Yields on treasury securities continued their downturns as government’s appetite for short term securities declines. The week ending December 1 saw the rate of return on 91-day bill softening by 175 bps to 16.86 per cent.
The yield on the 182-day treasury security also moderated to 19.62 per cent, down by 129 bps.
The one-year fixed note also trimmed 25 bps to settle at 22 per cent. Yields on all other securities, however, remained unchanged at the end of last week’s auctions.
The governement accepted all the GH¢1.95 billion worth of bids tendered at the week’s aution. This exceeded the week’s target of GH¢1.78 billion.
Target for next week’s auctions is GH¢956 million for the 91-day and 182-day treasury securities and GH¢300 million for the two-year fixed note.
Stock market
The equity market ended in the red as investors continue to wait for leads to the outcome of next week’s general election.
The Composite Index slipped by 4.05 per cent to settle at 1,559.31 points, extending its year-to-date loss to 21.84 per cent.
The Financial Stock Index also declined by 5.79 per cent to close at 1,374.91 points, worsening its year-to-date performance to negative 28.76 per cent.
The market traded 116.61 million shares valued at GH¢13.51 million. This represents an increment of over 2,000 per cent in the volume of shares traded.
The week’s market capitalisation declined marginally by 1.12 per cent to settle at GH¢50,823.73 million.
Shares of Ayrton Drug Manufacturing Ltd were significantly exchanges as the pharmaceutical stock closed the week accounting for 98.58 per cent of the overall trades.
On price changes, Unilever Ghana Ltd was the sole advancer on the market. The stock added 3Gp to close trading at GH¢8.50 per share.
Other 12 stocks witnessed price declines at the end of the week. On the downside of the market, Standard Chartered Bank lost GH¢1.51 to settle at GH¢8.49 per share. Cal Bank Ltd and Ecobank Ghana Ltd also shed 4Gp and 30Gp to trade at 75Gp and GH¢6.25 per share respectively.
Guinnes Ghana Brewery Ltd and Ghana Oil Company lost 5Gp each to close at GH¢1.64 and 99Gp per share respectively.
PZ Cussons and Societe Generale Ltd also trimmed 2Gp to end trading at 20Gp and 60Gp per share respectively. Total Petroleum, SIC, MLC, Fan Milk Ltd and Ecobank Transnational Inc., lost a pesewa each.
Currency market
On the interbank forex market, the major trading currencies continued their dominance over the local currency for the second consecutive week due to increasing uncertainties and higher demand for foreign exchange.
The dollar maintained its inter-week gains against the cedi following the release of the stronger-than expected economic data and upsurge in the U. S treasury yields.
The cedi lost 1.32 per cent against the dollar, pitching its year-to-date loss at 6.25 per cent. The local currency traded at an interbank rate of GH¢4.03 per the dollar.
The pound sterling traded high, gaining 2.89 per cent over the cedi. The local currency traded at GH¢5.09 per the pound, reducing its year-to-date gains to 9.34 per cent.
The Euro appreciated by 1.23 per cent against the cedi, extending the year-to-date loss of the local currency to 3.44 per cent. The cedi traded at a mid-rate of GH¢4.27 per Euro.
Commodities
On the commodities market, Brent crude extended an inter-day rally after a relatively upbeat U.S jobs report and OPEC accord buoyed investor sentiments. The price of the commodity rose by 15.28 per cent to close at US$54.46 per barrel after dipping to US$47.24 per barrel the previous week.
Gold prices fell to US$1,177.43 per ounce losing 0.07 per cent to close last week trading.
Expectations of recovery in industry supply of cocoa buoyed investors hopes for the soft-crop. Cocoa trimmed 0.99 per cent to trade at US$2,395 per tonne as rains in Ivory Coast also boosted the supply of the commodity.
Coffee shed some gains to settle at a seven-week low pressured by broad based selling of commodities and beneficial rain in top grower Brazil. The soft-crop lost 4.39 per cent to trade at US$1.45 per pound as traders anticipated a rise in the soft-crop following an accelerate supply of Vietnamese coffee.
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