eBusiness Weekly
Enacy Mapakame
Persistent weakness in the market’s top capitalised counters dragged the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange (ZSE) further into the red as all indicators closed pointing downwards.
Of the top 10 counters, eight closed the week in the negative, which dragged the market lower.
During the week to Wednesday, the primary indicator the ZSE All Share Index retreated 2,13 percent to 231,99 points, while the market’s heavies, the ZSE Top 10 Index fell 2,21 percent to 207,07 points.
At 772,28 points, the Industrials Index eased 2,07 percent. On the resources side, the Mining Index fell the heaviest with a 4,65 percent decline to 328,48 points on losses in Bindura and RioZim.
Total market value went down 2,08 percent to close pegged at $30 billion compared to $30,6 billion recorded in the previous week.
Hospitality group, African Sun led the fallers for the week after letting go of 36 percent to close at 26 cents followed by property concern, ZPI which fell 24 percent to 5,6 cents.
At $4,20, regional cement producer PPC was 17 percent lower than prior week’s $5,09. Cement producers in Zimbabwe are tipped to cash in on a construction boom anticipated in the next few years in the country.
According to the Ministry of National Housing and Social Amenities, Government is targeting to develop at least 470 000 housing units within the next decade across the country, which will be a major boost for cement companies and other construction related firms.
Resources group, Bindura, fell 12 percent to 14 cents while Powerspeed wrapped up the week’s top five fallers with a 10 percent decline to 26 cents.
Other significant losses were recorded in cigarette manufacturer, BAT that also lost 10 percent to $45 as it remained the most expensive stock on the bourse, ahead of Old Mutual at $35,49.
Retail giant, OK Zimbabwe backtracked 9,5 percent to 71,27 cents.
Axia gave up 6 percent to 71,25 cents while agriculture concern, Ariston lost 5 percent to 18,9 cents.
The market’s top counter by capitalisation, Delta eased 3 percent to $3,46 as the second biggest stock, Econet was also in the negative with a 2 percent decline to $1,45.
Further losses were offset by gains recorded in Mashonaland Holdings that put on 22 percent to 10 cents while FML was 12 percent above prior week to close pegged at 27 cents.
The trio of Dairibord, Afdis and Edgars ticked 3 percent each to close the week at 34,05 cents, $3,10 and 17,8 cents respectively.
Biggest banking group by assets and deposits, CBZ was up 1,6 percent while Cassava rose by a marginal 0,4 percent to $1,48.
Cassava’s Vaya Tractor clinched strategic corporate partnerships with CBZ and William Bain to provide tillage equipment for farmers and boost agricultural productivity.
Also on the upside, Meikles put on 1 percent to $2,24 ahead of release of its trading performance for the half year to September 30, 2019.
Property firm, Dawn was flat at 6,52 cents as it reported total revenue in the third quarter to September 2019 improved by 138 percent to $15,2 million from $6,4 million realised in the prior comparable period.
Art, FBC, General Beltings and GetBucks remained unchanged at 8 cents, 2,4 cents and 12 cents respectively. Last week, GetBucks entered into a partnership with the local bourse to operationalise the Zimbabwe Emerging Enterprise Market (ZEEM). Implementation of this project should see the emerging small to medium enterprises (SMEs) also access the stock market.
Also remaining flat were Medtech, which closed at 1,52 cents while NTS, RTG, ZHL and Zimplow were also unchanged at 2,15 cents, 14 cents, 13 cents and 51 cents in that order.
