Weekly 07.04.2017

The ZSE remained buoyant into April as demand remained firm amidst supply constraints leaving the market reflecting a rather bullish picture. The main stream Industrial Index charged 0.81% to 140.08pts buoyed by the bullish sentiment and immediately narrowed the year to date loss for the benchmark to 3.08%. Elsewhere, the Mining Index rallied 2.66% and ended the week at 60.12pts on the back of the firming RioZim, and this helped grow its year to date return to 2.75%. The market’s surges rode on the supply constraints that have seen prices tick up across the board as sellers hold back in the wake of the buy and large better than expected financials from the recent reporting season coupled with a rather promising output outlook on the agricultural front. Notable is the tobacco crop whose selling season opened mid-March and has already been reported to have already grossed $52.4m from the sales of an estimated 20m kilograms of the golden leaf at an average price of $2.62 per kilogram. With a bumper harvest expected on the maize crop significant savings on the import bill are anticipated and thus easing of pressure on the remittances bill.