What To Do Before Buying Any Stock

In all my investment coaching I tell my clients who want to venture into stocks trading or investment, to do one thing and that's what you should do before buying any stock in 2017.

And that is; READ MORE ABOUT EVERY COMPANY YOU DESIRE TO OWN.

Knowing more about the companies you buy or sell always gives you some upper hand and courage.

So get to work. And this is how;

On the Ghana Stock Exchange for instance there are about 35 listed companies. In 2017, target to read the Annual Reports, related news and learn more about what each of these 35 companies do.
You can dedicate one week to study about one company and before you know it, you will be more abreast with what's happening in the Market and then you can make informed decisions.
Most of the information you will need can be found here (www.annualreportsghana.com)
Fast readers can take two companies a week and read on.
Do not be scared of the figures and do not worry about interpreting the financial statements. The goal here is to know what these companies do to make profit, nature of their business, what industry they operate in, who is on their boards or management, who are the top 10 or top 20 shareholders, and any other relevant information you will get in their annual reports.

Doing this will not only get you informed but also build up some zeal or interest in you towards investing on the stock market.

You can apply this principle to other Investments you intend to hold, being it real estate, mutual funds, fixed income securities etc.

Simple task that always pays. Enjoy reading.

Personal Finance: Money Related Apps I Use on Daily basis.

In 2016, I was able to properly manage my finances and simplify the movement of money from one place to the other with the help of these apps.

1. expressPay -  This is a very good app for those of you who value time like I do. Moving money from my bank account to any other place is so simple. The bank direct feature added recently is another great thing. I use expressPay send money to people easily, pay electricity bills, buy mobile credit, buy internet bundles, pay for DSTV subscription and even load money into my stock brokerage account. My desire is for every shop, business or person to get on expressPay so we can transact without the use of cash.

2. Bank apps (STANBIC & CAL BANK ): These apps since to be so cool too. Internet banking is simplier and life just gets better when you don't have to visit the banking or ATM hall every time.

3. Financial  Calculator: I love these calculator. It helps me calculate everything I want. Helps me get my Return on Investments (ROI) and  prepare my financial accounts for my clients. (Clients of PEA FUND). Finance gets boring to people because of the formular works but with a financial calculator, it gets easier and fun.

4. Ghana Investment: Is a recent app I discovered that helps me monitor my fixed income securities (Treasury bills and Fixed deposits).

5. Valuation app: Is also a great app to use for finance. There are valuation techniques and formulas that can help you in your valuations.

6. Money Manager : This app helps me monitor my expenses and incomes on daily, weekly and monthly bases. It can sometimes be time consuming back if used  properly and regularly,  it will be become a part of you and hence help you control you expenses whiles working towards increasing income streams. It's a must- get app for all.

So now you know. Go get them.

Personal Finance Tips for the New Year

As the year draws to an end, I will be sharing with you some personal finance tips that helped me manage my finances and simply life as well as investing.

1. Bank Accounts:

Let's begin with bank accounts. In 2016, I stuck to the use of bank accounts as an outlet for cash inflows and simply as that.
Not even a peny was allowed to stay in it.
My Salary and other streams of income pass through it and are moved to where they really belong - (Investment accounts).
Keeping too much cash in your bank account is not something I'll advice. The worse form of this is when the bank account is a current account. You don't only lose the value of your money over time, you also get charged. 
Another thing to avoid is the little ATM or VISA charge. The more transaction you make, the more you pay.

2. Carry less Cash:
When you carry less cash on you, there is greater possible of you living within your means. This has been my way of controlling my spending. This is a powerful tool and if practiced well, you turn tospend less and even in the case where you have loads of cash on you, you won't feel like spending it on unnecessary items.

In my next post, I'll share some of the apps I use to manage movement of money and personal finance.

GSE-Composite Index retreated as ETI reaches year low

Following losses on three banking stocks, the GSE-Composite Index retreated to 1,667.26 points, from the previous closing of 1,676.59 points. The year-to-date return on the local bourse fell 47bps to -16.42%.

The GSE Financial Stock Index also lost ground. It closed 13.39 points lower at 1,558.69 points. The return on financial stocks fell to -19.24% from -18.55%.

The turnover on the market was 0.05 million, 89.13% less than the previous session's trade volume. Trades in ETI represented 76.73% of the turnover. The total value recorded from trading was GHS0.05 million, of which SCB chalked up 42.77%. 

ETI dropped by a pesewa to close at a year-low of GHS0.10, amidst excess supply of the stock. The stock price may slip further if the sell-side pressure persists. EGH and SCB also saw their share prices depreciate. No gainers were recorded.

3 Reasons why Future Cash flows are worth less than Cash Flow today:

I have developed immense love for Valuation and have pledged to follow closely to works of my hero and mentor, Aswath Damodaran, Valuation Expert and Professor at NYU. The Little Book of Valuation is the first of his books I'm reading. I can't wait to start with the rest.
Below are his views on the above topic.

The Intuitive Basis for Present Value by Aswath Damodaran.

There are three reasons why a cash flow in the future is worth less than a similar cash flow today.

1. Individuals prefer present consumption to future consumption.
People would have to be offered more in the future to give up present consumption. If the preference for current consumption is strong, individuals will have to be offered much more in terms of future consumption to give up current consumption, a trade-off that is captured by a high real rate of return or discount rate. Conversely, when the preference for current consumption is weaker, individuals will settle for much less in terms of future consumption and, by extension, a low real rate of return or discount rate.

2. When there is monetary inflation, the value of currency decreases over time.
The greater the inflation, the greater the difference in value between a nominal cash flow today and the same cash flow in the future.

3. A promised cash flow might not be delivered for a number of reasons: 
The promisor might default on the payment, the promisee might not be around to receive payment, or some other contingency might intervene to prevent the promised payment or to reduce it. Any uncertainty (risk) associated with the cash flow in the future reduces the value of the cash flow.

The process by which future cash flows are adjusted to reflect these factors is called discounting, and the magnitude of these factors is reflected in the discount rate. The discount rate can be viewed as a composite of the expected real return (reflecting consumption preferences in the aggregate over the investing population), the expected inflation rate (to capture the deterioration in the purchasing power of the cash flow), and the uncertainty associated with the cash flow.

Private Financing of Public Infrastructure, A way For West Africa (UGBS Public Lecture)

You are all invited to a very important Public Lecture to be delivered on Oct. 25th @ UGBS by Prof John Macomber, Professor of Finance at Harvard business School.  

ABSTRACT 

Africa and the world face three large trends:  rapid and massive urbanization; current and worsening resource scarcity; and the apparent inability of national governments to mobilize investment in urban infrastructure to get ahead of these problems.  At the same time, the world is awash in liquidity as trillions of dollars realize close to zero yield in the global capital markets.  How can thoughtful private investment and delivery of public infrastructure be attracted and channelled to address this “infrastructure paradox”?  This lecture provides an opportunity to discuss the broader opportunities available for private financing of public infrastructure, and then explore how these opportunities might be exploited and accomplished in western Africa.

Speaker profile

Professor John Macomber Lectures in Finance at the Harvard Business School, where his research and teaching focuses on exploring opportunities for private financing of public infrastructure in cities in the Global South.  He has undertaken field research in Latin America, Africa, and South Asia, and his sectors of interest include power, transportation, water/sanitation, and waste.   Prof. Macomber’s professional background is in construction and real estate before joining the HBS faculty.  He is a member of the Executive Committee of Harvard’s Center for African Studies.

UT Bank remains the Driver of GSE Financial Stock Index

The GSE Composite index recovered from Tuesday's loss to close the midweek's trading at 1,773.77 points; 0.16 points higher than the previous closing. This brings the year-to-date yield to -11.09%

Price appreciatioin in UTB pushed the GSE financial stocks index to 1,682.66 points, up 1.16 points from 1,681.50 points. The year-to-date return on financials stocks is -12.82%.

0.04 million shares were exchanged for a sum GHS0.02 million. Compared to the previous, the trade volume and value declined by 94.48% and 58.00% respectively. UTB had the lion's share of the turnover, accounting for 50.42% of the traded volume. On the other hand, GCB was responsible for 58.00% of the traded value.

UTB gained GHS0.01 to close trading at GHS0.05. BOPP lost a pesewa to fall to a year-low of GHS2.42.

Courtesy: CAL Brokers Ltd.

How to Trade in the Regular & Odd Lots Market

It's great most young investors are getting a chance to trade their own shares at the comfort of their homes or offices without heavily relying on stock brokers  (although there's still some amount of reliance).
In order to fully and easily trade on Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE), one must understand the necessary areas of the market and that brings me to the two kinds of markets - REGULAR and ODD LOTS Markets.

The Regular Market:
When trading on the exchange with the various trading platforms (e.g. iBroker trading platform ) you will come across "REG" & "ODL" .

REG: represents 'Regular market'. In this market you can only trade lots in 100s. Like 900, 500, 1000, 10,000 etc.

ODL: represents 'Odd Lots market'.In this market, you can only trade lots which are not in 100s. (Or better still let me say, lower than 100). Like 99, 45, 60, 75, etc.

How it works:
If you want to trade (buy or sell) 678 shares of any company, you will buy 600 shares in the Regular Market and then buy the remaining 78 shares from the Odd lots market (ODL) provided those number of shares are available on the various markets at the price you prefer.

Now you know. Keep investing.

Financing Your Investments Using Borrowed Money: Margin Trading on GSE

image credit: claytrader.com

I am still deeply concerned about the speed of growth of the Ghana Stock Exchange. Market players are blaming it on the low level of activities on the market because investors are few and hence ‘Ghanaians do not invest enough’.  The question then is, do the few investors we have, get the necessarily tools, options and systems to facilitate the investment process? In cases where investors want to buy more stocks but short of funds, what happens next? Is that the end?

That brings me to the concept of Buying Stocks on Margin. When are we reaching a point where we can buy stocks and other securities on margin? Every time I interact with my colleagues in the market, I hear the response that, it’s in the pipeline. Truly, this pipeline is really long.

What Does Buying on Margin Mean?

Simply put, it is borrowing part of the total purchase amount of a position using loan from a broker. Margin trading allows you to buy more shares from a listed company with the financial help from your broker than you can normally buy. With Margin trading on Ghana Stock Exchange, the market doesn’t only increase in activities but also gives brokerage firms a lot of opportunities to grow bigger. 

Investor who trades on Margin vrs one who does not:

Margin is a double edge sword. As much as margin trading of stocks can bring some good things into the market, so is the risk and let’s see how bad it is.

Here is an example:  Imagine Investor A & B has Ghc 50,000 each worth of stock in their brokerage accounts and this allows them a margin debt of Ghc 50,000 to buy extra stocks (let’s say in a company priced at Ghc 1 per). If Investor A takes the margin available and buys more stocks at the said price, he gets Ghc 100,000 worth of stocks whiles Investor B only has Ghc 50,000 in his / her account. If the share price appreciates to Ghc 2 (100% increase), Investor A will now be worth Ghc 200,000 whiles Investor B will be worth Ghc 100,000. In this case, Investor A can then pay his debt of Ghc 50,000 to his brokers leaving him / her Ghc 150,000 which is Ghc 50,000 more than Investor B who never took the margin available.

On the other side of the coin, when share price in the said company falls to 0.50p, (50% lower), Investor A will get a Margin Call from his brokers requesting him top up his account with more money. In this case, the investor does not only lose 50% of his initial portfolio value but also has a debt of Ghc 50,000 to pay.

It’s always good to take advantage of the money available from your brokers but you need to be aware you stand a chance of wiping out all your equity, leaving you broke or bankrupt.

The beauty of margin trading in the Ghanaian market is that, you cannot wake up over night and see prices of stocks deep so low as a result of any news as it happens on the advanced stock exchanges. Thus if you do your homework well enough, you stand a chance of making a lot more than you equity will allow you. This obviously can create a lot more activity on the Ghana Stock Exchange.

GSE Market Recap: CPC hits 0.02p (100% increase in price)

The stock market recorded its second sucessive win, following upward price changes in two stocks. The index climbed 7.79 points to close trading on at 1,782.91 points. The change implies a year-to-date return of -10.63%.

The GSE financial stocks index stayed flat as the market recorded no price changes in financial stocks.

The total of 2.79 million shares were exchanged for a value of GHS3.52 million. The figures recorded today compare favourably to the previous session as the trade volume and value were 18 folds and 6 folds respectively of the previous closing. GOIL led trading today with 93.88% and 99.14% of the traded volume and value respectively.

GOIL went up by GHS0.09 close to GHS1.25. CPC also gained a pesewa to close trading at GHS0.02. On the other other hand, BOPP and TOTAL recorded losses.

GSE-Composite Index lost points, following losses on ALW

The GSE-Composite Index lost 0.32 points, following losses on ALW, to close at 1,814.28 points. The year-to-date yield is -9.07%.

On the other hand, GSE financial stock index saw gains, as price appreciation in EGH drove the index to 1,726.07 points, up 0.74 points from the previous session.

The volume traded today was 0.09 million shares, a 37.74% decrease from yesterday's volume of 0.14 million. The corresponding value traded was GHS0.38 million. GCB was the dominant equity, accounting for more than 80% of both the volume and value traded in today's session.

EGH gained marginally from GHS6.87 to GHS6.88. On the other hand, ALW lost GHS0.02 to close at GHS0.12

Losses on 7 stocks halted 12-day winning streak on GSE

Losses on 7 stocks halted the 12-day winning streak of the GSE Composite Index. The index closed trading at 1,824.42 points, down 8.23 points, from 1,832.65 points. This brings the year-to-date return to -8.55%.

The GSE financial stocks index also declined by 4.02 points to close trading at 1,733.67 points.

UTB and FML dominated trading with 41.62% of the traded volume and 68.29% of the value traded respectively. 0.70 millions shares were exchanged for GHS2.83 million. The traded volume and value were 2 folds and 8 folds respectivley, compared to the previous session.

EGH was the only gainer. CAL, EGL, ETI, GOIL, PZC, SIC and TOTAL saw their share prices decline.
Courtesy: CBL.

GCB recorded its 13th gain from start of the 3rd quarter on GSE

The GSE-Composite index closed mid-week's 1.99 points high, from 1,789.73 points to 1,791.72 points. The year-to-date currently stands at -10.19%.

The GSE financial stocks index closed at 1,686.52 points, up 2.87 points from 1,683.65 points.

A total volume of 0.15 million shares was traded for a sum of GHS0.03 million. The traded volume and value decline by 37.85% and 95.09% respectively. UTB and ETI were the dominant equities, accounting for 49.33% and 34.05% of traded volume and traded value respectively.

ALW bounced back from a GHS0.02 loss on Tuesday to close trading at GHS0.14. GCB recorded its 13th gain from start of the thrid quarter this year to date, to close trading at GHS3.34. PBC and UTB saw their share prices decline.

PBC & PZC saw their share prices decline leading market to fall

The GSE-Composite Index closed trading at 1,779.31 points, 1.14 points lower than the previous session. The downward movement was as a result of negative returns on two stocks. The year-to-date return on the stock market is -10.81%.

The GSE financial stock index stayed flat at 1,665.93 points.

A turnover of GHS0.73 million was recorded following the exchange of 0.13 million shares. The traded volume and value declined by 53.04% and 98.36% respectively. SIC emerged as the dominant equity, accounting for more than 70% of the trade volume and value.

PBC and PZC saw their share prices decline. No gains were recorded.

Young means Equity &The Fallacy of time diversification

From my earlier post against diversification, let me take time to address the flawed logic people have about diversification which is captured well in Jordan, Miller and Dolvin book on Valuation and Management.

Has anyone ever told you “ You’re young, so you should have a large amount of equity in your portfolio?  I know some of the people I coached during my early days of the Investment Coaching would say, Yes Patrick, you told me that. Well, while this advice could be true, the argument frequently used to support the strategy is generally incorrect. People say, although stocks are more volatile in any given year, over time this volatility cancels itself out. Investment professionals say this is a flawed argument. And they refer to the phenomenon as time diversification fallacy.

Jordan, Miller and Dolvin helped with this line of reasoning. You might remember from your statistics class that we can add  variances together. The fact means that annual variance grows each year by multiplying annual variance by the number of years. Standard deviations (SD) cannot be added together because the SD is the square root of the variance, however, an annual SD grows each year by the square roots of the number of years.  This feature is very handy when we are describing the returns and risk of an investment.  For example, If  we take a randomly selected portfolio of large –cap stocks of standard deviation of about 20%, and hold this portfolio for 16 years, the SD would be about 80%, which is 20% multiplied by the square root of 16.

Bottom line: Volatility increases over time – Volatility does not “cancel out” over time.  Whiles investing in equity gives you a large chance of having a portfolio with extremely large value, it also increases the probability of ending with a really low value.

So, should younger investors put more money into equity?  Probably YES, but for a more logical reason other than the reasoning underlying the fallacy of time diversification.

It is advised by professionals that, if you are young and your portfolio suffers a steep decline in a particular year, you should make up for this loss by changing your work habits / job / source of income or getting a second source of income.  People approaching retirement have little future earning power hence a major loss will have larger impact on their wealth no wonder the young should rather consider more equity.

Why you should put all your eggs in one basket

Today I was reviewing my Investment Coaching notes and preparing for my next session and then I came across a quote from Will Rogers that says; 

“Don’t gamble! Take all your savings and buy some good stock and hold it till it goes up. If it won’t go up, don’t buy it.” 

 I think it is a very deep quote that will get you  to do more work on finding a good stock than you will expect. It seems as a good Investment policy to adopt but the questions that will follow are; how do you know it will go up? How do you get rid of some risk though diversification?

After thinking this through over and over again, I strongly agree that when the right work is done in finding the right and good stock / company, putting everything you’ve got in it is simple a smart move allowing yourself to achieve high long term growth even if that means accepting some significant short term swings in value.  I am very much aware of the squad at the other side of the room with the view that, it is unwise to put all your eggs in one basket.  My question to them is what if the basket is well protected and the eggs are so safe that nothing can go wrong?  

I see that form of investment as a way of building your wont small cap company and enjoying the returns. With you putting in more and more, you may even get to enjoy some degree of management control.  According to Rich Dad, Kiyosaki, this will require the Three E’s- Excessive cash, Education and Experience. He called it the Insider Investor.

Bottom Line: Spreading investment across a number of assets will eliminate risk but not all of the risk and hence you should rather Take all your savings and buy some good stock and hold it till it goes up. If it won’t go up, don’t buy it.

Appreciation in GCB share price drives index upwards

The GSE-Composite Index rose by 0.47 points to close the midweek's trading at 1,786.88 points, from 1,786.41 points. The change brings the market return to -10.43%, year-to-date.

The GSE-Financial Stock Index moved up 0.67 points to 1,674.44 points from 1,673.77 points.

A total volume of 0.19 million shares were traded at a value of about GHS 0.20 million. The trade value decreased by 44.79% and the turnover, 18.71% less than the previous session. GOIL led the market with 52.94% of the volume traded and 70.13% of the traded value.

GCB returned 0.32% today to close at GHS 3.10. No losses were recorded.
Courtesy -CBL

EGL, ETI & TOTAL slipped by a pesewa each whiles ALW gained 2 on GSE

The stock market was down on Monday after losses on three stocks. The GSE Composite Index closed at 1,787.94 points, down 7.79 points from 1,795.73 points. The yield on the bourse is -10.38%.

The GSE financial stock index also lost ground, shedding 10.57 points to 1,675.23 points.

EGL traded the most shares, accounting for 40.96% of the 0.15 million shares traded and 45.55% of the GHS0.32 million realized from trading. The traded value on the bourse declined by 37.61% from the previous closing whereas the turnover went up by 15.17%.

EGL, ETI and TOTAL slipped by a pesewa each to close trading at GHS2.41, GHS0.19 and GHS3.95 respectively. ALW was up by GHS0.02 to close at GHS0.13.

Courtesy- CBL

How do you find a great investment

I was listening to an audio by Robert Kiyosaki on this topic, "How to find great Investments" and I'll like to share with you some lessons.
Some people see saving with the banks as an investment, others refer to mutual fund investments as great investment but to Robert Kiyosaki they are not great. And I kind of side with him a little, knowing where he is coming from. With regards to the Ghanaian economy, gaining 20% to 30% on an investment like a mutual fund could be a great investment considering the effort and time put in it.
The best investments are the ones you can control, according to Robert. And education is what gives you control. The more you know about an investment being it Stocks, Businesses, Real Estate, Options or forex trading etc, the more you have control and the more you stand the chance of succeeding.
In order to be a successful investor, you need to look for VALUE. Yes, where is the value, and then you project the value into the future. How much will this be worth 5 years from today when I fix this or that or make this or that changes?

Real wealth builders should look at starting a business or real estate according to Kiyosaki.

Principles for Investment into Businesses:
1. Know how to read and interpret the numbers. The numbers tell a story and you have to be able to understand the numbers to understand the story. You need to have control over financial statements.
2. Learn the vocabularies involve in running a business.
3. Start small.
4. Note that it is your education that makes you money and not the amount you invessted.
5. Cash flow is key to growing a business. Look for cash flow. It is the amount of money that comes in and goes out.
6. Watch the trend. Know the trend because they impact your business. Some trends could be technology related. Understand the trend and the industry.
7. Look for great partners.

Principles for Real Estate Investments:
1. Invest first for cash flow and then for capital gains.
2. Use leverage when investing.
3. See investments with your mind.
4. Train your mind to see what your eyes cannot see.
5. Invest some time in your education.
6. Make the necessary links.
7. Dont risk your money investing in mutual funds.
8. Pit in the time and the effort.
9. Find a property that is losing money or not making money and make it into one that makes money.
10. The Income of your properties are affected by Your Rent, Vacancy Rate, (look for properties that are being mismanaged. High Vacancy is an opportunity) and finally Other Income (renting out parking space etc)
11. In finding a good investment, one of the first thing to ask yourself is, what's my experience, what are you good at.

Investing is a fun game to play. Start it and enjoy playing.

GSE-CI drops following decline in CAL stock price

The GSE-Composite Index fell 0.41 points from 1,777.33 points to 1,776.92 points, following losses on CAL share price. The resulting year-to-date return was -10.93%.

The GSE financial stock also lost ground, dropping 0.89 points to close trading at 1,652.55 points.

The total value traded was GHS13.55 million, more than twice of the mide-week's trade value of GHS5.45 million. A total of 1.67 million shares changed hands, more than 2 folds the previous session. FML traded the most shares with 95.29% of the volume traded and 99.98% of the value respectively.

FML and SIC climbed, gaining a pesewa each, while CAL saw a decline is its share price.

Courtesy: CAL Brokers Ltd

GSE market climbs on the back of 3 stocks

The year-to-date return on the local bourse climbed to -11.28% on Tuesday from -11.39% following positive price changes on three stocks. The GSE-Composite Index closed trading at 1,769.88 points, up 2.13 points from 1,767.75 points.

The GSE-Financial Stock Index closed at 1,654.91 points from 1,651.91 points.

Trading was dominated by FML, with 98.57% of the 1.30 million shares traded and 99.95% of the GHS10.27 million realized. The trade volume went up by 89.67%, compared to the previous closing of 0.68 million shares. The total value of trade increased nearly seventeen-fold.

Three stocks appreciated in price, CAL, EGH and UTB while TOTAL was on the losing side.

Courtesy:  CAL BROKERS

Fan Milk Ltd (FML) hits year high amid low turnover

The GSE-Composite Index recorded its fourth win in four trading days, following positive returns on FML. The index closed trading 3.63 points higher at 1,771.47 points. The year-to-date return is -11.20%.

A 0.07% dip in Standard Chartered Bank (SCB) forced the GSE financial stock index down 0.29 points, closing at 1,656.27 points from 1,656.56 points.

A total of 0.04 million share exchanged with a corresponding trade value of GHS0.01 million. The turnover and trade value was 66.53% and 82.30% less than the previous session's volume and value respectively. CAL chalked up 39.64% of the traded volume whereas FML dominated in terms of value traded, accounting for 55.05% of the trade value.

FML gain more ground, climbing to a year-high of GHS8.00 from GHS7.82.

Courtesy: CBL

GSE Stocks: My 6 Technical Picks regardless of Intrinsic Value

The Ghana Stock Exchange has been performing really bad so far this year. The GSE Composite Index is 9.20% down as at today and the GSE Financial Stock Index is even worse,  recording -11. 38% loss. It looks like there is no hope for there rest of the year although the economy is predicted to get better.
Looking through the various listed stocks,  I see a number of companies that are trading significantly lower than they used to trade in the past years when the market was performing averagely well.
Using my technical analyst's eye, I won't hesitate to buy shares in these companies knowing that when the stock market gets back booming,  they will go higher than their current market prices.

1.  HFC BANK (HFC). - HFC is currently trading at 0. 85p and has been trading lower than it has been in the past.  There could be other factors but looking at the General performance of the Financial Stocks this year,  I am hoping it will get back to the tens (that's trading around Ghc 1.2 - its current year high). 

2.  MECHANICAL LLOYD (MLC) - MLC is currently trading at 0.18p which happens to be its year low and  it recorded a year high of 0. 21p.  I have seen it trade around this range (20s range) for sometime and holding other factors constant,  It's making a nosedive due to the current pressure in the market.

3.  ALUWORKS (ALW) - ALW is currently trading at 0.09p and has probably experienced more pressure or shock from the systematic risk in the market than most companies. In the past years it has been trading in the double digits (around 0. 14p).  At a point in this year,  it went as low as 0.07p.

 

4.  ECOBANK TRANSNATIONAL INC (ETI) - ETI is currently 0.17p and heavily responsible for the market's down turn.  Trading of it is still active on the bourse and I won't hesitate to buy if my objective is long term focused. It recorded a year high of 0.27p.

5. STANDARD CHARTERED BANK (SCB) - SCB is currently trading at Ghc 15.10 and in my opinion it's quite lower than it's performance in the past years on the exchange.  Exactly a year ago,  it was trading at Ghc 20.29. There could be other factors causing it's current performance aside the risk in the economy but it's a buy for me.

6.  TOTAL PETROLEUM  (TOTAL )- TOTAL is currently trading at its year low, which is Ghc 4.3.  Last year,  it traded as high as Ghc 6.10 despite the global pressure on oil. As oil prices begin to see a improvement, we shall see how that will reflect in the price of TOTAL. 

So now you know my take based on historical performance of prices. As I mentioned,  there are alot more factors responsible for the price changes in securities on the GSE and could be why some are trading so low but my analysis did not regard any of those factors. One major systematic risk affecting the market is the attractively high returns from Government securities (e.g. Treasury bills) which serves as an alternative for investors. 

Ghana Stock Exchange Market Return History & Index Trend

For some time now I have been receiving calls and emails from friends and people, particularly MBA finance students for an access to the Ghana Stock Exchange market returns history for their various academic researches. Other analysts also request for this information but this has been missing from the website of GSE. You can get access to the full historically data of listed companies on the GSE but not that of the Composite Index or the Financial Stock Index.
The stock market has been operating since 1990 and a big thanks to Annual Reports Ghana, for capturing the year to year returns and trend of the indexes so well.  You can even get access to the time series of GSE indices upon request.

GSE Returns since inception:

click to enlarge
GSE RETURNS
Courtesy: www.annualreportsghana.com

	GSE Return		DATE	INDEX
1990	-29.75%	GSE ALL SHARE INDEX	28-Dec-90	70.25
1991	-8.18%		30-Dec-91	64.51
1992	-3.62%		29-Dec-92	62.17
1993	113.73%		30-Dec-93	132.88
1994	124.35%		30-Dec-94	298.10
1995	6.33%		29-Dec-95	316.97
1996	13.82%		30-Dec-96	360.76
1997	41.85%		31-Dec-97	511.74
1998	69.69%		30-Dec-98	868.35
1999	-15.22%		29-Dec-99	736.16
2000	16.55%		29-Dec-00	857.98
2001	11.42%		31-Dec-01	955.95
2002	45.96%		30-Dec-02	1,395.31
2003	154.67%		31-Dec-03	3,553.42
2004	91.33%		31-Dec-04	6,798.60
2005	-29.72%		30-Dec-05	4,778.07
2006	5.21%		29-Dec-06	5,026.80
2007	31.21%		31-Dec-07	6,595.63
2008	58.16%		31-Dec-08	10,431.64
2009	-46.58%		31-Dec-09	5,572.34
2010	32.25%		31-Dec-10	7,369.21
2011	-3.10%	GSE CI	30-Dec-11	969.03
2012	23.81%		31-Dec-12	1,199.72
2013	78.81%		31-Dec-13	2,145.20
2014	5.40%		31-Dec-14	2,261.02
2015	-11.77%		31-Dec-15	1,994.91

click to enlarge
GSE TREND
Courtesy: www.annualreportsghana.com

Note that, the Ghana Stock Exchange introduced the GSE COMPOSITE INDEX (a capitalisation weighted index, using VWAP of GSE-listed companies) in 2011, to replace the GSE ALL SHARE INDEX. Its base date and value is 31.12.10 and 1,000 respectively.

So now you have it. Email: info@annualreportsghana.com for more information on the Ghana Stock Exchange and Listed companies.