Stop the bleeding of your portfolio, don't sell, reduce loss and hold

The Ghana Stock Exchange ended the week positively, following 0.22% rise in GCB's stock price. The GSE-Composite Index closed recording a year to date of 7.11%. The GSE-FSI gained 0.73 points to close trading at 1,695.04 points reaching  a CYTD of 9.64%.

There have been a lot of activities on the exchange this year with some stocks recording their highest trades ever since inception of trading. This looks promising after a tough year in 2016.

Some investors who got into the market whiles the market was at its low point are beginning to get out retrieving their gains in some good performing stocks like Fan Milk (FML) and GCB bank among others. The issue of timing is very crucial when it comes to investing. Others are still taking advantage of the relatively low prices of stocks in the market hoping for a better year under the new government.

Despite all these some investors are just totally giving up on the capital market and resorting to the money market hoping it gets back to its 2016 form.

Dumsor threatens, Inflation drops, IMF support to stay, probable drainage of Heritage fund to commence, what should one do with the bleeding portfolios of stocks.

This morning, I decided to mitigate the losses by buying more of the stocks I hold at a lower price than I earlier bought them. By so doing, a slight increase in the share price will restore me to the profit zone than waiting for the market to fully recover.

To stop the loss and start seeing gains, you need to consider buying more at the current lower price. How much more will depend on how deep the fall is from your cost price and how much you already hold.

I guess this is your best way out at this current state of the market. It is better than selling you out hoping on the money market.

What if things turn the other way round? Won't that cost me more? Yes..... It surely will. That's why it's a risky market hence you need to be tough and make that decision to stop the breeding.

African Capital Markets - The Potentials & The Lost Opportunities.

Guest Post by:
BOAKYE OGYEM EMMANUEL. ( 0261528542 / ogyemb@yahoo.com)
A few days ago, I decided to research Africa’s capital markets, and to my astonishment I realized that most of these markets were very resilient to exchange rate fluctuations and the debilitating effect of inflation. These findings fascinated my imagination and re-oriented my negative stereotypical perception about Africa’s capital markets. However my greatest disbelieve dawn on me when I realized that the GHANA STOCK EXCHANGE (GSE COMPOSITE INDEX) far out-performed the S&P 500 of the UNITED STATE OF AMERICA in terms of dollar adjusted returns within the years of 1992-2013, this means that passive investors in Ghana within the aforementioned years were better off than their counterparts in the united States. The research choose 1992 as the base year solely due to two reasons, firstly it was the year Ghana declared democratic rule and entered into the 4threpublic, making its capital market attractive to foreign investors. Secondly, it marks the start of the longest bull market in the history of the United States, which spanned for almost 7yrs, between the years of 1992-1999. The Ghana stock exchange in the mist of significant macro-economic pressures such as ,an annual compounded cedi depreciation rate of 18.54%, unwarranted high levels of inflation in the 90’s and a sluggish economic growth amid lackluster energy sector , surmounted to become more profitable than the S&P 500. Now let’s move on to the number crunching that reinforce these assertions, in 1992 the GSE all shares Index traded with a value of 62.17, by the end of the year 2013 the value of the GSE COMPOSITE INDEX was 2,145.20 after adjusting the Composite index to the ALL SHARES INDEX which was previously used by market participants until 2010,we arrived at a value of 16313.66 for year 2013. This value reflects an annualized return of 28.90% for all investors who had invested during the aforementioned investment horizon. One may ask how do these numbers translate into millions of cedis for the average Ghanaian who had invested in the GSE within the 1990’s? the answer will be an enormous amount of wealth, if an investor had invested a sum of GH₵1000 on the exchange within the year 1992 he/she would have pocketed a whooping sum of GH₵266,418.3791 (the equivalent of 2.6 billion old Ghana cedi’s) by the end of 2013 , not convinced? then add a zero to the initial amount invested , that is if an individual had invested an amount of GH₵10,000 in 1992 for his kid or dream house , that individual would have now pocked almost GH₵2.66million new Ghana cedi (the equivalent of 26 billion old Ghana ), yes!!! The individual would have been a millionaire due to the power of compounding, and the resilience of a stock exchange that has triumph against the overwhelming odds of high inflation and significant exchange rate fluctuations. One amazing discovery is that many Ghanaians during this same period gave far more money needed to invest and achieve these sterling results to dubious connection men, in other to seek greener pastures outside the country. However, the returns from the exchange indicates that those who stayed behind and placed their bet on the stock exchange are now better off and perhaps “millionaires” relative to their foes who went outside for greener pastures. As a value oriented investor I deemed it necessary to determine if there existed significant value in stocks trading outside my home land , due to this I decided to compare the results of the GSE to the US dollar and the S&P 500 index. Thorough data gathered from renowned investment sites (CNN MONEY, BLOOMBERG DATA etc.) indicates that the S&P 500 started with a value of 262.79 in 1992 as at 31st December 2013, the index was trading at a value of 1813.036; this represents an annualized value of 9.1759% on a compounded basis. That means that if an investor had invested $1000 in the S&P 500 for the 22yrs period he/she would have pocketed an amount of $6,897.79 for year-end 2013. In order to reasonably compare these exchanges a dollar adjusted return for the GSE Composite index was computed to be an annualized 10.35% for the same investment horizon. However the S&P’S annualized gain was 9.1759%. Data used for the dollar adjusted return was acquired from Dr. Mahamadu Bawumia’s speech titled “RESTORING THE VALUE OF THE CEDI”. According to the article the cedi value against the US dollar during 1992 was at GH₵0.05208 (the equivalent of ₵520 old Ghanaian cedi), as at 2013 the value of the cedi was GH₵2.20 (the equivalent of ₵22,000 old Ghana cedi). This represents an annualized compounded depreciation rate of 18.55% which lags against the GSE index’s sterling performance. Finally, from the research it’s apparent that the GSE (GHANA STOCK EXCHANGE) has shown its superiority amid a turbulent exchange rate fluctuations, economic sluggishness and unabated inflationary pressures , to emerge as the best investment entity for the long term. Furthermore, it’s strategically positioned than ever before to produce sterling performance going forward, this can partly be attributed to increase positive inflow of FDI, strong economic growth fundamentals, stable political climate and copious oil /natural gas reserves. With all these positive factors looming in the long run, I think we should all start investing into the future to realize our unlimited gains in the stock market.
Source: (CNN MONEY, ANNUAL REPORT GHANA, REUTERS, ARTICLE FROM DR.BAWUMIA, WIKIPEDIA , INVESTINGAFRICA.COM)

Market Watch for the day - Trades on the Ghana Stock Exchange.

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Highlights from Aluworks (ALW)'s Annual Report - Chairman's Statement

•  The company reduced its net LOSS before tax from GHC 3.35 million in 2011 to GHC 2.33 million in 2012. Due to the loss, no dividend will be paid.

• The recent rights issue to raise additional capital was not too successful. The company could not raise the exact amount it needed to carry out the planned projects. Another right issue should thus be expected.

• The main challenge to the company's future prospects is the onslaught of the Ghanaian aluminium market by Chinese products. The company is counting on government to impose necessary countervailing measures.

Miss the timing, miss the profit - How not to make loss on GSE

Investing on the stock market is a game, better understood, played and won, when you get the timing correct. The reason you are not making profit is not because you have not bought the right stock at the right time but you have not sold the right stock at the right time. When you miss the timing, you miss everything.

Standard Chartered Bank (SCB) to issue bonus shares of no par value

Following the approval by shareholders of  Standard Chartered Bank Ghana Limited (SCB) at its Annual General Meeting (AGM) held at the National Theatre on April 25, 2012, the Company has announced a Bonus Issue of 96,256,070 ordinary shares of no par value (the Issue) on the Ghana Stock Exchange.

Ghana Stock Exchange begins week with five gainers as trade volume hits record high for the year

This week has begun on the Ghana Stock Exchange with smiles on the faces of some investors as equities from different sectors of the economy gained some cedis. There were five gainers namely AngloGold Ashanti, AGA (Mining), Enterprise Group Ltd, EGL (Insurance), Ecobank Transnational Inc. ETI, (Banking), Ghana Oil, GOIL (Oil) and

Guinness Ghana Brewery Ltd. (GGBL) dominated trading with 43.05% of the trade volume to close the week on GSE

Trading began on Tuesday this week because of the holiday. The stock market's five-day winning streak for last week was halted as losses in two equities forced the GSE-Composite Index 7.08 points lower at 1,038.40 points. The GSE-Financial Stock Index recorded a 1.01% decline

Market Participants: List of Stock Brokerage Firms in Ghana

Most people have been asking me about who to contact if they want to start an investment. I have realized that most people in Ghana do not know who to contact or where to go in order to buy shares of companies listed on the Ghana Stock Exchange. I must admit that, some brokers in Ghana do not approach people to talk to them about investments or contact potential investors.
Moreover, people are very ignorant about the various investment instruments that exist in these brokerage firms. It is bad for the growth of the market.
So, I have decided to list the various broker/dealers in the Ghanaian financial market and their websites or locations. I believe this would help some potential or young investors to know where to go, or who to talk to.

As listed on the Ghana Stock Exchange's website, these are some market participants (Licensed Dealing Members );

CAL BROKERS LIMITED

CDH SECURITIES LTD

DATABANK BROKERAGE LIMITED

EDC STOCKBROKERS LIMITED

FIRST ATLANTIC BROKERS LTD

GOLD COAST SECURITIES LIMITED

HFC BROKERAGE SERVICES LTD

IC SECURITIES (GHANA) LIMITED

MERBAN STOCKBROKERS LIMITED

NEW WORLD RENAISSANCE SECURITIES

NTHC SECURITIES LIMITED

PRUDENTIAL SECURITIES LTD.

SDC BROKERAGE SERVICES LTD.

SIC-FINANCIAL SERVICES LTD.

STRATEGIC AFRICAN SECURITIES LTD.

WORLDWIDE SECURITIES LIMITED

AFRICAN ALLIANCE SECURITIES GHANA LIMITED

LIBERTY CAPITAL GHANA LIMITED 

FIRSTBANC BROKERAGE SERVICES LTD.

STANBIC INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT SERVICES LIMITED

Please follow the links above to find more about these Market participants or Brokerage firms. There are other market participants like Custodians, Registrars and Government Securities Dealers. The link to the Ghana Stock Exchange website would help you find out more.
Don't forget to come back to this blog. eStock Analysis Blog would always get you the information you need to be a better investor.
You can always ask questions or leave a comment, I'll gladly answer or help you find the answer.

Keep investing..