With just one week from the close of 2016, Venezuela Caracas Stock Exchange leads the world’s stock markets with year to date of 94.94 percent in the market Index, according to data reported on Bloomberg website.
Peru S&P/BVL LIMA 25 Index is next, with year to date return of 81.80 percent, Kazakhstan Stock Exchange Index KASE gained 57.16 percent up to Friday, December 23, while the return for S&P/BVL Peru General Index is up 56.71 percent. Jamaica Stock Exchange JSE index that topped the world in 2015, trails well behind the 2016 leaders with gain of just 20.8 percent year to date.
While the Venezuela stock market may record the highest gains in local currency for 2016, with inflation according to financial news network CNBC expected to hit 700 percent for 2016, the market may well end up being one of the worse performing.
Venezuelan stocks lead with 95% in 2016
The Ghana Stock Exchange slips
The Ghana Stock Exchange closed marginally lower at the end of the week ending July 18, with the main Ghana Stock Exchange composite closing at 2,332.62, compared with 2,365.72 the week before, the second week of decline.
The Ghana Financial sector index closed slightly down, at 2,146.34 from 2,144.52 points close of the week before. For the week, 2.2 million units traded as more stocks declined than rose, with only 5 stocks closing higher and 10 declining. Guinness Ghana <Breweries with a 17 percent decline was the only stock with a major price change. At the close of trading for the week, of the 38 securities listed, there were bids to buy only 17 while there were offers to sell 26 of them.
Ghana stocks up for week
strong>Stocks on the Ghana Stock Exchange ended the week higher than at the close of the previous week but the week closed with only 4 stocks rising to 9 declining. 11.4 million shares traded during the week, with Monday enjoying the highest volume with 8.1 million units and Friday with 1.8 million units.
The GSE Composite Index closed the week higher at 2,358.73 compared with 2,362.67, the Ghana Stock exchange financial services index closed at 2,099.80 up from 2,066.58. For the year to date the GSE Composite Index is up 9.94 percent and the GSE financial index 17.5 percent.
Enterprise Group lost 30 percent during the week to close at GH¢1.85, Ghana Oil Company gained 11 percent and HFC Bank 10 percent.
GSE advancing stocks just ahead
Ghana stock market continues to recover from the decline the market suffered since peaking in February. For the week, the market closed with the composite index at 2,319.12 with 8 stocks rising while 7 declined. For the previous week the composite index closed at 2,243.70 as the prices of 7 stocks climbed and 11 declined. The financial services index closed the week at 2,033.20 up from 1,916.77 at the close of the week before.
During the week 3,235,500 shares were traded versus 10,128,018 in the week before. At the end of trading there were bids for 20 securities and offers for 31, an indication of weakness in the overall market.
The stocks with the largest gains are, Sic Insurance that gained 6 percent to close at GH¢0.37 and Societe Generale Ghana up 20 percent, to GH¢0.83.
The big losers are African Champion Industries down 25 percent to close at GH¢0.03, Enterprise Group with a loss of GH¢0.17 to close at GH¢1.99 for an 8 percent decline, Produce Buying Company fell 13 percent to GH¢0.14.
13 stocks down, 5 up on GSE
The number of stocks declining in the market to May 9 increased from 11 the previous week to 13 at the end of the current week but the number advancing climbed from 1 to 5 as trading on the Ghana Stock exchange continued to decline and has almost wiped out the gains enjoyed in the two months to February.
At the close of the week the market continue to show signs of weakness while the two indices declined with the GSE Composite Index closing at 2247.01 compared with 2,255.20 at the end of the previous week’s trading and the GSE Financial Stocks index that closed at 1,899.49 compared with 1,913.11, leaving the GSE FS index up just 6.3 percent for the year to date.
The level of trading for the week declined to 6,488,878 million shares compared with the previous week at 9.8 million shares.
In trading African Champion Industries fell 33 percent in trading 3,963,100 units on Friday with the price ending at GH¢0.04, Aluworks lost 17 percent to close GH¢0.05, Eco Bank Transnational lost 9 percent to close at GH¢0.20, Sic Insurance Company lost 13 percent to close at GH¢0.35 and Societe Generale Ghana lost 6 percent to close at GH¢0.62 were the stocks that suffered the greatest loss. Tullow Oil Plc closed with a 16 percent gain to end the week at GH¢35.
At the end of the week there was still signs of weakness with only 18 stocks having bids and 27 offers compared to 15 to 29 at the end of the week before.