The Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE) posted positive gains in April in spite of the difficult macro­economic conditions driven by the surge in shares prices of some companies.

The gains made by Benso Oil Palm Plantation (BOPP), with its shares rising by 20.91 per cent, Unilever Ghana Limited (UNIL) by 20.00 per cent, GCB, 1.59 per cent, MTNGH, 0.80 per cent, and GOIL, 0.61 per cent, drove the performance of the Accra bourse, the GSE said in the summary of April’s market activities copied to the Ghanaian Times.

“The GSE posted a year-to-date return of 12.18 per cent despite the fact that the GSE Composite Index, which tracks the perfor­mance of all companies on the market, lost 3.87 points during the month of April,” the statement said.

It said the GSE Financial Stock Index lost 48.39 points to extend the year-to-date loss to 14.34 per cent, in response to the latest round of audited full-year 2022 results and unaudited first quarter of 2023 figures released by major banks.

On the equities market, cumula­tive volume of 186,888,644 shares were traded on the GSE in April valued at GH¢206, 364,155.69, and represents a decrease of 51.55 per cent and 49.55 per cent of shares traded in the same period last year.

In April last year, a total of 385,720,542 shares were trad­ed and valued at GH¢409, 022,611.04.

“The volume and value of shares traded in April were 5,543,856 and GH¢7, 315,977.28 respectively, both down by 94.72 per cent and 93.17 per cent compared to the same period last year,” the GSE stated.

In March 2023, a total of 173,658.609 were traded and val­ued at GH¢167, 969,700.48.

Highlighting the performance of the Ghana Fixed Income Market, the GSE said the month closed with a total volume trade of GH¢ 5.71 billion, representing an increase of 2.51 per cent com­pared to the total volume trade in the previous month, and a decline of 67.88 per cent compared to the same period last year.

“The cumulative volume traded from January to April 2023 of 30.47 billion was a 62.77 per cent dip from the GH¢ 81.85 billion traded in the same period last year,” the GSE noted.