.
Six equities, including three banking stocks appreciated in value, indicating positive times this year.
CAL Bank, GCB Bank and Stanchart, Fanmilk, Enterprise Ghana and Total Ghana were the gainers.
Sixteen equities recorded activity with 1,057,849 shares being traded at a value of GH¢2, 470,257.49.
UT Bank led the market with 40.48 percent of shares traded while Fan Milk on the other hand had 92.24 percent of the total value realized.
The GSE Composite Index started the year on a positive note, recording a 9.11 point and a return of 0.54 percent for invetsors.
The Ghana Stock Exchange struggled throughout the year 2016 despite listing two banks, Access Bank Ghana Limited and adb.
It ended the year with negative return in both dollar and cedi term.
According to financial market portal ‘Doobia’, 2016 was a bad year for the Ghanaian stock market, as the benchmark Ghana Stock Exchange Composite Index fell by 15.33 percent in 2016 due to weak quarterly earnings momentum and macroeconomic concerns.
Diversified portfolios made losses on their stockholdings, as 23 out of 41 stocks (main market plus GAX) closed the year in red.
Five equities recorded positive returns while 13 equities remained unchanged.
The worst losers were UT Bank with -70.0 percent; ETI, -63.0 percent and TOTAL, -61.2 percent.
The overall performance of the stock market was partly cushioned by gains in Fanmilk (51.6 percent), ADB (44.5 percent) and HORDS (25.0 percent).
The Ghanaian stock market has been down by 25.3 percent in the past two years, and several stocks are now trading below their book valuations, making them attractive to value investors and bargain hunters.
‘Doobia’ has seen a recovery in the stock in the final three weeks of 2016.
However, it said the recovery can only be sustained in 2017 if investors believe that the incoming government has the capacity to build on recent macroeconomic gains to stimulate economic activities in 2017 and beyond.
A Business Desk Report
