Econet, most attractive on Zimbabwe Stock Exchange

February 20, 2009 in
TRADE finally resumed, in United States currency, at the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange with listed mobile network services firm Econet one of the most attractive counters.
The ZSE opened for trade on Thursday at 12:00 with Econet the biggest bid at $1 followed by old Mutual at 40c.
“All the other counters had sellers with some price even below 1c. We expect thin trade to continue characterizing the market in the short term and investors should be prepared for some teething problems in the near future in trades and settlement,” added the ZSE in its market report.
Trade had halted to a standstill at the Zimbabwe bourse in line with the collapse of the formerly vibrant economy and its subsequent dollarisation that saw traders shun the stock market.
A meeting between a ZSE Committee and the new minister of Finance, Tendai Biti provided a breakthrough.
It was agreed that brokerage be set at two percent, stamp duty at half-a-percentage.
Analysts said that to boost tax revenue, it would have been more efficient to raise the stamp duty to over 0.65percent and reduce the brokerage to one percent.
ZSE Committee suggested that asset managers be brought under SEC so as to share burden with them in funding SEC and in line with international practice. The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe will be advised of the change.
Marcus Mushonga
Zimbabwe