eBusiness Weekly
Enacy Mapakame
A positive sentiment continued to prevail on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange (ZSE) for the second consecutive week, which saw four of the benchmark indices closing the week pointing northwards.
During the week to Wednesday, the primary indicator, the ZSE All Share Index put on 1,69 percent to 4 670 points compared to 4 592 points in the previous week.
The ZSE Top 10 Index rose 1,61 percent to close the week pegged at 2 688 on gains recorded in the market’s heavies.
At 3 052, the ZSE Top 15 Index was 1,43 percent above prior week level while the Mid Cap paced the fastest with a 2 percent increase to 11 332 points.
The Small Cap was the only index to close in the negative as it continued on a downward trend for the second consecutive week letting go of 1,82 percent to 42 484 points. The Small Cap is however the biggest gainer on a year to date basis. Hospitality group, African Sun headlined risers for the week with a 34 percent increase to $2,27 followed by GetBucks which rose 20 percent to 48 cents.
Banking group, FCB put on 18 percent to settle at $2,50 compared to $2,11 recorded in the prior week. At $1,08, brick making firm, Willdale was 15 percent above prior week level while Masimba wrapped up the week’s top five risers with a 11 percent increase to $21,95. Other gains were recorded in diversified insurance group, ZHL which put on 10 percent to $2,20 while property firm FMP also added 10 percent to $5,83.
Telecoms giant, Econet rose 9 percent to $20,86 from $19,05 in the comparable week. Afdis and Innscor advanced 5 percent each to $50 and $73,29 respectively. The duo of Art $6,30 Mashonaland Holdings ticked 4 percent each to settle at$1,88 in that order.
On the downside was MedTech which fell 14 percent to 11 cents. Financial services group, ZBFH eased 11 percent to $40 from $45 recorded in the comparable period. Diversified media group, Zimpapers backtracked 9 percent to close at $1,60 while cables maker, Cafca gave away 8 percent to $110. Cigarette maker, BAT wrapped the week’s top five fallers with a 6 percent decline to $749 remaining the most expensive stock. Other losses were seen in hospitality group, RTG and Unifreight which fell 5 percent each to $1,90 and $11,30 respectively.
Star Africa lost 4 percent to 54,6 cents while Turnall was also 4 percent weaker to $2,87 after reporting exports for the year to December 31, 2020 went down 43 percent due to border closures, international cargo logistics constraints and lack of competitiveness in the regional markets.
Agriculture and mining implements firm, Zimplow eased 2 percent to $6,55 although the group reported improved first quarter performance on the back of a generally more stable trading environment.
Equipment utilisation during the first two months of the quarter however remained low due to lockdowns.
On the resources side, Bindura backtracked 1 percent to $4,79 while peers RioZim remained flat at $20,40.
Also maintaining prior week level was NTS that stagnated at $8.
