At The Stock Exchange

Accra, Aug. 18, - The share price of Ashanti Goldfields Company (AGC), one of the Stock Exchange's blue chips, slumped during trading today but investors were still queued up to buy the equity. It lost 100 cedis to end at 21,600 cedis as the price of gold fell from 328.00 dollars on Friday to between 322.40 dollars and 322.90 dollars today. This, not withstanding, the GSE All-Share Index maintained its momentous climb, chalking 5.22 points in the process, registering another high of 413.62 points as compared with Friday's close of 408.40. The all-time high, according to analysts, reflects the positive trend of the market in the face of a strong cedi and easing of inflation. Strong interest by investors showed in the high number of shares demanded. Total demand was fixed at 3,667,040 compared to offers of 225,540 shares. The volume of shares traded was down to 38,740 compared with Friday's 44,150. Market capitalisation, following the dip in AGC's share price, fell to 2,881.65 billion cedis from a previous 2,884.56 billion cedis. On the broader market, there were three appreciations and a loss. Standard Chartered Bank (SCB) jumped 500 cedis to finish at 5,800 cedis while Enterprise Insurance Company (EIC) made two cedis to end at 574 cedis. The other market gainer was Mechanical Lloyd Company (MLC) which appreciated by three cedis to close 165 cedis. All the other equities maintained their previous closing prices. CFAO sold the highest number of shares - 27,900. AGC was the lone loser, going down 100 cedis to open the week's trading at 21,600 cedis. The following are the last prices of listed equities quoted in cedis:

ABL 652 AGC 21,600 -100 ALW 1,300 CFAO 35 EIC 574 +2 FML 385 GCB 670 GGL 365 HFC 165 KBL 840 MGL 180 MLC 165 +3 MOGL 5,999 PAF 155 PTC 322 PZ 310 SCB 5,800 +500 SPPC 100 SSB 1,430 UNIL 960 UTC-E 75