ZSE Market Commentary 01 February 2024
Delta tops $40 bln turnover in two days as ZSE extends gains
HARARE – More funds poured into Delta for the second consecutive day as Zimbabwe Stock Exchange shares maintained gains at the start of February trades on Thursday. Turnover was strong at $28.5 billion after 5.52 million shares traded.
Delta led in all the major activity matrices after 2.01 million shares worth $22.68 billion traded. The shares, which included a $13.06 billion foreign sell-off, were mostly being pushed from one fund manager (TN Asset), while an ongoing share buyback has also helped to support volume and the price over the last few days.
Just over $40 billion turnover has come from Delta in the past two days.
There was an overall pick up in activity across the board, with improved volumes in select counters and an increase in the number of trades to 332. This is amid reports of recent ZWL payments to government contractors where some of the funds are finding their way into the stock market as a safe haven. Some of the funds are also seeking hard currency in the black market with the ZWL now being quoted within the range of 16 500 and 18 000 for big amounts.
In the meantime, investors continue to await MPC resolutions for the meeting which was held on Monday. These are expected to provide direction on the path to exchange rate stability.
The All Share Index rose 5.41% to 572 092.73 on significant gains across the board with the exception of the Small Cap Index. Market capitalisation was at $46.03 trillion or US$4.46 billion using the official interbank rate of 10 315.0938.
The Top Ten Index was 4.97% higher to 258 447.28. Gains were seen in EcoCash up 14.87% to 60654.57c and Econet up 14.21% to 246 120.60c. The two stocks are currently trading under caution pending the transfer of EcoCash’s non-banking assets to Econet. CBZ Holdings was 8.11% higher to 800 000c and Hippo Valley put on 14.52% to 580 000c
The Medium Cap Index rose the most at 7% to 1 952 521.90. Ariston led the risers as it caught up to the momentum. The stock gained 49.49% to 9 385.14c despite releasing a lukewarm trading update earlier this week.
Fidelity, NMB, OK Zimbabwe and ZB Financial Holdings hit limit up at 47 035c, 170 705c, 54 670c and 208 125c respectively. Masimba advanced 14.59% to 340 890.33c as it moved its market cap closer to $1 trillion.
Star Africa was the only faller after dropping 1.49% to 893.79c after the group posted weak September interims, which were affected by reduced sales volumes and an increase in operating costs.
The VFEX All Share was 1.21% higher to 103.76 after gains in African Sun at 20%. finx