Benchmark rate inches up
The yield on the Government of Ghana 182-day treasury rate edged up by 0.01 per cent to settle at 24.70 per cent at the auction in the week ending September 23. However, the rest of the yields on the government treasury securities remained unchanged.
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The government accepted GH¢976.79 million worth of bids for the auction. The total amount, however, exceeded the GH¢822.00 million the government targeted for the auction. At the next auction on September 30, 2016, the target for the 91-day, 182-day and one-year note is GH¢1.25 billion.
Ghana Stock Exchange
The Accra bourse was unable to reverse its previous week’s losses as price declines weighed on the indices. The GSE-Composite Index shed 9.85 per cent to close at 1,775.12 points, while the GSE-Financial Stock Index fell by 3.98 per cent to close the week at 1,682.78 points.
The GSE-CI and the GSE-FSI ended the week’s trading with a year-to-date losses of 11.02 per cent and 12.81 percent respectively.
Market activity as measured by volume and value traded settled at 22.95 million shares and GH¢35.15 million respectively. Ghana Oil Company Limited emerged as the most active and liquid traded stock on the market, contributing 97.41 per cent and 96.89 per cent of the total trading volume and value respectively.
The market capitalisation on the equity market declined by 0.19 per cent, week-on-week.
The overall trading activities showed that investors’ sentiment remained low with the market closing with only three gainers as against six losers. Fan Milk added a pesewa to trade at GH¢9.76 per share.
Cal Bank and UT Bank also edged up a pesewa each to close the week’s trading at 76Gp per share and 4Gp per share respectively.
Conversely, Samba and Produce Buying Company lost a pesewa apiece to trade at 72Gp per share and 4Gp per share. Tullow Oil Plc shed 5Gp, while Benso Oil Palm Plantation Limited lost 3Gp to close at GH¢26.95 per share and GH¢2.45 per share respectively.
Ghana Oil Company Limited and Societe General Ghana Limited pared 9Gp and 7Gp to close at GH¢1.24 per share and 73Gp per share respectively.
Currency market
The Ghana cedi appreciated by 0.73 per cent against the Pound to close the week at an interbank mid-rate of GH¢5.14, pitching its year-to-date loss against the Pound at 8.49 per cent.
The local currency traded 0.82 per cent lower at an interbank mid-rate of GH¢4.45 against the Euro, bringing its year-to-date to 6.81 per cent.
The local currency lost its grounds against the greenback, despite the U.S Federal Reserve’s decision to hold short-to-medium term interest rates constant. The local currency was exchanged at interbank mid-rate of GH¢3.96 per a dollar at the close of last week.
The U.S dollar appreciated by 0.20 per cent against the Ghana Cedi to increase its year-to-date gains to 4.46 per cent following a significant decline in jobless claims to a two-month low of 8,000 to 252,000.
Commodities
The U.S Federal Reserve’s decision to put interest rates on hold improved sentiments on the commodities market as greenback-denominated commodities became more attractive to foreign buyers.
Crude oil extended its gains last week amidst a weaker dollar and a surprisingly large drop in US crude inventories; this emboldened investors ahead of next week’s meeting between OPEC and Russia to discuss oil oversupply.
The brent crude remained bullish trading at US$46.09 following a successful close door discussions between Iran and Saudi Arabia.
Gold price surged by 2.46 per cent to trade at US$1,342.40 at the backdrop of a weaker U.S dollar. Although, the precious metal could not hold its intra-day gains on Friday as investors resorted to profit taking ahead of a gathering of OPEC ministers next week in Algeria to discuss possible production cooperation to rein in global oversupply, gold prices ended the week as investors safe-haven following the U.S Federal Reserve’s decision to hold its interest rate on unchanged.
The price of cocoa was higher last week supported by short-term supply tightness amidst an anticipated slow start to the main crop season which begins next month in Ivory Coast. The crop rose by 0.71 per cent to trade at US$2,852 as the investor sentiments remained on the outlook for the crop in West Africa with the 2016/17 season due to start next month.
Coffee price rose to a 19-month high to trade at US$1.52 after Brazilian crop agency trimmed its estimate for the country’s 2016 coffee crop. The crop edged up by 1.75 last week as supplies of the commodity tightened following a poor crop in Brazil.
The price of the coffee was further buoyed by the continued dry weather in most of Brazil's coffee growing regions which is expected to delay flowering of the crop. — IGS-FSL/GB
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