Ashanti lifts Ghana Stock Exchange as SCOA delists

Big gains by Ashanti Goldfields and Mobil Oil pushed the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE) to near-record capitalisation on Friday despite the withdrawal of general trader SCOA from the main equity list.

"SCOA Ghana Ltd. has voluntarily delisted from the first official list of the exchange effective 28 April 1995 until further notice," the exchange's trading summary sheet said.

It was not immediately clear why SCOA had done this. The firm's core businesses are vehicle sales and repairs, household equipment and building material sales, and real estate.

Total market capitalisation rose to 2,433.73 billion cedis ($2.18 billion) from 2,408.72 billion and the GSE All-Share Index closed 1.71 points higher at 314.84. Offers exceeded bids by 600,360 shares to 231,160 and 181,660 were traded.

Ashanti jumped 300 cedis to 26,500 cedis and Mobil Oil Ghana rose 100 to 3,500 cedis. Super Paper Products was up five at 100 cedis and Fan Milk, Guinness Ghana and Mechanical Lloyd rose two cedis each to end at 207, 202 and 55 cedis respectively.

Accra Brewery fell three cedis to 284 and CFAO ended one lower at 49 cedis. The other nine first-listed equitities were unchanged at the following prices (cedis): Enterprise Insurance 590, Home Finance 121, Kumasi Brewery 580, Metalloplastica 132, Paterson Zochonis 484, Pioneer Tobacco 76, Standard Chartered Bank 5,800, Unilever 811, UTC-Estates 85.

The exchange is closed on Monday for the May Day holiday.