The Zimbabwe Stock Exchange (ZSE) capitalization has touched unprecedented levels closing at ZWL$ 204.498 billion on Friday as investors jostled to dispose local currency balances as the Zimbabwean dollar continues on a downward trajectory.
In the five day trading period last week, the bourse gained ZWL$ 52 billion, a 33.90 percent change, having opened the week at ZWL$ 152,719 billion.
Investors sought to hedge against an anticipated inflation in the first week of June following pronouncements by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) of a cash injection of new ZWL$ 20 notes, observers said.
The ZSE recorded a weekly turnover of $542.70 million compared to $213.17 million in the previous week.
Total volumes traded for the week were 166.68 million shares compared to 131.49 million shares traded in the previous week.
However market watchers say the increase in capitalization does not reflect growth in the economy as gains on the ZSE are mainly driven on speculation rather than production output of listed companies.
In US dollar terms, the bourse is a mere US$ 3.1 billion, a far-cry from previous levels of US$ 17 billion in 2017.
The big listed companies on the local bourse have fared badly relative to regional counterparts in a latest survey published on pan-African publication, Africa Business Magazine last month due to the devaluation of the stocks on the ZSE.
Econet Wireless and Delta Corporation ranked 159 this year from 37 last year and 187 from 55 last year respectively on the continent’s top 250 companies in 2020.
