October was a rough month for listed stocks in Ghana. Uncertainty in the financial sector has hurt the equity of financial stocks and has driven down their performance to a little below where they started the year as the financial stock index has shed 0.03% year to October 31. The stock market is up only 10% over the same period after having shed 6.43% in October alone. Only 2 equities experienced gains within the period.

Banks have contributed to the poor performance in October with 6 lenders seeing at least 10% of their market cap wiped off. The Bank of Ghana’s call for the public to stop panic withdrawals have come late as public confidence in banks is reaching dangerous lows.

This performance after the 53% rally in stocks last year is sure to disappoint investors who were only rediscovering enthusiasm for the market after the double-digit drawdowns experienced in 2015 and 2016.

Below is the performance in detail.