Five equities closed trading higher but the bourse failed to extend gains as declines in two banking stocks and Tullow held back the indices.
Four of the gainers bagged 2GHp each at the close of the week?s opening session. Societe General and HFC Bank climbed to 84GHp and 96GHp while Enterprise Group and Benso Oil Palm also rose to GH?2.07 and GH?3.30 respectively. CAL Bank, which was the most traded stock added a pesewa to close at GH?1.03.
On the flip side, Ghana Commercial Bank led decliners shedding 5GHp to GH?4.95; Ecobank Transnational Incorporated and Tullow also gave up a pesewa each to end the session at 20GHp and GH?34.94 respectively.
In all, a total of 579,841 shares valued at GH?1.64M were exchanged in fourteen equities.
The benchmark Composite Index, under strain from the laggards closed today?s session down by 5.46 points to 2,419.81, representing a change of 12.8%.
The Financial Index also trimmed some of the gains recorded last week shedding 7.72 points to 2,164.88. The year to date return on the Financial Index stands at 21.17%.
Outlook
For the remainder of the week the market is expected to bounce back from today?s slide on the strength of expected gains by stocks like Societe Generale, Benso Oil Palm and CAL Bank. Other stocks likely to be in demand include Fan Milk, Enterprise group and Total Petroleum.
Demand for both short and long dated securities was low at the auction held last Friday February 11, 2012 as some investors paused to revise their strategies following increase in the Bank of Ghana policy rate last Thursday.
On the other hand, investors continued to lock-in rates for the 2-Year Note with demand for such securities low in recent weeks.
The 91 and 182-day bills rose from the previous week?s 19.52% and 19.34% to 20.12% and 19.85% respectively. The 2-Year also inched up from 16.00% to 16.30%.
The 1-Year Note was however stable at 17.00%.
A total of GH?486.38M was thus raised in bills and notes against the target of GH?612M.
On the currency market the Cedi was under pressure today opening the week lower against the major currencies.
The local currency was down 0.33% and 0.67% against the Dollar and the Euro to open the week at GH?2.41 and GH?3.30 respectively.
Against the Pound and the Swiss Franc the Cedi dropped 0.69% and 0.44% to GH?3.96 and GH?2.69 respectively.
It however gained 0.62% against the South African Rand with average rates by dealers at GH?0.22.
Source Merban Stockbrokers Ltd
