Ghana Stocks Climb to Seven-Month High

Ghanaian stocks rose to a seven- month high, the second-biggest gain worldwide, as investors bought stock in Standard Chartered Plc’s local unit before its dividend deadline and SIC Insurance declared a payout.

The 36-member Ghana Stock Exchange All-Share Index surged 1.7 percent to 6,315.03 near the close in the capital, Accra, the strongest since Sept. 28.

Standard Chartered Bank Ghana Ltd. rallied 15 percent to 39.69 cedis, its highest level on record. Ghana Commercial Bank Ltd., the West African nation’s biggest bank by branches, climbed to its highest level in 15 months. CAL Bank Ltd. increased 5 percent to 21 pesewas, while SIC Insurance Co. rose 3.5 percent to a one-month high.

Standard Chartered will pay a final dividend of 2.47 cedis per share to shareholders registered by tomorrow, the company said on March 31.

“Everybody is struggling to get the share before the dividend closure,” said Mahama Iddrisu, head of EDC Stockbrokers in a telephone interview in Accra.

SIC Insurance, the country’s biggest insurer, will pay a dividend of 2 pesewas per share for the year through December, it said today.

Ghana’s benchmark index has advanced 13 percent this year, outpacing a 9.8 percent gain in the Morgan Stanley Frontier Market Index, after being the worst performer worldwide in 2009. The country’s economy is forecast to grow 5.7 percent this year, boosted by gold and cocoa revenue, the Bank of Ghana said last month. Ghana is the world’s second-biggest cocoa grower after Ivory Coast and Africa’s second-largest gold producer after South Africa.

Consumer-price inflation fell for the ninth straight month in April, sparking the third straight cut in the central bank’s benchmark lending rate on April 16.