On the Ghana Stock Exchange
Trading activity in terms of volumes on the stock market decreased by 6.19% in the week under review as volumes of shares traded scaled down by 239,161. Further, the total values of shares traded increased to GHS6,594,646.00 representing 35.87% appreciation week on week. There were13 gainers and 3 losers at week-close.
The market is expected to follow similar trade pattern as last week in terms of volumes and values as investors and stock market stakeholders continue to recover from the shocking news of GCB takeover of UTB and Capital Bank. Market liquidity is expected to shore up this week. CAL, SCB, EGL, FML and GOIL shares will remain on an upward trajectory in terms of gains for the last week in the month of August.
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.
On the Ghana Alternative Market (GAX)
Trading activities on the Ghana Alternative Market closed the week with 400 shares of IIL valued at GHS 36.00 changing hands.
HORDS currently lead record capital gains on the GAX, appreciating by 25% from 2016 year open.
On the Currency market
The Cedi gained marginally to the British Pound but lost to the US Dollar and Euro at week close. The local currency exchanged at a mid-rate of GHS 4.3951 to the USD, GHS 5.6273 to the GBP and GHS 5.1836to 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 inter-bank market now records a year-to-date depreciation of 8.84% losing at an average daily rate of 8.67 percent for the week under review.
GN Research
