CURRENCY UPDATE
At the end of the week, the composite loss value of the Ghana Cedi pushed the Ghana Cedi Index up by 1.0252bps to close at 481.5463 points at a YTD gain of 10.40%.
The GHS depreciated against all of its major trading currencies; USD, GBP, EUR and CFA to close at midrates of USDGHS 5.3608, GBPGHS 6.9224, EURGHS 5.9234 and GHSXOF 110.74.
At the end of the trading session, the GHS had depreciated by 0.02% to the USD, 0.78% to the GBP and 0.23% to both the EUR and CFA.
COMMODITIES MARKET UPDATE
The price of Gold recovered from its loss position last week on the back of a weak US dollar. Gold closed the week at USD 1,468 after gaining USD 9.50 from the previous week’s price. This represented a YTD gain of 14.66%.
Brent price continued its marginal increase at the end of the week amid raised optimism for US-China trade deal. Brent increased by USD 1.48 from the previous week’s price to close at USD 63.30/bbl at the end of the trading activity. This represented a YTD gain of 21.26%.
Cocoa ended the week at USD 2,681 after recording a USD 183 surge in price at a 11.34% YTD gain.
EQUITY MARKET
Trading activity for the increased as both total volume and value traded increased. A total of 1.88mn shares valued at GHC 3.69mn exchanged hands at the end of the week’s trading session. This represents a 51% w/w increase in volume traded and a 74% w/w increase in value traded.
The year-to-date market index ended the week at a lower level, as the benchmark index decreased by 17.97 points to close at 2151.51 points from the previous week’s level. This represented a w/w loss of 0.83% at a 16.36% YTD loss.
Four stocks advanced in value at the end of the week; EGL, TOTAL, SOGEGH and CAL. EGL emerged as the top gainer after appreciating by 6.25%.
On the contrary, stocks of SCB, EGH, GCB and SIC lost value during the week under review with SCB being the top loser after shedding 9.90%.
GOIL was the most traded stock in terms of volume traded at the end of the week with 0.59mn of its shares valued at GHS 1.01mn exchanging hands.
At the close of the week’s trading, there were 12 movements in prices and 33 stocks remained unchanged in prices.
Ghanaian firm Springfield makes historic oil discovery of 1.2bn barrels in deepwater
Springfield Exploration and Production Limited (SEP), an independent Ghanaian energy company, has made a discovery of more than 1.2 billion barrels of oil in its deepwater drilling off the coast in the Western Region.
The company last month commenced its drilling activity in the West Cape Three Points Block 2 and a little over a month later made a discovery that was set to be announced publicly last week but was called off at the last hour.
Springfield’s Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Kevin Okyere said the historic achievement chalked by his company was symbolic of what determination and perseverance could do for any individual or group of people. Read more
Inflation rate inches up to 7.7% in October
The national year-on-year inflation rate was 7.7% in October2019, up by 0.1 percentage point from the 7.6% recorded in September 2019. Month-on-month inflation between September2019 and October 2019 was 0.4% Alcoholic beverages, tobacco & narcotics (13.2%) and Transport (12.9%) were the Divisions with the highest rates of inflation. Read more
Only 6% of goods imported are insured – NIC
The Head of Supervision of the National Insurance Commission (NIC) has only 6 per cent of goods imported into the country is insured. Seth Eshun was speaking on PM EXPRESS BUSINESS EDITION on the JoyNews channel on Multi TV on Thursday. He said, “We are tightening the laws around the marine insurance. We are making it clear that any goods that come into Ghana need to be insured. Currently, we estimate that 6% or 7% of goods imported are insured.” Mr. Eshun added, “We’ve had a number of deliberations with the Ministry of Finance, CEPS and all this is in a bid to making it enforceable.” Read more
Financial sector clean-up costs taxpayers GH¢16.4 billion — Ofori-Atta
The Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta has opened up about the overall cost of government’s intervention in the financial sector to protect funds of depositors and investors whose companies lost their licenses in bouts of regulatory actions.
Mr. Ofori-Atta delivering the 2020 budget statement on the floor of Parliament said more than GH¢16.4 billion of taxpayers funds will be used in bailing out 383 institutions regulated by the Bank of Ghana as well as 53 fund management companies which recently lost their licenses after SEC cracked its whip. Read more
South Africa's MTN, Cell C expand roaming agreement
South African mobile operator MTN Group said on Monday it signed an expanded roaming and services agreement with the country’s third-biggest carrier Cell C.
MTN already provides Cell C, owned by Blue Label Telecoms and struggling under the weight of hefty debts, with access to its network in select areas of South Africa. The new agreement expands it to all areas of the country. Read more
Source: Bloomberg, Reuters, CNBC, Citi business news, Doobia, BOG, CSD.