The Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE) equities market has recorded a 73% year-to-date gain, with trading activity also doubling compared with the same period last year.

The Managing Director of the Ghana Stock Exchange, Abena Amoah, said the strong performance reflects growing investor participation and renewed activity on the local capital market.

Speaking at the launch of the updated GSE ESG Manual, Ms. Amoah said the equities index had closed 73% higher year-to-date as of August 18, 2026, describing the performance as one of the strongest among global equity markets.

She said the financial stocks index had also gained 73%, while both trading volumes and values had doubled compared with the same period last year.

“The volumes traded and values traded have doubled compared to where we were the same period last year,” she said.

Ms. Amoah also highlighted a significant increase in retail investor participation, noting that the average number of trades executed monthly has risen sharply.

According to her, monthly trades have increased from about 25,000 last year to 300,000 trades this year.

“The market has shifted,” she said.

The strong market performance comes amid renewed activity in the primary market, following the return of new listings after a prolonged period of limited initial public offering (IPO) activity.

Ms. Amoah noted that after a seven-year IPO drought, *First Atlantic Bank PLC listed on the GSE in December 2025, followed by Zen Petroleum and Casa Preco PLC which also raised equity capital.

She added that another company was in the process of raising debt capital in August and could be listed before the end of the month.

Ms. Amoah attributed the renewed market activity partly to improvements in standards at the GSE and their alignment with global standards, including sustainability reporting requirements.

She said the exchange would continue working with regulators, listed companies and other stakeholders to introduce more instruments to the market and deepen access to capital for Ghana’s private sector and government.