By ETimes
The Zimbabwe Stock Exchange ended Friday’s trading session in the red for the second consecutive day. The mainstream All Share Index closed today’s trading session at 15,115.56 points, down 0.47%. Year to date, the index, however, remains in the green, up 39.67%.
Market breadth was negative, as 13 laggards were reported compared to 11 gainers. The Top 10 Index was off 0.64% to close at 8,870.73 points. Cigarette manufacturer BAT lost 5.51% to close at $3.00 while Econet fell 1.96% to $86.77.
Tanganda was the best performing stock at the close of trading. The stock gained 5.88% to close at $90.00. FMP rose 3.49% to close at $8.90. Zimplow was next, appreciating by 2.53% to end at $18.25. Hospitality group RTG climbed by 0.99% to close at $8.20. SeedCo rounds up the top five gainers for today. The stock gained 0.52% to close at $82.47.
On the flip side, First Capital Bank was the worst performing stock today. The stock shed 9.48% to close at $9.59. Horticulture exporter Ariston was next, declining by 3.47% to close at $3.82. However, the Medium Cap Index retreated 0.10% to 33,647.23 points.
The Small Cap Index fell slightly by 0.01% to 522,497.81 points on Edgars which eased 1.18% to $7.51.
Market capitalisation declined by $9.91 billion to $1.83 trillion. Turnover declined from yesterday’s $272.05 million to $205.27 million in 248 trades. Innscor was the most actively traded stock today. 236,100 shares valued at $80,379,780 were traded.
The Datvest ETF was down 0.18% to $1.7469 while the Morgan & Co Multi-Sector lost 0.04% to $21.6500.
Commodities
Oil rose by more than 3 percent on Friday as the dollar eased, with an EU ban on Russian oil looming large and investors weighing the prospects for an easing of China’s Covid-19 curbs.
Though fears of a global recession capped gains, Brent crude futures were up US$3.29, or 3.48%, at US$97.96 a barrel, setting the stage for a weekly gain of more than 2%.
US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were up US$3.52, or 3.99%, at US$91.69 and on course for a weekly gain of more than 4 percent.
Gold prices edged higher after the dollar took a breather, though bullion was headed for a second straight weekly drop as the US Federal Reserve’s hawkish policy narrative clouded the outlook for the non-yielding asset.
Spot gold was up 0.4% at US$1 635.71 per ounce, but lost 0.4% so far this week.
US gold futures rose 0.5% to US$1 638.20. Spot silver rose 0.4% to US$19.54, platinum was flat at US$918.68 and palladium gained 0.6% to US$1 811.92 – Harare