Published by the government of Zimbabwe
Jeffrey Gogo
21 March 2007
Harare — THE Zimbabwe Stock Exchange market is now worth a staggering $405 trillion, after rising a steep 275 percent in just three days, thanks to the ongoing stocks rally.
On Friday, the stock market's aggregate value stood at $108 trillion. However, a phenomenal 16,4 percent jump in industrials to a new record 4 002 796,26 points helped lift the market's value even higher with fresh prospects the figure could rise even further.
Of the 78 listed counters, Old Mutual -- with a market cap of $289 trillion -- contributed over 70 percent to the cumulative figure while only eight other counters have risen beyond the trillion-dollar figure.
At $80,6 trillion, cement maker PPC is the second biggest company on the ZSE by value followed in distant third place by Delta, worth $5,1 trillion by end of trade on Monday.
Delta has risen from the January figure of a few billion dollars owing to the sustained upside patterns in the company's share price throughout the year.
OM started the year at $31 trillion but the growth in the stock price boosted the counter's market cap levels, as it benefited from exchange rate movements and the fungibility that comes with dual listing.
Hotel group Meikles is valued at $3,6 trillion while cellular giant Econet and diversified conglomerate Innscor stood at $4,1 trillion and $3,7 trillion respectively.
Cotton processor Cottco has performed ahead of expectations in recent years and continues to enjoy high market confidence. Its market cap has risen to $2,5 trillion from $199,6 billion in January.
Gold producer RioZim is valued at $1,04 trillion, spurred by firming gold prices and a higher exchange rate that played up the firm's share price.
Barclays is the only banking group boasting a market value in excess of $1 trillion despite releasing weak numbers last year. The group, however, has shown this year it still commands significant following and enjoys a vast asset base and was faced with less liquidity risk.
All other counters remain in the billion-dollar territory with the closest to touching the trillion mark being nickel producer Bindura at $819 billion. Equity analysts were, however, upbeat over the stock market's future seeing more bulls ahead, particularly in the absence of real positive returns on the money market and the continued rise in the rate of inflation.
Market cap is the value of a company calculated by multiplying the number of shares in issue by the current stock price.
While market capitalisation does not reflect the actual performance of a company, it provides a useful guide to movements in the share price of a listed company.
ZSE's capital levels have ballooned to phenomenal levels as a result of the bullish patterns dominating the stock market this year.
The mainstream industrial index has this year alone grown by over 600 percent, although it was no match for inflation currently running at 1 729 percent.
The growth has been underpinned by weak money market interest rates; higher exchange rate movements coupled with negative inflation projections.
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