- Treasury Bills Drive GH¢2.23bn Trading Volume as Ghana’s Fixed-Income Week Opens
Treasury bills accounted for more than two-thirds of trading volume on Ghana’s fixed-income market on Monday, as government securities dominated the opening session of the new week.
The Ghana Fixed Income Market recorded total volume of 2.23 billion securities across 311 transactions on November 2. Treasury bills contributed 1.53 billion, or 68.63 per cent of the total, in 278 trades. Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP) bonds followed with 682.37 million securities across 21 transactions.
The figures point to a market concentrated in short-dated government paper and restructured government bonds. There was no recorded volume in new government notes and bonds, corporate bonds, commercial paper or green and sustainable bonds.
Trading volume in the report refers to the quantity of securities traded. It should not be read as the cash value of transactions: the summary does not provide a total cedi turnover figure. That distinction matters because the large volume in bills cannot, by itself, establish the amount of money investors committed or changed hands during the session.
The 278 Treasury bill transactions represented about 89 per cent of the day’s 311 trades, making bills the market’s most frequently traded instrument as well as its largest category by volume.
The largest volume recorded for a Treasury bill was 469.43 million securities across eight trades. The instrument, maturing on May 3, 2027, closed at a yield of 6.18 per cent and a price of about 97.00.
That concentration in bills suggests that short-term government securities were the main focus of activity at the start of November. But one session does not establish whether investors are shifting decisively toward shorter maturities.
The report does not identify the buyers and sellers, their reasons for trading, or whether the transactions reflected fresh investment, portfolio adjustments or routine liquidity management.
DDEP bonds accounted for 30.67 per cent of total volume, providing the session’s other significant source of activity. The largest volume in that category was recorded in the bond maturing on February 11, 2031: 433.89 million securities across six trades.
It closed at a yield of 14.55 per cent and a price of 82.53. That bond represented nearly 64 per cent of the day’s DDEP volume and about one-fifth of all securities traded.
The size of that concentration gives the 2031 bond particular weight in the day’s totals. It also cautions against treating the aggregate DDEP figure as evenly spread across the bond portfolio.
A large portion of the category’s activity came from a single instrument, while the remaining volume was distributed among the other recorded trades.
Across the DDEP benchmark bonds, reported closing yields ranged from 10.93 per cent to 15.47 per cent. The day’s changes were selective rather than uniform. Yields rose by three to seven basis points on some bonds maturing between 2028 and 2031, while the 2032 benchmark yield fell by two basis points. Several longer-dated benchmarks were unchanged.
A yield increase generally corresponds to a lower bond price, and a yield decline to a higher price, all else equal.
The movements were modest and mixed, offering no clear evidence from this session alone of a broad repricing across the DDEP curve. Investors will need further sessions and comparable trading data to determine whether the changes persist.
The market also recorded 15.38 million securities in sell/buy-back trades involving government notes and bonds, across ten transactions.
The largest reported volume in this category was 14.93 million securities across five trades, involving a DDEP bond maturing in February 2028. Its closing yield was 10.99 per cent.
Sell/buy-back activity was small beside the outright bill and DDEP figures, making up about 0.69 per cent of total reported volume. Still, it is a separate part of the market’s activity and can reflect short-term financing arrangements secured against securities. The report does not disclose the counterparties or the purpose of the trades, so their significance should not be overstated.
Old government notes and bonds contributed 198,283 securities in two transactions. No trades were recorded in new government notes and bonds, corporate bonds, commercial paper, or green and sustainable bonds. These zeroes describe activity on November 2; they do not show whether issuers were preparing transactions or whether investors lacked interest in those products.
The absence of recorded corporate and sustainable-bond trading also highlights the gap between the breadth of instruments available in the market and the activity captured in this particular session. The day’s reported volume was almost entirely in Treasury bills and DDEP bonds, with a much smaller contribution from sell/buy-back trades and old government securities.
As the week progresses, the central question will be whether Monday’s bill-heavy pattern is sustained and whether activity broadens across the government bond curve or into other instruments. The next sessions will also show whether the modest yield changes in selected DDEP benchmarks develop into a more consistent move.
For now, the opening data provide a snapshot of strong trading volume concentrated in government paper, rather than a reliable forecast of the week’s direction.
The market’s 2.23 billion securities across 311 trades offer a busy start to the week by volume. But the concentration in bills, the outsized contribution of one DDEP bond and the absence of activity in several other categories mean the headline total needs context.
The quality of the week’s market signal will depend on whether subsequent sessions confirm the pattern or reveal a broader distribution of trading.
