ACCRA, Ghana (PANA) - Stocks on the Ghana Stock Exchange lower on Friday with the benchmark GSE-All share index marking time amidst fears of interest rate hikes fuelled by an increase in Treasury Bill (TB) rates announced on Monday by the Bank of Ghana.

The GSE-All share index finished unchanged at Wednesday's close of 821.33 points as the bourse continued to experience a downturn in its fortunes under heavy bearish sentiments.

The new rates of about 45 percent for the 91-day Treasury Bill and 43 percent for the 182-day TB bill have already prompted some banks to adjust their interest rates paid on savings and fixed deposits accounts.

Brokers on the exchange said the new development would impact negatively on the performance of the bourse, which is already beleaguered by consistent bearish sentiments.

They explained that the new rates would significantly divert investors' attention from the bourse to the risk-free Treasury Bill market but expressed the hope that those with long-term investment goals would be back on the market.

Generally the market was quiet with other stock indicators unchanged.

There were no price changes. Out of the 23 listed equities, nine returned negative pressure while 13 others had no pressure on them.

Only Accra Brewery Limited (ABL) returned a positive pressure.

All the 16,300 shares posted by 12 equities on Friday were sold.

Last Wednesday, 106,600 out of 108,600 shares demanded were sold.

Ghana Commercial Bank (GCB) and Camelot led the sales with 7,500 and 2,000 shares respectively on Friday.

Market capitalisation was unchanged at 3,573.04 billion cedis while the change for the year to date now stands at 11.57 percent.

Offers were up marginally at 2,327,010 from 2,319,810.

Bids ended trading at 16,300 down from 108,600. Below are the closing prices of listed equities in cedis:

ABL 540

AGC 18,600 ALW 2,600 BAT 440 CFAO 38 EIC 1,880 FML 1,200 GBL 1,400 GCB 1,000 GGL 990 HFC 950 MGL 200 MLC 150 MOGL 17,500 PAF 300 PBC 520 PZ 800 SCB 22,000 SPPC 150 SSB 1,990 UNIL 1,845 UTCE 125 CMLT 425