By ETimes
The Zimbabwe Stock Exchange opened the week in the red as a liquidity crunch amid the projected economic uncertainty continued to weigh on investors’ sentiment.
The ZSE All-Share Index, which has a year-to-date gain of 33,67%, declined by 4,30% to close at 14 466.17 from 15 115.56 in the prior week. All-in all, there were 12 gainers led by Nampak, which soared by 13.42% against 22 fallers.
Delta led the way with $369 million, Innscor with $203 million, Econet with $177 million, Axia with $175 million, and Simbisa with $54 million in weekly market turnover.On the ETFs section, Morgan & Co Made in Zim was the biggest gainer, rising by 13,21% from $1.06 to $1.20, while Datvest MCS was the biggest loser, falling by 8,98% to $1.59.
On the VFEX, Padenga was up by 11,69% to US$0.2694 and SeedCo International was down to US$0.3199 cents.
A decline in market depth was noticed in the week following the introduction of the 40% capital gains tax (CGT) on securities disposed within 180 days from the purchase date.
In the coming week, the anticipation is that a continuation of subdued trading on the back of lower liquidity and lower investor participation will be witnessed due to the 40% CGT, which is meant to discourage speculative trading.
On Monday, the mainstream ZSE All-Share Index was down 2.97% to close at 14,036.58 points. The market capitalization followed the same direction after it lost $54.78 billion to close at $1.69 trillion.
However, market turnover increased by 40.41% to $330.46 million. CFI was the most actively traded equity, with 446,300 shares valued at $159,617,800. Delta came in second with 312,400 shares worth $62,789,090.
The market’s breadth closed negative, with 22 losers versus four gainers.
Among the heavyweights, Econet eased 6.70% to close at $75.00 and Hippo shed 5.82% to $195.00. Delta was 5.21% lower to $200.98. This saw the Top 10 Index fall by 3.99% to 7,992.06 points.
None of the heavyweight stocks appeared on the gainers’ table, led by FMP, which rose 14.97% to end at $10.14. Zimplow was 2.72% higher at $18.90. Horticulture exporter Ariston gained 0.16% to $3.95.
On the other hand, CFI led the losers’ chart by 13.03% to close at $357.64. Cold tea as Tanganda lost 5.56% to $85.00. The Medium Cap Index lost 0.95% to 33,210.03 points.
Edgars, a small counter, fell 0.25% to $7.51.The Small Cap Index was off 0.47% to 516,224.73 points.
On the VFEX, Padenga eased 10.72% to close at US$0.2405. SeedCo International was slightly up 0.03% to close at US$0.3200.
The Datvest ETF gained 1.37% to $1.6119, while the OML ETF added 0.96% to $5.2500. On the flip side, the Morgan & Co Multi Sector shed 1.37% to $20.6877.
Commodities
Oil prices fell on Monday, dragged down by a firmer dollar, while surging coronavirus cases in China dashed hopes of a swift reopening of the economy for the world’s biggest crude importer.
Brent crude futures were down US$1.01, or 1.1%, at US$94.98 a barrel after gaining 1.1% on Friday. WTI crude fell by US$1.11, or 1.3%, to US$87.85 after advancing by 2.9% on Friday.
Gold prices retreated on Monday from a three-month peak hit in the previous session, as the dollar and US bond yields edged up after a top US central banker warned that the Federal Reserve was not softening its fight against inflation.
On Friday, spot gold fell 0.5% to $1,761.86 per ounce after reaching its highest level since August 18. Gold futures in the United States fell 0.3% to $1,764.00.
Gold prices posted their biggest weekly gain since March 2020 last week, after signs of cooling US inflation lifted hopes the Fed could be less hawkish on rate hikes.
Elsewhere, silver fell 0.8% to US$21.51 per ounce. Platinum eased 0.5% to US$1 028.38 and palladium dipped 0.9% to US$2 021.91 – Harare