The Ghana Stock Exchange has started this year on a blissful note after three years of turbulent period.

The GSE Composite Index has so far returned about 12.0% in cedi term and 12.19% in dollar term for investors.

This makes it the second best performing stock market on the African continent so far this year, behind the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (14.37%)

Market capitalization has also shot up by 4.60% to GH56.7 billion, whilst the GSE Financial Stock Index has gone up by 4.77%.

So far, nine stocks have witnessed appreciation as compared with three laggards.

The gainers are MTN (25%), Societe Generale (14.6%), Stanchart (11.28%), GCB (11.1%) and Repbulic Bank (9.76%). The rest are Total (9.54%), Cal (8.70%), Enterprise Ghana (1.43%) and GOIL (0.67%).

Unilever (9.89%), Aluworks (9.09%) and Access (2.05%) are however the losers.

Head of Databank Research, Alex Boahen, tells Joy Business banking and telecommunication stocks are the ones investors must watch out, going forward into the year.

“Broadly, the banking sector is looking very attractive at the moment. You can also talk about the telecom sector which is also a major beneficiary of net demand or the strong demand for network connectivity--so that also means they are likely to reap some benefit from the current condition where individuals and companies are working from home or learning and studying from home and the like -- so the demand for network connectivity is actually going to help the telecoms sector to actually prop up their sales and also profitability”.

“Banks are better capitalized at this moment, unlike before and we have seen it clearly that Ghanaian banks were largely able to contain the shock [covid-19] that came with challenges. So banks are stronger, profitable and we think they will continue to grow”, Mr. Boahen emphasized.

Top 3 Stock Exchanges in Africa

Stock Exchange	Year-To-Date (local)	Year-To-Date (dollar)
Johannesburg Stock Exchange	12.77%	14.37%
Ghana Stock Exchange	12.18%	12.19%
Namibia Stock Exchange	6.62%	7.61%

Top Banking Stocks

Stocks	Y-T-D	Price
Soceiete Generale	14.6%	73 pesewas
Stanchart	11.28%	GHS18.15
GCB	11.1%	GHS4.50
Republic Bank	9.76%	45 pesewas
Cal Bank	8.70%	75 pesewas