eBusiness Weekly
Enacy Mapakame
The Zimbabwe Stock Exchange (ZSE) plunged further into the red for the third consecutive week as demand in market heavies continued to wane with three of the benchmarks closing in the negative.
In the week to Wednesday, the primary indicator, the ZSE All Share Index shed 3 percent to close at 152,9 points on losses across the board.
The market’s heavies, ZSE Top Ten Index let go of 3,45 percent to close at 151,59 points while the Industrials Index weakened by 3,05 percent to 510,02 points.
The Mining Index of two active counters was the only index to close in the positive after it gained 0,66 percent to 217,92 points compared to 216,5 points in the prior week.
Total market value retreated 2,78 percent to $20,3 billion.
The market has largely remained subdued as investors eagerly await the Monetary Policy Statement that is expected to guide the economy in the next year.
Economic activity in the country has been severely affected by the currency conundrum and foreign currency shortages that have resulted in some companies downsizing operations.
Dragging down the market in the week under review, diversified hospitality group Meikles gave up 20 percent to close at 52 cents from prior week’s 65 cents.
At 6,4 cents, property firm, FMP slid 14,67 percent to 7,5 cents while Delta lost a hefty 11,53 percent to $2,82. Despite a challenging operating environment, the beverages giant is expected to weather the storm on the back of its strong capital base and wide product offering.
By close of the week, Delta was valued at $3,5 billion, making it the third biggest company on the bourse after Econet and Cassava that are worth $3,8 billion and $3,7 billion respectively.
Masimba eased 10,31 percent to 8 cents while bankers FCB dropped 7,61 percent to 6,56 cents capping the week’s top five losers.
Retail giant, OK Zimbabwe lost 7,06 percent to 27 cents. The rising inflation is expected to have a knock on effect on retail business as consumer spend is eroded rapidly.
Other losses were recorded in Edgars and Innscor that fell 5,89 percent to 14,87 cents and 4,3 percent to $2. At $9,19, insurance giant, Old Mutual was 3,03 percent below prior week’s $9,48.
Further losses were offset by gains in Medtech that rose 50 percent to 0,03 cents while media group Zimpapers put on 32,35 percent to 9 cents. The diversified and only listed media group has enjoyed bull run this year becoming the biggest gainer on a year to date basis.
Unifreight and SeedCo International put on 19,79 percent to 6,9 cents and 14,29 percent to $2 respectively.
Asbestos manufacturer, Turnall wrapped up top five risers with 9,13 percent gain to 5,5 cents. Property firm, Mashonaland Holdings rose 5,26 percent to close pegged at 4 cents while regional cement maker PPC added 4,4 percent to $1,88 from prior week’s $1,80.
Other gains were recorded in spirits and wines maker, Afdis which increased 2,05 percent to $1,56 after reporting strong earnings growth for the half year to December 31, 2018.
Afdis’ revenue jumped 57 percent to $25,9 million while profit for the period surged 157 percent to $7 million compared to $2,7 million achieved in the same prior year period on volumes growth of 40 percent.
Powerspeed inched up 0,57 percent to 17,5 cents while FML put on a marginal 0,36 percent to 14,05 cents.
On the resources side, Bindura rose 2,14 percent to close pegged at 8,2 cents while peers RioZim remained flat at $1,85. The resources group last week suspended operations for the second time in four months amid failure by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe to pay for gold delivered to its gold buying unit, Fidelity Printers.
Also maintaining prior week levels were TSL, RTG and ZPI that closed at 70 cents, 2,42 cents and 3,2 cents respectively.
Ariston, FBC and Lafarge also remained flat at 2,88 cents, 35 cents and $1,33 respectively.
