Ghana’s financial markets delivered a mixed performance during the review period, with the fixed income market recording strong investor appetite for government securities, secondary market activity surging, and the stock market maintaining its impressive year-to-date gains despite a decline in trading volumes. Meanwhile, the Ghana cedi continued to face pressure against the major trading currencies, particularly the US dollar and the British pound.
The week’s performance was largely characterised by heightened demand for Treasury bills, reflecting sustained investor confidence in government securities, while equities continued to benefit from gains in selected financial and industrial stocks.
Treasury Bill auction oversubscribed
The Ghana Fixed Income Market (GFIM) recorded a significant increase in investor demand at the latest Treasury bill auction.
Investor subscriptions rose from GH¢4.92 billion in the previous auction to GH¢6.09 billion during the latest sale, representing an increase of nearly GH¢1.18 billion.
The government had targeted GH¢5.44 billion but received bids worth GH¢6.09 billion, resulting in an oversubscription of 11.95%.
The strong investor participation highlights continued confidence in government short-term securities despite prevailing market conditions.
At the auction, the government accepted 98.46% bids submitted for the 91-day Treasury bill, 98.25% of bids for the 182-day bill and 78.50% of bids for the 364-day instrument.
Interest rates edged upward across all tenors.
The 91-day Treasury bill rate increased by two basis points to 5.01%, while the 182-day bill rose by five basis points to 7.09%.
The 364-day Treasury bill recorded the largest increase, rising by 38 basis points to 10.84%.
Buoyed by the strong investor appetite, government is seeking to raise GH¢7.43 billion in its next Treasury bill auction.
Secondary market activity surges
The secondary fixed income market also witnessed robust activity during the week.
Trading volumes increased by 42.1% to GH¢5.94 billion, indicating stronger participation by investors in the debt market.
Treasury bills remained the dominant instrument, accounting for 49.29% of total trading activity.
Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP) bonds contributed 26.93%, while Sell-Buy-Back transactions accounted for 23.09%.
Corporate bonds represented 0.41% of total trades, while newly issued Government of Ghana notes contributed 0.28%.
The increase in trading volumes suggests improving liquidity and sustained investor interest in fixed-income assets.
Cedi continues to weaken
On the foreign exchange market, the Ghana cedi recorded mixed fortunes against the major international currencies.
The local currency depreciated by 1.02% against the US dollar to close at GH¢11.85 per dollar.
This brings the cedi’s year-to-date depreciation against the greenback to 11.82%.
Against the British pound, the cedi also weakened by 0.16% to close at GH¢15.83, translating into a year-to-date depreciation of 11.17%.
However, the cedi posted a marginal gain against the euro, appreciating by 0.23% to settle at GH¢13.93.
Despite the weekly gain, the currency remains down by 10.17% against the euro since the beginning of the year.
Open market rates showed the cedi closing the week at approximately GH¢11.95 to the US dollar, GH¢16.07 to the British pound and GH¢13.93 to the euro.
Stock market maintains strong momentum
The Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE) continued its strong performance despite a slowdown in trading activity.
The GSE Composite Index closed the week at 14,299.32 points, delivering an impressive year-to-date return of 63.04%.
The market’s resilience was supported by gains in several major counters, particularly in the banking and financial services sectors.
Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (ETI) emerged as the top performer for the week, gaining 12.95% to close at GH¢1.57.
The stock has now returned 103.90% since the beginning of the year.
TOTAL Energies gained 9.09% to close at GH¢36.00, while CAL Bank advanced 5.48% to GH¢0.77.
Atlantic Lithium Ghana (ALLGH) rose by 3.17% to GH¢8.46, while GCB Bank appreciated by 2.13% to close at GH¢36.00.
Some counters record losses
Not all stocks shared in the market gains.
Fan Milk Limited (FML) slipped by 0.15% to GH¢13.30, while MTN Ghana declined by 0.31% to GH¢6.48.
Societe Generale Ghana lost 1.38% to close at GH¢6.42, while Guinness Ghana Breweries fell by 1.69% to GH¢14.50.
Republic Bank Ghana recorded the biggest decline among the laggards, shedding 2.12% to close at GH¢5.09.
Trading volumes decline
Despite the positive performance of the market index, overall trading activity weakened.
Total shares traded fell by 37.34% from 17.53 million shares in the previous week to 10.98 million shares.
The total value of trades executed during the week stood at approximately GH¢90.69 million.
Market analysts expect financial stocks and companies within the information and communications technology sector to continue driving market performance in the coming week as investors remain attracted to strong corporate fundamentals and earnings prospects.
The latest market performance suggests that while investor confidence remains strong in both fixed income and equity markets, currency pressures continue to pose challenges for the broader economy.
The sharp oversubscription of Treasury bills and robust stock market returns, however, point to sustained investor interest in Ghanaian financial assets.
