Weekly 31.03.2017

Resurgent demand in the final week of the month propelled the ZSE to a weekly gains as a bullish sentiment pervaded the market. Propping the bullish sentiment was the firm demand on the back of surprisingly better numbers in the ongoing reporting season despite the much hyped prevailing economic vagaries. From a previous loss position, a number of companies reporting this week managed to turn the corner amongst them African Sun, Dawn, RioZim and Unifreight as their efforts to stem the rot bore the desired results. There were also some disappointing performances from some of the reporting companies such as Dairibord whose margins suffered from price reductions to remain competitive resulting in a loss for the year with management gearing another round of restructuring and realignment after the first round failed to bear the desired outcome. Meanwhile, the Industrial Index was up 1.37% for the week and closed at 138.96pts as it narrowed the year to date loss to 3.85%. The mining Index rallied 9.19% to 58.56pts and swung back into the black on the year to date performance with a marginal 0.09% return.