Monday, 4th February 2014 | When the Ghana stock market closed last Friday, the Financial sector index was up to 1,940.23 points compared with the 2013 year end close of 1,786.60 for an 8.6 percent gain in just the first month of the New Year, but at the end of Monday’s trading, it jumped 86.87 points to 2,027.10 or 4.3 percent and is now up 13.46 percent

The one-day leap was fuelled by Ecobank Ghana gaining 8 percent to close at GH(¢)7.01 and Standard Chartered Bank Ghana up 9.2 percent to close at GH(¢)18.

The Ghana composite market index that gained 5.14 percent at the close on Friday at 2,255.52 up from 2,145.20 at the start of the year, jumped by 62.22 points or 2.7 percent on Monday to end at 2,317.74 for an 8.04 percent gain from the start of the year.

There was trading in only 177,620 shares at the end of trading on Monday.

The big movers for the year to date are Ecobank Ghana up 25 percent; Ecobank Transnational Incorporation gained 21 percent and Standard Chartered Bank Ghana 20 percent. The big losers are Mechanical Lloyd Company down 8 percent; Pz Cussons Ghana 14 percent and Trust Bank lost 14 percent.

Friday, 31 January 2014 | When the Ghana Stock market closed on Friday, the financial sector index was up to 1940.23 points compared with the yearend close of 1786.60 for an 8.6 percent gain in just one month into the New Year. The Ghana composite market index gained 5.14 percent for the same period, closing at 2,255.52 up from 2,145.2. Year-to-date, 9 stocks gained and 7 declined.

The big movers so far are Ecobank Ghana up 14 percent, Ecobank Transnational Incorporation gained 21 percent and Standard Chartered Bank Ghana 10 percent. The big losers are Mechanical Lloyd Company down 8 percent, Pz Cussons Ghana 14 percent and Trust Bank lost 14 percent.

During the past week, 8 stocks rose and only one declined as the indices gained 1.6 percent for the overall market and the financials gained 2.6 percent up from the 1,891.66 on the 24th of January.

Advancing stocks | At the end of the week, Ecobank Ghana gained 6 percent, Mechanical Lloyd Company 6 percent, Cal Bank gained 2 percent, Standard Chartered Bank Ghana 5 percent, Enterprise Group gained 4 percent.

There was trading in 8,249,233 shares which is significantly up from the 1,960,344 units traded last week.

Friday, 24th January 2014 | The Ghana stock market continues on its merry way upwards during the past week with the GSE Composite index climbing to close the week at 2218.23 up from 2,186.94 at the end of the prior week. The financial index closed at 1,891.66 up from 1,847.22 from Friday January 10th.

There were 6 stocks trading that recorded gains to 5 that fell in the past week compared with 6 gaining (updated) and 7 falling in price from the week ending January 10. The market traded only 1,960,344 shares down from 4,785,965 shares during the previous week. At the end of the week, there were 18 bids on stocks in the market, up from 16 the week before but offers increased to 20 from 17.

Advancing stocks | At the end of the week Cal Bank gained 2 percent; Ecobank Transnational Incorporation gained 6 percent; Enterprise Group gained 4 percent; Standard Chartered Bank Ghana gained 4 percent.

Declining stocks | Trust Bank lost 14 percent and PZ Cussons lost 10 percent.

Friday, 10th January 2014 | The year may have changed but that is not yet visible in the movement of stock prices on the Ghana Stock exchange.

The GSE Composite Index closed the week at 2,184.82 up from 2,152.54 at the end of the prior week for a gain of 32.28 points and the financial index closed at 1,844.44, up by 43.02 points from 1,801.42, a 3.5 percent gain so far for 2014.

Advancing stocks overwhelmed declining ones during the week by a 2:1 ratio with 8 gaining and 4 falling in price, representing an improvement over last week’s performance of 6 advancing to 3 declining.

Trading for the week accounted for 2,597,827 units up from 1,488,967 units last week. At the end of the week, there were 19 bids, up from 17 the week before, and offers climbed to 26 from 19. The absence of bids for half of the market is an indication of weakness. While the number of bids have grown over the last four weeks, it shows that only a fraction of the market is performing and that is mainly the financials. Additionally, several of the companies listed have not traded for more than six months and the absence of bids suggests that had these stocks been more liquid, the main market index may not have grown as much as it did in 2013.

Advancing stocks | Ayrton Drugs Manufacturing gained 6 percent in trading for the week; Ecobank Transnational Incorporation gained 20 percent during the week and is up 26 percent for the year to date; Starwin Products was up 33 percent but is flat for the year to date.

Declining stocks | Produce Buying Company lost 6 percent; UT Bank lost 2 percent.

The Ghana Stock Market is up 77.71 percent so far this year to the week ending November 22, a marginal increase over the 77.36 percent gained registered up to the week before with the market index moving up to 2,132.01 points at the end of the week from the prior week’s 2,127.79 points. The financial index that closed at 1,778.22 points at the end of November 15, is now up to 1,782.43 for a 71.41 percent gain for the year to date.

During the week, 8 stocks rose versus 4 that recorded declines a much improved position compared to the prior week when there were 6 declining stocks to 2 that advanced.

Cocoa Processing Company gained 50 percent to end the week at Gina Harrison¢0.02; Ecobank Transnational gained 6 percent to close at Gina Harrison¢0.18; HFC Bank Ltd, the bank that Trinidad’s Republic Bank has 40 percent ownership in, which gained 6.4 percent during the week ending November 15 gained a further 8 percent to close at Gina Harrison¢0.90. The week before it gained 13 percent and is now up 100 percent for the year to date. Mechanical Lloyd Company that sells and services BMW cars and motor cycles, Ford vehicles, Massey Ferguson agricultural machinery and Delphi products gained 5 percent to be up 153 percent year to date. Ayrton Drugs Manufacturing Company recorded a 6 percent gain.

Aluworksm an aluminium continuous casting and cold rolling company, lost 20 percent of its value during the week to close at GH¢0.05 and Benso Oil Palm Plantation lost 19 percent to close at GH¢3.20.