Accra (Greater Accra) 8 Jan. 2000 Though the All-Share Index of the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE) made slight gains, activities remained dull as trading continued to record low volumes, on Friday. The All-Share Index gained merely 0.11 points at 737.32 up from 737.21 points recorded on Wednesday.

The market index has registered positive gains since the year began, but the gains were lower than expected.

Expectations of operators, investors and brokers on the Exchange's performance are very high. While the brokers expect the cedi to perform better to attract more investments, investors, among other things, are waiting for higher dividends to decide on whether to increase their investments or not. The authorities of the Exchange see the need to embark on more educational campaigns and pursue right measures for an enhanced performance of the bourse this year. The percentage change in the year so far stands at 0.16 per cent. Total volumes traded on Friday closed lower at 10,600 from Wednesday's 12,300 shares.

Demand and offers, however, closed higher at 38,600 from 32,900 shares and 474,030 from 437,840 shares respectively. Market capitalisation went up by a small margin from 3,207.05 billion cedis to 3,207.23 billion cedis. On the broader market, there were two upward shifts in the prices of two equities. Accra Breweries Limited (ABL) gained two cedis at 460 cedis while SSB Bank (SSB) made a cedi at 1,985 cedis.

The following are the last prices of listed equities in cedis:

 ABL 460 +2 AGC 18,700 ALW 2,489 BAT 469 CFAO 38 EIC 1,880 FML 920 GBL 1,450 GCB 760 GGL 950 HFC 750 MGL 200 MLC 151 MOGL 13,800 PAF 300 PZ 800 SCB 19,100 SPPC 150 SSB 1,985 +1 UNIL 1,850 UTC-E 125 CMLT 420