A growing sentiment that the Ghana Stock Exchange's losses this year have gone far enough seemed to spur the trades in SSB Ltd and Aluworks.
In SSB Ltd, 1,780,400 shares were traded at 1660 cedis. This is just above the year's low of 1650 cedis, and represents almost 2.5% of the issued share capital. According to the GSE figures, this represents a purchase by a Non-Resident Foreigner, because the NRF proportion has increased. Perhaps an advantage of the year's decline in the GSE is that it will attract foreign investors back.
A further large trade took place in Aluworks Ltd, removing the 500,000 shares that were overhanging the market. The price was unchanged at 2800 cedis, and the buyer appears to have been domestic because the NRF holding remained at 20.81%, near the bottom of the league for foreing shareholdings.
The only price movement was in Guinness Ghana Ltd, up 10 cedis to 920 as a line of 11,800 shares was traded. Ghana Brewery Ltd saw a parcel of 100 shares traded at 1900 cedis (unchanged) while Accra Brewery Ltd was not traded once again.
Ghana Commercial Bank attracted some interest as 20,000 shares were traded at 1000 cedis, but Standard Chartered Bank was not traded as sellers offered 6800 shares into the market at prices down to 23,500 cedis, belwo the last traded price of 24,000 cedis, and attracted no buyers.
There was some upwards pressure in Unilever, where 600 shares were traded at 1740 cedis. Bids totalled 416,100 shares with a high bid price of 1750 cedis.
Trades in Fan Milk Ltd, (10,000 shares at 1,250 cedis) and British American Tobacco of Ghana (22,500 at 380 cedis), completed the days turnover of 2,346,900 shares valued at 4.4b cedis in eight issues.
Ashanti Goldfields Co, which is suffering an unofficial strike at its flagship Obuasi mine, has been suffering on world stock exchanges, the London price falling below 500 pence having recently touched 570. In Accra the price is unchanged at 18,700 cedis, though an opportunistic buyer emerged bidding 18,500 cedis for up to 1000 shares. The company is seeking to buy out its small shareholders with a "commission-free" dealing offer to buy in stock. Small shareholders are of course a nuisance - extra copies of the annual report, extra dividend cheques, extra cups of tea at the Annual General Meeting - on the other hand they represent an extension of democracy in a stakeholder society. Pity that democracy should be accompanied by costs.
The "optimism index" slipped back to 4, currently composed of AGC, FML, GGL and UNIL. Aggregate shares offered amounted to 5.9m, boosted by a line of 2.2m shares in BAT and over 500,000 shares in Home Finance Co. Shares bid amounted to 3.36 million.
There were no trades in the bond market.
