ACCRA, Ghana (PANA) - The Ghana Stock Exchange has shown a remarkable performance in the half-year despite persistent bearish sentiments fanned by negative developments in the economy, according to statistics released by the Exchange.

Inflation during the period went up from 14.30 percent in January to a high of 18.70 percent as at the end of May. It averaged 10 percent in the same period in 1999.

Interest on Treasury Bills equally went up, diverting most investors' attention from trading activities on the bourse in pursuit of short-term gains.

Moreover, the rapid depreciation of the cedi against the major currencies on the market likewise eroded foreign investors' confidence on the bourse, as most were unable to gain value for their investment.

However, the benchmark GSE-All Share Index, which began the year at 736.16 points, appreciated by 11.09 percent at 821.23 points as at the end of June compared to a negative 7.7 percent for the same period in 1999.

During the period, over 18.85 million shares valued at 28.33 billion cedis changed hands, representing a monthly average of 3.14 million shares with a value of 4.7 billion cedis.

However, June recorded the lowest sales volume of 345,000 shares as compared to the previous five months.

In the corresponding period of 1999, a total of 18.03 million shares were sold fetching 26.03 billion cedis.

Market capitalisation for the exchange was up at 3,566.40 billion cedis from 3,308.52 billion cedis.

Produce Buying Company, a major cocoa buying company, was listed during the period as the 23rd equity on the exchange with a market capitalisation of 249 billion cedis (about 7 percent) of the bourse's total market capitalisation.

This makes it the third highly placed equity on the Exchange behind Ashanti Goldfields Company and Standard Chartered Bank, which hold 59 percent and 10 percent respectively.

Guinness Ghana Limited, Social Security Bank and Aluworks were the three best performing equities for the period.

For traded volumes, Guinness Ghana Limited traded 7,790,100 shares to capture about 41.32 per cent of the total market. Social Security Bank and Aluworks also made impressive strides contributing 26.19 percent and 11.48 percent respectively to total volumes traded.

In value terms however, Social Security Bank sold shares valued at 9.8 billion cedis, representing 34.66 per cent as against 26.99 per cent by Guinness Ghana Limited.

Most equities registered more positive changes in their share prices during the period. Accra Brewery Limited registered an impressive change of 17.90 percent as against a negative 29.41 percent in 1999.

Other equities, which gained include Ghana Commercial Bank and Home Finance Company. Ghana Commercial Bank rose from minus 23.08 percent to 28.68 percent while Home Finance Company made a significant recovery from Zero to achieve a 26.67 percent improvement in share price.

Offers volumes for the period declined to 1.5 billion as against a little over three billion in 1999.

Bids were also lower at 401,823 from 708,244 in 1999 although significantly a better performance compared with the volumes of offers.