ZSE cools midweek as heavy weight tumble

The Zimbabwe Stock Exchange (ZSE) further cooled on Wednesday, largely due to losses in heavyweight stocks.

The losses maintained dominance in the market breadth with 20 counters in the losers’ chart against 12 counters in the gainers’ chart.

At midweek close, the ZSE All Share Index was 2,39 percent lower to 14 079.81 points.

CAFCA gained 14,29 percent to become the best performing stock in the session. The stock left its market capitalisation at $37,92 billion. Hippo added 8,44 percent to close at $230.00.

On the downside, NatFoods and Econet lost 8,41 percent and 7,88 percent to settle at $1 100.00 and $100.05 respectively. Accordingly, the Top 10 Index was off 2,95 percent to 8 561.42 points.

The Medium Cap Index was down 1,14 percent to 28 861.48 points. Retail giant OK Zimbabwe eased 10,75 percent to end at $30.64 while horticulture exporter Ariston shed 7,95 percent to $3.53.

Conversely, RioZim, Edgars and Lafarge were up 10.58 percent, 10.29 percent and 9.94 percent to close at $115.00, $7.50 and $125.00 in that order.

The Small Cap Index recovered 1,26 percent to 494 604.57 points although Truworths fell 14,97 percent to $2.21. The stock was the biggest faller for the day.

Market capitalisation declined by 2,76 percent to $1,74 million. The value of those traded stocks on the other hand inched up by 296.70 percent in the session to stand at $1,13 billion as against a value of $286,68 million in the previous session.

With regard to the value of the traded stocks, Mash Holdings with $662 028,633 took the lead among the top five performers. It is flanked by Delta, Econet, Simbisa and Innscor.

On the derivatives market, the Datvest ETF gained 0,48 percent to close at $1.7584. the Morgan & Co Made in Zim was flat at $1.3000.

On the flip side, the Cass Saddle Agric ETF lost 12,80 percent to close at $1.8051, the Morgan & Co Multi-Sector eased 0,71 percent to $28.2972 while the OM ZSE Top-10 ETF shed 0,26 percent to $5.1867.

OPEC and non-OPEC partners on Wednesday agreed to impose deep output cuts, seeking to spur a recovery in crude prices despite U.S. pressure to pump more.

Oil prices have fallen to roughly US$80 a barrel from over US$120 in early June amid growing fears about the prospect of a global economic recession.

International benchmark Brent crude futures traded at US$92.82 a barrel during afternoon deals, up around 1,1 percent. U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures, meanwhile, stood at US$87.37, almost 1 percent higher.

In the metals category, gold prices fell on Wednesday as a firmer dollar dampened greenback-priced bullion’s appeal for overseas buyers, while investors awaited US jobs report to gauge the Federal Reserve’s policy tightening path.

Spot gold was down 0,4 percent at US$1 719.30 per ounce, as the bullion price hit its highest since September 13, 2022 at US$1 729.39 per ounce in the previous session.

US gold futures dipped 0,1 percent to US$1 728.30 per ounce.

Spot silver slipped 1,6 percent to US$20.78 per ounce, platinum fell 0,9 percent to US$921.89 and palladium was down 0,7 percent at US$2 299.24.-businessweekly