This, the financial investment firm explained, was as a result of a steady reduction in interest rate coupled with investor confidence in the stock market.

“We are presently approaching something which is a new normal where interest rates are bottom out and we think it is very good for the real sector of the economy because it is going to make investment much less risky and make returns more certain,” the General Manager of HFC Investment Services Limited, Mr Peter Larbi-Yeboa, told the GRAPHIC BUSINESS on Tuesday (May 6) in Accra.

“We expect the stock market to close the year with positive return, which would be a sharp deviation from happenings in 2015 and 2016,” he said.

The stock market had been bearish for two consecutive years leading to capital losses by investors. The benchmark GSE Composite Index recorded a negative 15.33 per cent on the back of the weak earnings by most listed companies and concerns about macroeconomic stability.

The GSE Financial Stock Index returned a negative 19.93 per cent as a result of the challenges of non-performing loans that faced the banking industry in the country. Market capital also stood at GH¢52.7 billion at year end 2016 reflecting a decline of 7.80 per cent on a year-on-year basis.

 Exploring investment opportunities

Addressing the seventh annual general meeting of unit holders of the four investment schemes, Mr Larbi-Yeboa said analysts anticipated the stock market to perform better this year and in view of that, management of HFC Investment should maintain selected stocks with good fundamentals and growth prospects.

He observed that management also expected the economy to be vibrant and robust as against projected growth of 6.3 per cent in 2017.

The manager expressed the desire of the financial investment firm to explore investment opportunities available to ensure that unit holders of the various instruments got good returns on their investment.

He explained that management intended to increase the fund’s holding in equities, while expanding the maturity