- GSE Trading Narrows Sharply, With MTN Ghana Driving Monday’s Activity
Trading on the Ghana Stock Exchange slowed sharply at the start of November, with the value of shares traded falling by nearly two-thirds from Friday’s session and Scancom PLC, operator of MTN Ghana, accounting for almost 93% of Monday’s turnover.
The exchange’s Official List 7330 recorded 503,067 shares traded for GH¢2.95 million on Monday, November 2. That compared with 1.31 million shares valued at GH¢8.64 million on Friday, October 30. Trading volume fell by 61.52%, while the value of transactions declined by 65.79%.
The sharp reduction in turnover did not come with a broad sell-off in share prices. Of the 18 ordinary shares that recorded trades, 17 closed at the same volume-weighted average price (VWAP) as the previous session.
KASAPREKO PLC was the only ordinary share with a reported price decline, falling by GH¢0.05 to GH¢1.80.
The combination of lower trading and largely unchanged closing prices suggests a quieter session, rather than widespread repricing. But the headline turnover also conceals how concentrated activity was: MTN Ghana contributed 406,216 shares, worth GH¢2.74 million. That represented 80.75% of all shares traded and 92.82% of the day’s total value.
The concentration means that trading in one company largely determined the market’s cash turnover for the day. Excluding MTN Ghana, the remaining listed shares traded for about GH¢212,127.
The next-largest values were recorded in SIC Insurance Company, at GH¢45,935, and Ecobank Transnational Inc., at GH¢41,790.
MTN Ghana’s closing price remained at GH¢6.75, unchanged from Friday. Its trading volume, however, fell from 821,838 shares in the previous session to 406,216 on Monday, a decline of about 50.57%.
The contrast shows why the number of shares traded and the value of trades can tell different stories: a stable price can coexist with a substantial fall in activity.
KASAPREKO recorded the day’s only ordinary-share price loss, with its VWAP moving from GH¢1.85 to GH¢1.80. Its last transaction price was also GH¢1.80, while 8,793 shares changed hands for GH¢15,843.87.
The decline was about 2.70%. The official list showed closing bid and offer prices of GH¢1.90 and GH¢1.92, respectively, both above the closing VWAP.
Those quotes may not represent executable prices for a large order, particularly without information on the number of shares available at each level.
Other actively traded shares showed little price movement. SIC Insurance traded 9,187 shares for GH¢45,935, with its VWAP holding at GH¢5.00. CalBank traded 6,763 shares at GH¢0.74, while Ecobank Transnational recorded 29,031 shares at GH¢1.44. Their closing prices were unchanged from Friday.
In the Ghana Alternative Market, Intravenous Infusions PLC was the sole share to record activity. It traded 39,306 shares valued at GH¢21,618.30, closing at GH¢0.54. Its volume was nearly double Friday’s 20,346 shares, while the value rose from GH¢11,013.50.
The increase offered a counterpoint to the broader market’s decline, although one session is not enough to establish a sustained rise in investor interest.
The rest of the GAX shares listed in the report recorded no trades. No transactions were reported in AngloGold Ashanti Depositary Shares, Standard Chartered Bank preference shares or the NewGold exchange-traded fund.
The absence of activity in those instruments, alongside the concentration in MTN Ghana, underscores the uneven distribution of liquidity across the market.
Trading was also limited across a number of large and familiar companies. There were no reported transactions in Agricultural Development Bank, AngloGold Ashanti, Aluworks, Asante Gold, Atlantic Lithium, Camelot Ghana, Cocoa Processing Company, Dannex Ayrton Starwin, First Atlantic Bank, Mega African Capital, PBC, Societe Generale Ghana, Tullow Oil or ZEN Petroleum. Several other shares recorded only small trades.
The number of listed companies with no recorded activity does not by itself prove that investors are unwilling to buy or sell those shares. It does, however, indicate that the daily market total can be driven by a relatively small number of companies.
That makes it important to read headline turnover alongside the distribution of trades, changes in prices and the availability of buyers and sellers.
Monday’s figures are therefore a cautious opening signal for the week. The fall in value traded was steep, but the limited price movement suggests that lower activity did not translate into broad downward pressure during the session.
The exception was KASAPREKO, while MTN Ghana’s dominant contribution kept the aggregate value from falling further.
Whether Monday marks a temporary pause or the start of a quieter week will depend on the sessions ahead. Investors will be watching to see if trading broadens beyond MTN Ghana, whether the recent activity in shares such as Intravenous Infusions continues, and whether price changes become more widespread.
For now, the market’s most striking feature is not a general decline in share prices but the concentration of turnover in one stock and the much lower value of trades compared with Friday.
