The poor performance of financial stocks on the Ghana Stock Exchange for this year has been generally attributed to a combination of poor public sentiments, the fallouts from the banking sector reforms as well as the impact of COVID-19.
This was made known by the Head of Research at Databank, Alex Boahen.
The GSE Financial Stocks Index (GSE-FSI) which reflects the average performance of shares of listed financial companies, witnessed a significant drop of about 15 percent from January to August 17, 2020.
Commenting on the performance of listed financial companies, Mr. Alex Boahen said the low share prices presents an opportunity for investors.
“The fundamental growth of the banking sector that we have seen from last year and this year, that positive development has not been reflected in share prices. So banking stocks have continued to decline. That however is something that in my view is providing an opportunity for investors. The current low share prices do not mean that the companies are not performing well, it is due to poor market sentiments,” he said.
He however expressed optimism about the performance of the financial stocks after this years’ general elections.
“In my view, once we are able to get over this election as well as this COVID, we are likely to see a significant recovery. What I believe is that a successful election will bring some renewed confidence in the market and that will augur well for the performance of the market.”