“Effective management of stock market is key”

Story: Boahene Asamoah

THE visiting Lord Mayor of the City of London, The Rt. Hon. Alderman John Stuttard, has said that the efficient management of the stock exchange is key to its development.
He said it while it was ideal to have high prices, it must not be done to create problems for the stock market.
Rt. Hon Stuttard made this known during a courtesy call on the Management and Council members of the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE) as part of his official four-day visit to the country.
Rt. Hon Stuttard is leading a six member delegation to the country.
He said in some instances, prices of shares had been hiked only for such shares to fall , making investors much poorer than they had anticipated.
Rt Hon Stuttard said the London Stock Exchange had in recent times focused on domestic regulation to ensure the development of the capital market.
He said again there was also the need to ensure the quality of entrants, and that there was the need to observe good corporate governance to safeguard the integrity of the market.
The Managing Director of the GSE, Mr K.S. Yamoah, recounted the establishment of the market some 16 years ago, and mentioned some of the feats that the market had chalked up since it started operations in 1991.
He said the market was expecting to list some high profile companies on the market for this year, which he hoped would increase its capitalisation, which currently stood at over $10 million.
Again, he mentioned the automation, the migration to Central Depository System (CDS) and the implementation of the GSE rule book as some of the policies to be pursued this year.
The chairman of the GSE Council, Mr Frank Adu Jnr, urged the visiting delegation to advise some British firms operating in the country to list on the market.
Rt. Hon. Stuttard later rang the bell on the floor of the exchange to signal the beginning of trading activities for the day.
He was accompanied by the British High Commissioner to Ghana, Gordon Wetherell, The Chief Commoner, Mr Pulman, Mr Sinclair of the Daily Mail Group, Ms Ann Grant of Standard Chartered Bank, Mr Neil Chrimes, Ag. Private Secretary and Ms Sarah Stevenson, First Secretary of Trade and Investment of the British High Commission