The cedi closed the trading week at 4.34 per cent appreciation against the dollar as developments including postponement of the healthcare bill in the US, and the G20’s reaction towards the U.S stance on global trade relations affected investors sentiment. The cedi thus traded lower at GH¢4.35 per the dollar, representing a year-to-date depreciation of 3.58 per cent. 

The Euro also witnessed a two-straight week-on-week depreciation versus the Ghana cedi despite its strong outlook on the international currency market.

The Euro which rose on growing market expectations of a much tighter monetary policy by the European Central Bank, economic recovery in the Eurozone and subdued political uncertainties was outstripped by the Ghana cedi by 3.81 percent. The Ghana cedi thus traded at GH¢4.70 per euro last Friday, representing a year-to-date depreciation of 5.89 percent. 

The Pound recorded its 5th week-on-week depreciation against the Ghana cedi at the close of the trading week. Following similar developments as the 19-bloc currency, the Pound was also buoyed on the international currency market following the exceptional rise in inflation data and investors anticipation of both a bullish inflation outlook and retail data on UK’s economy. 

The Ghana cedi therefore ended with 3.46 percent week-on-week appreciation to lessen its year-to-date depreciation to 4.44 percent. It traded at GH¢5.43 per the pound. 

Commodities

Saudi Arabia’s decision to cut oil supply to the U.S propped up the price of the commodity last Friday but to a level lower than recorded in the previous week. Price of Brent crude was 2.18 per cent lower last week as concerns of rising stockpile of the commodity in the U.S continues to take a toll on investors sentiment. Brent crude thus traded at US$50.63 per barrel.

Gold benefited from the weaker dollar as it extended its gains in the week under review, reaching its strongest level in more than three weeks. The postponement of US’ health care votes subdued investors’ sentiment for the dollar shoring up the price of Gold by US$18.05 to trade at US$1,247.85 per ounce.  

Price of Cocoa witnessed a four-straight gain in the trading week following threatening climatic conditions in Ivory Coast amidst the decision by some exporting companies in Ivory Coast to reject all high acidic beans. Despite the supply glut, the price of the commodity on the international market rose by 6.11 per cent. Cocoa gained US$123.00 to trade at US$2,136.00 per metric tonne. 

Coffee tumbled in the trading week as it came under pressure from a broad-based sell-off in its top-grower; Vietnam. The soft crop shed 2.24 percent to trade at $1.38 per pound.

February’s Producer Inflation at 5.4%

The recent downtrends of the Producer Price Inflation were halted in February following rising petroleum prices as the local currency came under pressure. January’s PPI of 3.10 percent almost doubled in February as it rose to 5.4 percent, representing 2.3 percentage point increment. 

General price growth was recorded in all the three sub-sectors of the PPI. The Utilities sub-sector for instance rose by 8.1 percentage points in February (i.e. from a negative 6.8 percent to 1.3 percent). 

The Manufacturing sub-sector also increased from 2.4 percent in January to 3.5 percent in February. The Mining and Quarry sub-sector also increased from 18.6 percent in January to 19.7 percent in February. 

Stock market

The Ghana Stock Market remained bullish despite recording lower activity levels. The week-on-week performance of the equity market saw the GSE Composite Index appreciating by 0.58 per cent to 1,890.51 points to register a year-to-date return of 11.92 per cent. 

The GSE Financial Stock Index also buoyed by 0.83 per cent to 1,801.76 points to settle at a year-to-date return of 16.59 per cent. 

A total of twenty-two equities were actively traded on the bourse. At the closing bell, however, total traded shares stood at 0.93 million valued at GH¢2.82 million; representing 93.49 percent lower from previous traded volume.

Three equities namely; Societe Generale Ghana Ltd, Standard Chartered Bank Ltd and UT Bank Ltd dominated in trading activities as they jointly accounted for 57.10 per cent of the week’s total traded volume. Market capitalisation however, took to the upward trend by 0.44 percent to settle at GH¢49,209.80 million.  

Price movements were recorded in sixteen equities; eight advancers and eight laggards. On the list of the advancers, GCB Bank Ltd gained 13 pesewas to close at GH¢5.13 per share. Standard Chartered Bank Ltd and Ecobank Ghana Ltd also added six pesewas and 4 pesewas to close at GH¢15.44 and 55 pesewas per share respectively. Other advancers on the Exchange were Societe Generale Ghana Ltd, Ghana Oil Petroleum Ltd, Ecobank Transnational Inc., Benso Oil Palm Plantation and Total Petroleum Ltd. 

At the downside of the market, Tullow Oil Plc lost 6 pesewas to close at GH¢20.94 per share. The Trust Bank (Gambia) Ltd shed 4 pesewas to close at 26 pesewas per share. HFC Bank Ltd also trimmed 3 pesewas to close at 65 pesewas. Aluworks Ltd, CAL Bank Ltd, Enterprise Ghana Ltd, Produce Buying Company and SIC Ltd also lost some pesewas.