GSE All-Share Index Marks Time

ACCRA, Ghana (PANA) - Share prices of the 22 listed equities of the Accra bourse remained stable Monday with the main market index, the All-Share Index, marking time at 763.10 points.

Seth Ayitey, a broker with CDH, said the prices quoted for most of the equities for the day were below their actual value because demand exceeded supply in most cases.

In one instance, 3,200 shares of Fan Milk Limited were offered at 972 cedis but 5,000 shares were demanded. All the 3,200 shares were bought.

Accra Brewery Limited sold all 4,000 shares offered but investors bid for more than 20,000 shares.

Even though Mechanical Lloyd Company Limited could not make any sales, demand for one million shares far exceeded 48,800 shares offered which could have pushed the price up from 150 cedis, but investors offered to pay 130 cedis for a share.

Ayitey, therefore, called for more education for brokers to arm them well enough to know when to push prices either higher or lower.

He attributed the continuous heavy demand for Mechanical Lloyd Company shares in the past three weeks to a strategic position by an investor to secure a firm stake in the company.

On the effect of Ashanti Goldfields' recent monetary problems on its share prices, Ayitey said Ghanaian investors do not respond to activities of companies, hence its stable price.

He also explained that there are hardly any sales in Ashanti Goldfields shares because of the value investors place on gold, making them hold on to their shares.

Explaining what contributed to the bearish sentiments of low volumes that characterised trading Monday, Ayitey said this is a characteristic of opening trading sessions in the week.

During these days, investors, management and brokers review the previous week's activities in order to adopt new strategies that would enable them to acquire new holdings or sell off at profitable price.

Total shares traded Monday were higher than Friday's close of 7,700, but brokers said out of more than 15,400 registered, only six equities could have been sold.

Bids inched up slightly from 1,027,800 to 1,068,800 while offers declined from 1.2 million to 993,330 shares.

Market capitalisation remained at 3,247.87 billion cedis.