Volumes of trade to rise above last week’s level

Trading activity in terms of volumes on the stock market increased by 95.82% in the week under review as volumes of shares traded scaled up by 2,052,976.

Further, the total values of shares traded increased to GHS7,432,079 representing 166.80% week on week appreciation. There were 8 gainers and 6 losers at week-close.

Equities like EGH and SCB will regain its losses recorded last week on the back of anticipated buy pressure on the afore-mentioned equities. Investors can once again direct funds into GCB, BOPP and FML to enjoy short term capital gains on the bourse. Market numbers in terms of trading volumes are expected to rise significantly this week after the slow-down experience from the holiday effect last week.

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 was hushed at week close as no shares changed hands.

HORDS currently lead record capital gains on the GAX, appreciating by 25% from 2016 year open.

On the Currency market

The Cedi lost marginally to all the major trading currencies at week close on the inter-bank forex market. The local currency exchanged at a mid-rate of GHS 4.1934 to the USD, GHS 5.4343 to the GBP and GHS 4.6092 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 inter-bank market now records a year-to-date depreciation of 1.87% losing at an average daily rate of 1.54 percent for the week under review.-