Ghana Stock Market Opens Week Lower as MTN Drags Benchmark Index Down
The Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE) opened the trading week on a bearish note, with the benchmark GSE Composite Index (GSE-CI) shedding 8.60 points to close at 6,699.04 on Monday, amid subdued trading activity and weak investor sentiment. The day’s performance pulled the index’s year-to-date (YTD) return marginally lower to 37.04%.
Losses in heavyweight MTN Ghana (MTNGH), which fell by 0.28% to GH¢3.53, contributed significantly to the dip in the index. MTN remains the most actively traded stock, accounting for nearly 90% of total volumes on the day, with 696,455 shares changing hands at a market value of GH¢2.46 million.
Meanwhile, the GSE Financial Stock Index (GSE-FSI) bucked the broader market trend, rising by 2.90 points to 3,171.38, supported by modest gains among financial counters. The GSE-FSI has returned 33.21% YTD.
Market turnover saw a sharp contraction, with the volume of shares traded tumbling by 90.38% to 796,695, while the total value of trades plummeted by 93.28% to GH¢2.63 million.
Enterprise Group Ltd (EGL) was the session’s top gainer, climbing 5.56% to GH¢2.85, bringing its YTD return to 43.20%. In contrast, MTNGH’s mild decline places its YTD performance at 41.20%.
The day’s market capitalisation shrank by GH¢106.7 million to GH¢143.61 billion, reflecting the net losses in stock prices.
Other notable equities featured in the top five traded stocks included Ecobank Transnational Inc. (ETI), CAL Bank (CAL), EGL, and Cocoa Processing Company (CPC), though with significantly lower trade volumes compared to MTNGH.
Looking back, April saw a 122.33-point month-on-month drop in the GSE-CI, despite a stronger YTD return compared to the same period in 2024. Noteworthy gainers for the month included SIC (42.86%), CLYD (33.33%), and GGBL (30.07%), while laggards such as CAL (-13.33%) and MTNGH (-5.33%) weighed on sentiment.
The dividend season is also underway, with Unilever (UNIL), Benso Oil Palm Plantation (BOPP), Fan Milk Ltd (FML), and Clydestone (CLYD) all set to pay final dividends between late June and mid-July.