<<Print>>The local currency was unable to recover from previous weeks slide as it closed in the red against the major trading currencies in the week ending August 7.
A weekly analsyses of trends in the money, foreign exchange and stock exchange markets by investment advisory firm, UMB Stockbrokers, showed that the cedi depreciated by 7.17 per cent and 7.29 per cent against the Dollar and the Euro in the week under review.
It closed at midrates of GH¢3.72 and GH¢4.07 to the US Dollar and the Euro respectively.
Against the Pound Sterling and the Swiss Franc, the Cedi also lost 6.81 per cent and 6.14 per cent respectively as interbank dealers quoted an average GH¢5.78 to the Pound and GH¢3.80 to the Swiss currency.
The South African Rand also strengthened against the Cedi as the Cedi slid by 7.19% to close at GH¢0.29 to the Rand.
At the end of the auction July 31, a total of GH¢817.04 million was raised by the Bank of Ghana in bills and notes.
The short dated securities slipped while the long dated instruments remained flat at previous rates.
The 91-day bill was down to 25.2 per cent; the 182-day bill also gave up five basis points to 25.87 per cent. The 1-Year and 2-Year notes were, however, stable at 22.5 per cent and 23 per cent respectively.
The central bank is now hoping to raise GH¢976 million in the subsequent auction.
Recently released earnings results failed to give a boost to a number of listed stocks as the search for discount deals by some investors saw declines in 10 equities. This tipped the market southwards at the close of the week.
Although four equities closed the week on a positive note, the benchmark Composite Index gave up 23.03 points to close at 2,175.30. The market’s return thus eased to negative 3.79 negative from last week’s negative 2.77 per cent.
The Financial Stock Index (FSI), which tracks banking and insurance stocks, also trimmed 35.01 points as a result of declines in six banking stocks. The FSE closed the week under review at 2,205.09, representing a year-to-date return of negative 1.72 per cent.
Total Petroleum led four advancers, adding 5GHp to close at GH¢5.35. Ghana Oil and Enterprise Group gained 4GHp each to GH¢1.61 and GH¢2.0 respectively. Fan Milk completed the list, climbing 3GHp to GH¢5.85.
On the other hand, GCB Bank led the laggards, shedding 26GHp to close at GH¢4.15; Standard Chartered trimmed 21GHp to GH¢18.79; Ecobank Ghana shaved 6GHp to GH¢8.14. CAL Bank eased to 99GHp and Trust Bank Gambia slipped to 32GHp.
The five other decliners trimmed a pesewa each; Guinness Ghana was down to GH¢2.74; PZ Cussons and UT Bank dropped to 35GHp and 15GHp respectively while Starwin and African Champions closed the week at 3GHp and 1GHp respectively.
A total of 2.11 million shares valued at GH¢1.17 million exchanged hands in 24 equties in the week under review. This compares with the previous week’s 5.94 million shares valued at GH¢4.92 million.