ZSE close higher, as tobacco selling season gains pace

The Zimbabwe Stock Exchange (ZSE) on Friday gained 0,36 percent, extending bullish sentiment to three consecutive trading sessions.

Turning to tobacco seasonal sales statistics, only 48,938 kgs of tobacco went under the hammer on day two of sale, while the contract system started yesterday.

Tobacco is being sold at an average price of US$2.56 per kg, compared to US$2.58 during the same period last year.

Traditionally, the opening of tobacco auction floors leads to improved foreign exchange inflows in the country, with buyers scrambling to purchase the crop.

Coming back to market performance, the mainstream ZSE All Share Index climbed by 186,90 points to close at 29,467.99 points.

Gains in Delta lifted the Top 10 Index as it recovered by 0,99 percent to end at 16,990.67 points.

The beverage maker rose 2,06 percent to finish at $531.21.

Partially offsetting the gains were OK Zimbabwe and EcoCash which eased 0,81 percent and 0,07 percent to close at $55.57 and $65.86 respectively.

The Medium Cap Index was off 0,27 percent to close at 65,290.58 points. On the other side of coin, Proplastics emerged as the heaviest price decliner, going down 12,05 percent to close at $70.31. First Capital Bank fell 2,69 percent to close at $18.00. African Sun was 0,71 percent lower to $92.00.

However, Mash Holdings surged 11,32 percent to finish at $10.00. Ariston garnered 4,17 percent to finish at $11.45. ZBFH went up 3,30 percent to $118.80.

The Small Cap Index increased by a negligible 0,02 percent to settle at 678,872.11 points. Bridgefort Capital Limited emerged as the top gainer, up 12,69 percent to $29.30.

Market capitalisation increased by 2,41 percent to $2.54 trillion.

Turnover declined by 60,78 percent to $483.82 million. Delta emerged as the most active stock at the market yesterday, transacting 332,000 shares worth $176,362,000.

Datvest Modified Consumer Staples ETF added $0.0439 to $1.9987 and Cass Saddle Agriculture ETF added $0.0382 to $2.0882. Morgan & Co Multi Sector ETF increased by $0.3614 while Old Mutual ZSE Top 10 added $0.0259 to close at $7.8631.

Morgan & Co Made In Zimbabwe ETF remained flat at $1.4000.

Tigere Reit went down by $0.6872 to $45.0028-ebusinessweekly