Stock market closes active in weekend trading

Accra, Aug. 1, GNA - Significant trading in shares of Mechanical Lloyd Ghana Limited (MLC) on Friday gave a boost to total shares traded on the Accra bourse.

Shares traded leaped from 163,900 recorded on Wednesday to 2,061,900 shares with the bulk of 2.03 million shares being traded on the back of MLC, which also registered the highest capital appreciation of 133 cedis.

The Exchange registered price appreciations in six equities to push the All-Share Index up by 16.61 points to close the week at 2,331.87 points from 2,315.26 points.

Speaking to the GNA, Mr Ike Nkansah of Data Bank Brokerage Limited, said the continued high demand for most of the equities on the bourse had contributed to the impressive performance of the market this year. He said Friday's trading in MLC was due to the continued interest in the stock but none of the shareholders was prepared to sell until now. The trade, he said, was made possible as a result of bargaining deal negotiated by the buyer, who offered a good price to the seller. At the end of trading on Friday, market capitalization moved up to 9,313.51 billion cedis from 9,272.73 billion cedis.

Change in the year was 67.12 per cent.

In the broader market, there were six price appreciations. MLC gained 133 cedis to close at 600 cedis followed by Guinness Ghana Limited (GGL), which gained 100 cedis at 3,600 cedis. SSB Bank (SSB) appreciated by 77 cedis to finish trading at 7,400 cedis while Ghana Commercial Bank (GCB) closed at 7,203 cedis with a 52 cedis gain. Produce Buying Company Limited (PBC) registered a 20-cedi gain at 655 cedis with Fan Milk Limited (FML) going up by two cedis to close at 2,917 cedis.

The following are the last prices of listed equities in cedis:

ABL 460

AGC 28,650

ALW 4,000

BAT 1,924

CFAO 74

CPC 630

EIC 6,100

FML 2,917 +2

GBL 552

GCB 7,203 +52

GGL 3,600 +100

HFC 2,650

MGL 258

MLC 600 +133

MOGL 24,000

PAF 750

PBC 655 +20

PZ 2,253

SCB 55,000

SPPC 390

SSB 7,400 +77

SWL 285

TBL 6,000

UNIL 7,605

CMLT 460