NICOLE MORDANT, Johannesburg | Friday 12.30pm.
PRE-election turmoil in Zimbabwe continued to weigh on sub-Saharan Africa’s two biggest bourses this week, and analysts expect market confidence to remain shaky until beyond next month’s poll.
Analysts said that against a backdrop of waning offshore interest in African markets, activity across the bourses will remain subdued and be driven by local investors.
”With the risk situation set to possibly increase ahead of Zimbabwe’s election, I don’t think we will see any dramatic moves on the upside in the next few weeks,” said John Clemmow, Africa economist at Investec in London.
”The underlying sentiment remains negative and investors are not likely to take firm positions in this market until elections are out of the way,” one broker said.
Zimbabwe’s share market shed 6,3% in the week, deepening its slump since January to 16%. In South Africa, the bourse’s fall this year deepened to 15%, fuelled further by the rand’s slump to a fresh low.
Elsewhere on the continent, Kenyan stocks got an unwelcome jolt from news of impending cuts in the country’s power supply.
”It is not an optimistic scenario,” Clemmow said, adding, however, that the dearth of foreigners is not uniquely African and was being felt across emerging markets. — Reuters
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