Bullish market performance to continue this week on the Ghana Stock Exchange

Trading activity in terms of volumes on the stock market increased by 59.09% in the week under review as volumes of shares traded scaled up by 1,559,067.

Further, the total values of shares traded decreased to GH¢8,979,088 representing 19.89% depreciation week on week. There were 7 gainers and 1 loser at week-close.

The stock market will continue its bullish performance in terms of trade volumes and market gains.

Financial stocks like CAL, SCB, ETI and SOGEGH will predominantly move the market this week. GN Analysts expect the broader market return to continue on a positive growth trajectory on the back of further gains on SCB, FML, GOIL, EGL and BOPP.

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 300 shares of IIL valued at GHS 24.00 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 US Dollar but lost to the British Pound and Euro at week close. The local currency exchanged at a mid-rate of GH¢4.3725 to the USD, GH¢5.7507 to the GBP and GH¢5.1987 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 9.06% losing at an average daily rate of 8.73 per cent for the week under review.