By ETimes
HARARE – The strong uptrend on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange continued on Tuesday as investors continued to take a risk-off stance in equities, helping to build a positive atmosphere around the market as the earnings season shapes up gradually.
Market breadth, which gauges the level of investor sentiment towards trade, was positive, as 12 gainers were recorded compared to 7 laggards.
Accordingly, the mainstream ZSE All Share Index appreciated by 3.17% to close at 536,942.27 points, thanks to big caps. Market capitalisation increased by $1,48 trillion to $42.49 trillion.
The Top 10 Index was up 4.14% to end at 239,644.04 points.
The Medium Cap Index gained a negligible 0.06% to end at 2,171,774.10 points. Brick maker, Willdale fell 2% to finish at $49.00 after issuing a circular to shareholders about its 178.2 hectares of land available for development.
“The land subject to development had been hitherto considered idle, with a total value of circa US$2.95 million comprising of US$1.11 million for the Haydon pieces of land, US$0.84 million for the Kinvarra land and US$0.996 million for the Christmas Gift pieces of land.
“The proceeds from the sale of the developed stands for the Haydon and Kinvarra Transactions are projected to realise up to US$10.6 million and US$8.2 million respectively, resulting in an upside multiplier of approximately 6.8 times the current value of the land.
“Management and the Directors of Willdale believe that the Christmas Gift pieces of land are capable of achieving upside multipliers in the region of 2to 3 times the current land values,” the company said in a statement to shareholders.
The brick maker expects to utilise proceeds from the land development to improve production capacity.
“Willdale intends to use the proceeds to acquire and install a plant with rotary driers and kilns that will enable all year round production of bricks and increase the production capacity by 50%.
“This will help enhance the capacity of the company to grow market share in the face of a competitive market for bricks,” reads the circular.
However, the Small Cap Index was flat at 12,702,579.67 points.
Altogether, 6.12 million shares, estimated at $16.36 billion were traded today in 233 deals.
On the VFEX, Padenga garnered 8.07% to close at US$0.1405. SeedCo International added 1.45% to end at US$0.2850.
In the red was Simbisa, which was 0.08% lower at US$0.3492.