As the world continues to witness the devastating impact of Covid-19 across many sectors, the investment community was not spared either. With some businesses collapsing and others scaling down their operations, the investor community have also been confronted with lots of uncertainties about the future of their investments and the options available for them in future.
Despite these uncertainties, the story for the Ghana Stock Exchange has been an impressive one during this devastating impact of Covid-19. The Exchange saw its year -to- date April Composite Index posting a return of 31.93% and Market Capitalization hitting GHS60.8bn representing a growth of 10% versus last year. The year-to-date April volumes traded was up 79% versus same period last year, to GHS 230.7 million, whilst value traded was up 86% to GHS 184.5 million during the same period.
The Fixed income market, a market for buying and selling of Government of Ghana securities, corporate bonds and notes made some impressive returns for investors. It reported a cumulative year-to-date April volume traded of GHS75.90 billion, representing an increase of 140.23% versus same period in 2020.
From the sterling performance above, the Ghana Stock Exchange presents a viable platform for companies to raise long term capital to drive growth and expansion as they embark on the journey to recovery. The Ghana Alternative Market, a special platform uniquely created for Small and medium-sized enterprises, is also available for companies who want to list at the Exchange to raise the needed capital to support their recovery plans.
As business activities are bouncing back in several sectors, retail and institutional investors should take advantage of the platform the Exchange provides to invest their funds in equities and the fixed income market. The Exchange also provides an added value platform for companies to list as a public company to boost their brand reputation without raising any new capital.
In line with the Exchange’s 3-year Strategic Plan, there are plans to introduce new products such as derivatives, green bonds and others into the market to provide more liquidity and varied investment options for existing and potential investors. Investor education programs will also be stepped up for the rest of this year to carry the investing public along.
