The Zimbabwe Stock Exchange (ZSE) continued its rally in today’s session riding on positive sentiment in equities since the start of the year.
The bourse endured a tumultuous 2022 as a result of a tight liquidity stance by monetary authorities in reaction to excessive money supply that was fuelling exchange rate fluctuations.
However, the market has since witnessed a steady improvement in Zimbabwe dollar liquidity since December as the government paid bulk payments to suppliers who have in turn rushed to the parallel market to purchase American dollars for store of value.
At the end of today’ session the ZSE primary indicator the All Share Index was up 1.12 percent at 21 837.29 points as all indices posted gains. The biggest percentage gain was recorded in the Medium Cap which was up 2.87 percent to 40 973.95 points as heavyweights in the Top 10 appreciated 0.53 percent to 13 849.96 points.
FBC was the biggest gainer up 15 percent at ZW$ 58.6500 while Dairibord firmed 14.78 percent to close at ZW$ 44. Unifreight grew 14.23 percent to ZW$ 59 followed by property giant Mashonaland Holdings which appreciated by 14.03 percent to ZW$ 8.5000. Hippo Valley Estates advanced 13.63 percent to close at ZW$ 250.0498.
On the downside, was Axia which recently announced executive changes down 3.51 percent to settle at ZW$ 99.9312 just as African Sun depreciated by 1.94 percent to close at ZW$ 25.2500. Ecocash Holdings she3d 1.78 percent to ZW$ 58.7608 while Star Africa was 1.26 percent down at ZW$ 2.0500. Innscor retreated by a marginal 0.91 percent to close at ZW$ 700.6490.
On the Exchange Traded Funds, it was a positive day with all counters recording gains with the exception of MIZ which was unchanged.
The Consumer Discretionary Index was the only negative for the day, down 2.09 percent as Financials recorded the highest movement up 5.29 percent.
Market Capitalization stood at ZW$ 2.3 trillion with a turnover of ZW$ 525.7 million mainly from sales by foreign investors who sold off ZW$ 102 million against purchases of ZW$ 27 000. This reflects a cautious approach by foreign investors who remain skeptical of the short-term profitability of the ZSE given uncertainty of the local currency and the general economic outlook in the country.
