Zimbabwe stock market records $104 trade

Stock brokers Lynton Edwards said it was the lowest volume of trade on the bourse since 19 February, 2009 when Zimbabwe shifted to a multicurrency system after abandoning its inflation ravaged dollar. On that day, only 3026 shares worth $30 were traded.

According to ZSE’s website, the $104.93 made on Tuesday was for 6,995 Barclays Zimbabwe shares. Barclays shares traded unchanged at 1.5 cents with foreign investors accounting for $91 of that meagre value. On Monday, the market had recorded turnover of $14,197.

The local bourse has been relying on foreign investors who have carried the market in the absence of locals. Foreign investors account for over 70 percent of the activity on the ZSE.

Four years ago, foreign investors only accounted for less than 20 percent as locals dominated the stock exchange. However, the prevailing liquidity crunch had given foreign investors room to dominate trade.

The ZSE, which has operated in the capital Harare since 1951, has 63 listed companies with a market value of $2.87bn.

The subdued activity on the bourse comes at a time when the ZSE wants to open markets for small and medium-sized companies.

The capital markets regulator is also pushing to have all miners operating in the country to list on the local bourse to improve transparency and accountability in the extractive sector.

Mining generates half of Zimbabwe’s export earnings and contributes about 17 percent to the country’s gross domestic product.

Zimbabwe hosts operations of some of the world’s biggest mining corporations such as Implats, Aquarius, Metallon, which are not listed locally.

The ZSE’s mining index only has four counters – RioZim, Hwange Colliery, Falgold and Bindura Nickel Corporation compared to 57 on the industrial index.