eBusiness Weekly
Enacy Mapakame
The equities on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange (ZSE) maintained a positive sentiment, which saw the benchmark indices close the week pointing northwards.
During the week to Wednesday, the primary indicator, the ZSE All Share IndexIndex put on 1,4 percent to 7 036 points, while the blue chips, the ZSE Top 10 Index rose by 1,05 percent to close at 3 763 points.
At 4 328 points, the ZSE Top 15 Index was 0,9 percent above prior week level. The Medium Cap paced the fastest after putting on 2 percent to settle at 18 310 points from 17 947 points recorded in the previous week.
The Small Cap was the only counter to close in the negative after it gave up a marginal 0,3 percent to 230 783 points. It, however, remains the biggest gainer on a year to date basis as it has increased by 1 837 percent since beginning of the year.
Total market value rose 1,8 percent to $833 billion compared to $817 billion record in the previous week.
Banking firm, NMB headlined risers for the week with a 28 percent increase to $14,11 from $11 in the previous week.
NTS put on 27 percent to settle at $10,80 while Proplastics rose 20 percent to $33,60. At $49,60, TSL was 15 percent above prior week level.
Econet wrapped the week’s top five risers with a 13 percent growth to $34,25 as the mobile network operator returned to profitability. The telecommunications giant recorded a $837 million profit in the full year to February 28, 2021 compared to a $5,7 billion loss in the previous period. The group’s revenue increased to $35 billion, an increase of 23 percent from the previous year, largely due to the increase in data usage, which increased by 47 percent.
Other gains were recorded in GetBucks, which rose by 13 percent to $8,82 while FCB added 10 percent to $3,37.
Seed maker, Seed Co ticked 9 percent to $80,70 while the duo of Zimplow and Dairibord put on 4 percent each to $15,56 and $37 respectively.
Further gains were offset by losses in FML, Masimba and GB Holdings that went down by 8 percent each to close at $28, $39,99 and $1,99 respectively.
Industrial conglomerate, Innscor backtracked 7 percent to $99,18 from $107,30 recorded in the previous week.
Spirits and wines maker, Afdis wrapped the week’s top five laggards after it lost 3 percent to $75 from $78.
Other losses were seen in Zimpapers, which also went down 3 percent to $3,10. African Sun went down by 2,5 percent to $7,80. Brick maker, Willdale fell by the same margin to $2,88 although the firm announced a strong volume performance for the quarter to June 30, 2021 on the back of high demand from housing projects. Sales volumes for the quarter under review were 33 percent above same period last year while year to date volumes went up 30 percent compared to same prior year comparable period.
Nampak and Turnall remained unchanged at $13,50 and $4 respectively. Also remaining flat was Hippo, which closed at $190 as sugar production for the quarter to June 30, 2021 jumped 35 percent to 66 664 tons while total cane milled rose 34 percent to 554 833. Cane harvested by private farmers nearly doubled to 270 024 from 139 297 tons.
Cane deliveries from the company’s plantations and private farmers were above same period prior year having benefited from prior year carryover cane and an earlier start to the harvesting season.
