Ghana bourse at a new 1999 low, volume picks up

ACCRA, Sept 24 (Reuters) - Losses in three stocks drove the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE) index to a 1999 low for the third straight session on Friday in relatively heavy volume, the official market report showed.

The all-share index lost 5.24 points to 760.81, leaving it down 12.38 percent on the year. In the previous session, it shed 0.23 point to 766.05.

Volume shot up to 1,163,700 shares, worth 460.30 million cedis ($162,995), compared with 22,000 shares, worth just 26.5 million cedis ($9,716) on Wednesday.

Mechanical Lloyd (MLC.GH) the most active stock traded 1,010,100 shares at an unchanged price of 170 cedis.

Guinness Ghana (GGL.GH) which dropped 60 cedis to 950, traded 1,300 shares.

Ghana Commercial Bank (GCB.GH), eased 50 cedis to 1,600, with only 400 shares traded. Paterson Zochonis (PZ.GH) closed at a new low of 800 cedis, off 30 cedis and traded 1,000 shares.

Social Security Bank (SSB.GH) finished at 1,990, up 10 cedis. It was one of the most active, trading 138,800 shares. ($-2,824 cedis)