Accra (Greater Accra) 1st April '99

Trading on the Ghana Stock Exchange closed the week with a slump, which sent the market index going down by 4.25 points to end at 828.61 points. Huge losses in the share prices of five major equities were also deemed to have been a significant cause of the fall of the index, which was at 832.86 at the close of the last trading session. The total volume of shares traded finished at 29,200, slightly up from 20,650 on Monday. Offers closed at 4,064,960, compared to the 4.1 posted on Monday. Bids also closed higher at 487,000 from the previous 469,810. Market capitalisation ended higher at 3.3 billion cedis out of the 998.62 million issued shares, as against the 3.2 billion cedis posted on Monday. In the broader market, six equities saw price changes - five down, one up. Mobil Oil Ghana Limited (MOGL) lost the most. It dropped 200 cedis to finish trading this week at 16,000 cedis. This is the third loss in succession, which puts MOGL's loss at 500 cedis. The other loser was Ghana Commercial Bank (GCB), which lost 10 cedis to end at 990 cedis. Offers for GCB shares shot up from 19,300 on Monday to 336,500 on Friday, causing dealers to suggest that it is the shareholders' way of expressing disapproval of the 100 cedis dividend declared by the board of directors of the bank last week. Fan Milk Limited (FML) was down 50 cedis to finish at 1,250 cedis but was described as having the potential to rise in the weeks to come, considering the demand for the equity. Unilever Ghana Limited (UNIL) and SSB Bank were down 45 cedis and 10 cedis to end at 1,750 cedis and 1,840 cedis respectively. The only gainer on Friday was Pioneer Tobacco Company (PTC), which regained the five cedis it lost last Friday to finish at 400 cedis per share. The following are the last prices of listed equities in cedis: ABL 750 AGC 18,700 ALW 2,800 CFAO 56 EIC 2,010 FML 1, 250 -50 GBL 1,950 GCB 990 -10 GGL 900 HFC 750 MGL 225 MLC 245 MOGL 16,000 -200 PAF 350 PTC 400 +5 PZ 850 SCB 24,000 SPPC 244 SSB 1,840 -10 UNIL 1,750 -45 UTC-E 125