Indigenous bank, HFC was the best performing stock on the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE) for the first half of this year.<\/p>\n
The Ghana Stock Exchange returned about 10 percent from the beginning of the year to midyear.<\/p>\n
This is not as impressive as last year, as the market returned about 50 percent for the same period in 2013.<\/p>\n
Thirteen companies for the first half of the year recorded gains, while fourteen recorded declines.<\/p>\n
HFC, from the beginning of this year, to the end of June, increased by about 62 percent.<\/p>\n
Its share price shot up from 96 pesewas to 1 cedi 55 pesewas.<\/b><\/p>\n
Ecobank Transnational Incorporated which happens to be the best performing stock on the bourse for the month of June was the second best performing stock for the first half of the year.<\/p>\n
A 7 pesewas increase to 26 pesewas in its share price, accounted for a 37percent capital gain.<\/p>\n
With just a pesewa increase in share price of publishing firm, Sam Woode, a 33 percent capital gain was recorded for its shareholders.<\/p>\n
Its share price closed at 4 pesewas.<\/p>\n
Ecobank Ghana came fourth with a 31percent return. Its share price gained 1 cedi 76 pesewas from the beginning to mid year.<\/p>\n
The other two companies that performed above the market average were Total petroleum which increased by 29percent and Standard Chartered bank which was up by 21 percent.<\/p>\n
The other gainers were GCB which appreciated by about 12 percent, SIC up by 10 percent and GOIL which was up by about 7 percent.<\/p>\n
The rest of the gainers are Standard Chartered bank preference shares, Mega African Capital and Fanmilk.<\/p>\n
Societe-General Ghana which was the worst decliner in the month of June however in the first half of this year was the 8th<\/sup> biggest gainer on the stock market.<\/p>\n 14 listed companies recorded price declines in the first half of 2014.<\/p>\n Analyst with Merban Stock Brokers, Nana Agyeman Gyamfi says the market has not performed well because of a number of reasons.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is partly as a result of the challenging economic environment which has led to high interest rate and also high rate of money market instruments seem to have diverted investor attention to money market products.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe other issue has been due to the fact that the market in 2013 recorded a gain of more than 70 percent and that continued into the early weeks of 2014. Since then the market has slowed down over the period especially in the second quarter with a lot of profit taking leading to a fall in the prices of some peaked stocks.\u201d<\/p>\n African Champions Industries led the list of decliners after its share price slashed by half.<\/p>\n Its share price is now valued at 3 pesewas.<\/p>\n The Trust Bank of Gambia also followed with a 31percent decline in its share price.<\/p>\n It shed 11 pesewas in the first six months of the year closing midyear at 24 pesewas.<\/p>\n PZ Cussons followed with a 29 percent decline in share price.<\/p>\n Losing 23pesewas off the initial 79 pesewas it started the year with, PZ share price at midyear was valued at 56pesewas.<\/p>\n Cocoa purchasing firm, Produce Buying Company (PBC) from the beginning of the year has declined by about 24percent, making it the fourth worst decliner this year.<\/p>\n The other losers in this first half of this year are Mechanical Lloyd which declined by 21 percent, and Benso Oil which though recorded some recovery in June, however has from the beginning of the year declined by about 19 percent.<\/p>\n Guinness Ghana Brewery declined by 18 percent, Cal bank and New Gold Issuer by 12 percent and UT bank by about 11percent.<\/p>\n Tullow Oil, has declined by about 2 percent since the beginning of the year.<\/p>\n Tullow\u2019s Head of investor relations and communication, Chris Perry tells Citi Business News the share price is not indicative of the company\u2019s performance but the risk appetite of its investors.<\/p>\n \u201cThe market is being risk averse. It\u2019s not prepared to invest in exploration. I think this is a short term phenomenon. It\u2019s quite cyclical, so in the longer term we will see more people invest and pay up for exploration. Just hopeful that the market will turn at some point, it\u2019s certainly the way the market is at the moment\u201d<\/p>\n He added that when investors begin to appreciate exploration, the price hopefully will go up.<\/p>\n 11 companies\u2019 shares however remained same.<\/p>\n They include Anglogold Ashanti, Alluworks, Ghana Web, Starwin Products, Transol among others.<\/p>\n So what should we expect in the next half of this year? Analyst Nana Agyeman Gyamfi gives some projections.<\/p>\n \u201cWe expect to see stocks bouncing back. In the last few weeks we have seen gains in equities like GCB, ECOBANK, and also Standard Chartered Bank, and we expect to see more gains during this second half of the year to be driven mostly by the financial stock which has been driven mostly by the financial stocks who have mostly been able to post some resilient results for the first quarter which we expect to see same for the second quarter\u201d<\/p>\n Manufacturing-based stocks will not post exciting results due to the fact that the high interest rates will lead to high borrowing costs.<\/p>\n Also rising utilities is also going to affect their operations and also high fuel cost will increase distribution costs.<\/p>\n All of these combined will see companies like Unilever, Fanmilk and Guiness Ghana struggle a bit this year\u201d<\/p>\n