- Heavyweights losses countered penny stocks gains
- Proplastics, Masimba Holdings emerged the worst performers
- Mining index firmed 6.01% to close at 6424.31 points
Harare - The main bourse, ZSE, extended losses on Tuesday, which is a second straight session. On Monday, the ZSE pared -0.17% before coming off -0.15% on Tuesday.
Market weakness kicked in a couple of weeks back, driven by profit taking and market correction amidst speculation over the recent US$700 million, IMF bailout.
A growth in the country’s nostro’s position has also increased confidence around currency stability. Most counters were viewed as overvalued based on the interbank rate, which however grossly lag the parallel rate.
Improving inflation performance, which eased to the lowest level in over a year, stretching a downward trajectory for 7 straight months, has also reduced safe haven demand for equities, thus pushing prices lower.
Market heavies as captured by the ZSE Top 15 index, dipped -0.04% in the session under review, cancelling out the Top 10 index’s marginal gains of 0.01%. The medium cap index suffered the most, on easing 0.41% to end on lower note.
Meanwhile, penny stocks recovered from prior session losses, gaining 56.87 points while the mining index closed firmer at 364.34 points.
The mining index closed firmer despite a slower start on Monday. Meanwhile, Platinum prices fell last week, the commodity’s highest fall since July 2021 amid a drop in demand which was also propped-up by an increase in the value of the US dollar during the week.
Zimbabwe boasts the second-largest platinum deposit and high-grade chromium ores in the world, with approximately 2.8 billion tons of platinum group metals and 10 billion tons of chromium ore with the sector accounting for about 12% of the country’s GDP.
According to Zimbabwe’s Mines ministry, the sector has potential to generate US$12 billion annually by 2023 if the government addresses challenges such as persistent power shortages, foreign currency shortages, and policy uncertainties.
Construction group Masimba Holdings eased -5.03% to settle at $36.0870. Sugar producer, Hippo Valley Estates lost $1.8797 to close at $186.1203.
Leading plastic pipes manufacturer, Proplastics fell by -5.35% to $25.5444 followed by the financial stock, ZB Financial Holdings which lost $1.0000 to end at $79.0000.
Proplastics Limited is on the verge of completing its new Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) 500mm extrusion production line by year-end, which is set to be commissioned in 2022.
Closing for the top five laggards was TSL, which shed $0.9500 to $47.0000. TSL is Zimbabwe's leading holding company, focusing mainly on logistics, the supply of inputs to agriculture, tobacco growing, wrapping and auctioning, printing and packaging and car rental services.
However, trading in the positive was the mining firm, RioZim which shot up by 17.86% to lead the gainers at $33.0000, followed by the banking giant, CBZ Holdings which jumped 4.19% to finish at $80.4348.
Leading food manufacturer, National Foods Limited strengthened by a further $1.5104 to $524.0000 while NMB added 6.67% to settle at $15.9998.
Diversified food manufacturer, Innscor Africa extended gains by 0.75% to close at $103.6963.
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