HARARE — Local investors reacted to a Cabinet reshuffle last Monday by piling onto the stock market, leading to the mainstream index hitting another record setting level of 505,32 on Friday.
As President Robert Mugabe has shown time and again, he is more concerned about loyalty to his person than the needs of the country and once again proved this by appointing Ignatius Chombo, a staunch supporter who comes from the 93-year-old leader’s rural home district.
Apart from having no background in finance, Chombo has been accused of corruption, appearing in numerous reports detailing illegal dealings at Harare City Council.
With the currency market in turmoil, Chombo’s history does not inspire confidence, much like the rest of Mugabe’s recycled line up.
Local punters reacted by hedging bets in tangible assets, and the industrial index gained 12,59% during the week, sprinting past the 500-point mark, with heavyweight counters Econet, Old Mutual and Delta the mainstay.
The mining index slightly gained 0,48% to close at 141,39 points on Friday after Bindura took a dip.
Market capitalisation rose 12,36% to $14,3 billion from $12,7 billion recorded in the previous week. Total market turnover increased more than double to $55,8 million from $21,02 million in the previous week.
Mobile operator, Econet added 63,23% to179,96 cents while Delta and SeedCo advanced 3,56%and 0,87% to settle at 289,89 cents and 289,5 cents respectively.
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Old Mutual advanced 39,8% to settle at 1,419.98 cents while National Foods gained 5,3% to settle at 680,22 cents.
However, other heavyweights, Padenga and OK eased 4,16% and 5,75% to 85 cents and 30 cents respectively.
Innscor also eased 0,31% to settle at 178,5 cents while BAT dropped 2,24%to settle at 3,560.94 cents. Simbisa eased 2,86% to settle at 68 cents.
Among the gainers, FML and Nampak advanced 50% and 20,83%to settle at 18 cents and 14,5 cents respectively.
ART and Barclays advanced 20% and 17,14% to settle at 6 cents and 8,2 cents respectively.
Cement maker, Lafarge and FML Properties advanced 16,73% and 16,67%to settle at 82 cents and 5,6 cents respectively.
Willdale and Star Africa advanced 12,86%and 11,11% to settle at 0,79 cents and 2,5 cents respectively.
Hippo Valley and NMB advanced 7,09% and 5,88% to settle at 151 cents and 9 cents in that order.
Zimre and Dairibord advanced 4,4% and 2,58% to settle at 2,61 cents and 17,5 cents respectively.
CFI and TSL advanced 2,56% and 2,31% to settle 69,74 cents and 36,32 cents while Meikles and Masimba advanced 1,63%and 1,41% to settle at 40 cents and 7,2 cents respectively.
Partially offsetting the gains recorded by the industrial index were Turnall and Axia whose share prices fell 18,06% and 7,15% to close at 1,18 cents and 28,94 cents respectively.
CBZ and African Sun also eased 4,15% and 1,96% to close at 23,1 cents and 5 cents respectively.
FBC, Colcom and Zimplow eased at 1,03%, 0,35% and 0,25% to settle at 24 cents, 72 cents and 8,1 cents respectively.
On the mining space, Falcon advanced 0,5% to close at 2,01 cents while RioZim added 8,91%to close at 110 cents, offsetting the loss recorded by Bindura whose share went down by 11,11% to close at 6,4 cents.
Hwange was unchanged at 3,74 cents.
Foreigners remained net sellers in the week, disposing of shares worth $26,97 million compared to buys of $5,2 million.
— The Source
