Equity market trades by foreign investors, according to the GSE Monthly Market Report, accounted for 68 percent of total equity trades on the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE) as at the end of the second quarter of 2021.
This compares to some 85.43 percent of total equity trades executed by foreign investors for same period in 2020, and is indicative of a decline of foreign investors’ participation on the local bourse by some 17.43 percentage points.
The fall in foreign investor participation can be attributed to the impact of the Covid pandemic on the economy which consequently saw prices of listed stocks fall and as such to protect their investments, foreign investors moved their funds into safe haven assets such as gold which gained tremendously in price during last year as the pandemic raged on.
Foreign participation on the local bourse has however, seen some boost on the back of the significant pick-up in economic activities necessitating the gradual recovery of the economy coupled with the country’s first mass vaccination exercise and current low spread rates of the Covid pandemic in the country.
The aforementioned factors particularly, the rise in foreign participation on the local bourse is evidenced by the bullish run of the GSE since the beginning of this year.
The GSE-Composite Index which measures the price performance of listed stocks on the local bourse has for the first half of this year has posted a year-to-date return of 36.16 percent beating its peers on the Continent.
It has also recorded a year-on-year return of 15.83 percent in cedi terms to investors.
The local bourse’ market capitalization for the review period has also increased from Ghs 53 billion at the end of 2020 to Ghs 61 billion at the end of Q2 2021.
The decline in foreign investors participation on the local bourse bodes well for the country’s capital market and the economy at large as it indicates that local investor participation on the GSE is on the rise.
