The Zimbabwe Stock Exchange (ZSE) continued to wither during the week ended 2 August 2019.
During the week under review, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) held its first Treasury Bills auction in seven years, raising $30million for 90 day paper at an average rate of 15.60%. Interestingly, the auction was oversubscribed with bids worth $133million, according to a notice by the RBZ.
In addition, the Finance Minister of Finance and Economic Development, Professor Mthuli Ncube presented his Mid-Term Fiscal Review and Supplementary Budget, but the market is yet to react to it.
On the ZSE, total market capitalisation pulled back by $412 million (-1.67%) to close the week at $24.29 billion. All equity benchmarks except for the Mining Index traded in the negative: the All Share Index and the Industrial Index shed 3.08% and 3.13% to close at 184.64 points and 616.00 points respectively.
The Top 10 Index eased 4.26% to 172.77 points. The Mining Index gained 0.81% to 244.57 points on the back of a 2.44% rise in the price of Bindura Nickel Corporation; the company released its results for the year ended March 31, 2019 which showed a 140% increase in operating profit to $21.3million. Year to date, the market is up 26.26% as measured by the All Share Index.
Art Corporation led the risers, gaining 12.50% last week, on trades worth a meager $720. CBZ Holdings Limited, up 11.78% and Zimplow, up 11.11% also recorded significant gains. During the week, Zimplow declared an interim dividend of RTGS1.47c after recording an 831% increase in Profit After Tax during the Half Year ended June 30, 2019. Top losses were recorded in Willdale, Masimba Holdings and Mashonaland Holdings, down 28.57%, 19.84% and 15.80% respectively.
Volumes activity last week was largely dominated by trades in Econet Wireless Zimbabwe, which contributed 19.25% to total volumes, followed by Masimba Holdings Limited (16.03%) and CBZ Holdings Limited (13.24%). A total of 33,282,000 shares changed hands during the week’s trading session, a 0.92% increase from the 32,979,800 shares that traded during the previous week.
Total turnover for the week was $29,278,547, down 31.55% from the $42,772,941 recorded during the previous trading week. Turnover was largely dominated by activity in Econet Wireless Zimbabwe, Delta Corporation and CBZ Holdings Limited which contributed 36.80%, 11.43% and 8.36% to total turnover respectively.
