Outlook for GSE this year positive as it expects more listings

The Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE) says the outlook for this year is positive as it expects more listings in equities and bonds to boost liquidity and enhance the performance of the bourse.

Mr Ekow Afedzie, GSE Managing Director, at a press briefing in Accra, said the market was on track to achieve positive results in line with the strategic plan.

He said although the equity market had been down, activities on the bond market were buoyant adding that he expected the latter to pick up in the coming days.

He said since 2015 when the Ghana Fixed Income Market (GFIM) was introduced to trade in bonds; total trades have increased 10 folds, from GH¢ 5 billion in 2016 to GH¢ 55 billion last year.

“So as equities go down in terms of prices, the bond market is doing very well and it is a natural thing where when you find interest rates going up, people tend to shift towards the bond side. But the smart ones also buy equities and keep to sell when the market picks up,” he said.

OTC trade

He said plans were underway to formalise the Over-the-Counter (OTC) trade, which though had been in existence was yet to be formalised, to help in the growth of the equity market.

Mr Afedzie said trading and pricing rules had been reviewed, and approved for the future, adding that listing would be promoted aggressively to corporate bonds issuers.

He said the exchange would introduce an electronic and pricing system by the third quarter of the year.

He said the electronic platform would be for bonds, shares and securities of every kind.

On the GSE Memorandum of Understanding recently signed with the London Stock Exchange, Mr Afedzie said the move was to support the GSE transition from a frontier market to an emerging one.

Integration

On integration Mr Afedzie said the final phase of the integration of three key stock exchanges across the West Africa sub-region to facilitate cross-border listing and trading was expected to take off this year.

“Now what we are seeking is ECOWAS recognition for what is being done so that it can bind all of us together. That is the stage we are now. Then we can move to the implementation stage this year,” he said.