Wednesday, 04 March

Secondary Bond market turnover jumps 44% to ¢2.98bn as trading concentrates in mid-tenor papers

Business
Bonds

Activity on Ghana’s secondary bond market gathered pace over the past week, with total traded volumes climbing sharply by 43.77 percent week-on-week to GH¢2.98 billion, signalling renewed investor participation despite cautious sentiment.

Market flows were largely concentrated in mid-tenor instruments, often referred to as the belly of the yield curve, as investors favoured medium-dated securities over longer-term risk exposure.

Data showed that bonds maturing between 2031 and 2034 dominated transactions, accounting for 40.5 percent of total turnover. These papers cleared at a weighted-average yield of 12.43 percent. The 2027–2030 maturities followed closely, capturing 36.7 percent of volumes with a slightly lower weighted-average yield of 11.99 percent.

By comparison, interest at the long end of the curve was more muted. Bonds in the 2035–2038 range contributed just 22.8 percent of overall trades and recorded a higher weighted-average yield of 12.81 percent, reflecting relatively weaker demand for extended duration instruments.

Analysts at Databank Research expect the market to remain cautious in the short term, even as system liquidity improves.

“We expect secondary market activity to remain soft in the near term despite rising liquidity,” the firm noted, pointing to selective positioning by investors.

The research house, however, indicated that a GH¢376.3 million coupon payment on the government’s cocoa bond, scheduled for early March 2026, could provide an injection of fresh cash into the financial system. The additional liquidity is expected to help stabilise yields and support trading activity.

Still, investors are likely to adopt a measured approach as they weigh reinvestment decisions ahead of further developments in the primary market.

The outlook comes as the Government of Ghana announced the reopening of the domestic bond market to raise long-term financing, a move that could shape demand dynamics and pricing in the weeks ahead.

Source: classfmonline.com