Zimbabwe Stock Exchange hits new low with trades of just $105

A mere $105 was traded over a full day’s trade on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange (ZSE) on Tuesday, the lowest value of shares traded since dollarisation.

The new low paints a grim picture of the country’s investment climate and calls into question the future of the stock market itself.

Only a handful of shares were traded, and in just a single counter, in Tuesday’s trade. Barclays shares traded unchanged at 1.5 cents for just $105, with foreign investors accounting for $91 of that meagre value.

A barometer of investor sentiment, the ZSE has been drifting lower in recent months as foreign investors, who have carried the market in the absence of local investors, continue to leave the market.

 In June, the ZSE fell to its lowest level in seven years, in a further show of weakening investor sentiment.

The lowest ever trade since dollarisation was on February 19, 2009, the first day of US dollar trade, when 3 026 shares worth $30 were traded. Subsequently, the ZSE’s lowest volume was the $8 690 worth of stock traded on Christmas Eve last year.

On Monday, the market had recorded turnover of $14 197.

The main industrial index was unchanged at 98.88 points, and is down 14 percent from the start of the year, and 32 percent since this time last year.

From being ranked the top stock market in January 2013, the ZSE was named Africa’s worst exchange early in 2015 by the African Development Bank.

Last month, chief executive Alban Chirume said with no recovery in sight, the bourse was mulling redundancies to cut costs.- The Source

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