ZSE hits new high as demand for stocks spikes

The Zimbabwe Stock Exchange touched a fresh high in the trading week to Friday, growing by 7,28 percent to 448,83 points, driven by appetite for stocks in several heavyweight counters.

The resources index also gained 14,8 percent to close at 140,71 points on Friday.

Market capitalisation rose 7,39 percent to $12,7 billion from $11,9 billion recorded in the previous week. Total market turnover decreased by 11 percent to $21,02 million from $23,63 million  in the previous week.

Delta added 1,79 percent to settle at 279,93 cents.

Mobile operator, Econet advanced 29,87 percent to settle at 110,25 cents while National Foods gained 28,33 percent to settle at 646 cents.

BAT and Old Mutual advanced 20,41 percent and 10,49 percent to settle at 3,642.42 cents and 1,015.71 cents respectively.

Retail operator, OK gained 6,1 percent to settle at 31,83 cents while Seedco advanced 2,32 percent to settle at 287 cents.

Padenga and  Innscor eased 1,46 percent and 0,53 percent to settle at 88,69 cents and 179,05 cents.

Simbisa remained unchanged at 70 cents.

FML advanced 26,32 percent to settle at 12 cents and Zimre Holdings added 19,05 percent to trade at 2,5 cents.

Media group, Zimpapers gained 19,63 percent to trade at 1,28 cents.

Fidelity, Edgars and African Sun gained 16,36 percent, 16 percent and 13,33 percent to close at 16 cents, 5,8 cents and 5,1 cents in that order.

Cement manufacturers, Lafarge and PPC added 13,31 percent and 12,89 percent to trade at 70,25 cents and 162 cents respectively.

Afdis and FBC gained 10,23 percent and 11,76 percent to settle at 190 cents and 24,25 cents respectively while Dawn Properties added 7,76 percent to trade 2,5 percent.

Barclays Bank and ART advanced 6,06 percent and 4,17 percent to close at 7 cents and 5 cents.

Dairibord, ZB Bank and Turnall advanced 3,39 percent,2,94 percent and 2,86 percent to settle at 17,06 cents, 35 cents and 1,44 cents in that order.

Pork producer, Colcom gained 1,76 percent to close the week at 72,25 cents.

Partially offsetting the gains recorded by the industrial index were Wildale and NMB whose share prices fell 11,39 percent and 10,53 percent to close at 0,7 cents and 8,5 cents respectively.

RTG and Axia also eased 7 percent and 5,57 percent to close at 0,93 cents and 31,17 cents respectively.

CBZ and StarAfrica eased 3,21 percent and 2,6 percent to settle at 24,1 cents and 2,25 cents respectively while Mashonaland Holdings eased 0,57 percent to settle at 3,5 cents.

On the mining space, Bindura advanced 44 percent to close at 7,2 cents while RioZim added 1 percent to close at 101 cents.

Hwange and Falcon were unchanged at 3,74 cents and 2 cents respectively.

Foreigners remained net sellers in the week, disposing of shares worth $5,23 million compared to buys of $3,26 million.