Uncertainty surrounds Zim stock exchange

Uncertainty continues to stalk the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange (ZSE) as trading is yet to resume, the state-controlled Herald reported on Wednesday.

This was despite the local bourse having re-opened for business after the festive break, the newspaper said.

“The local bourse resumed operations last week but there was no trading taking place.”

Officials at the ZSE told the Herald they were not sure when trading would resume “as everything was just quiet”.

The ZSE’s chief executive officer, Emmanuel Munyukwi, told the Herald he did not know when the bourse would start trading as he was on leave.

Trade on the local bourse was negatively impacted by a requirement that stipulated that all funding for purchases of shares had to be formally guaranteed by a bank at the highest level as a pre-requisite to accepting and processing orders, the Herald said.

The directive, which took effect on November 20, was in response to the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe’s concerns “that there was a lot of underhand dealing on the local bourse” involving some individuals, bank officials and stockbrokers who were using unsupported cheques to buy shares and sell the shares at a premium for their own benefit, the newspaper said.

Trade subsequently ground to a halt soon after when the Securities Commission ordered stockbrokers to provide them with audited financials of net worth and threatened to close all stockbroking firms that failed to deliver the required statements.

“Stockbrokers at the time resisted the directive, claiming that it was both expensive owing to the costs involved and professional resources availability at that time of the year,” the Herald said.—Sapa