Zimbabwe Stock Exchange (ZSE) resumes trading today under stringent conditions after more than four weeks of suspension. On 28th June 2020, ZSE announced the suspension of trading following a directive from the government of Zimbabwe, citing currency speculation.
Zimbabwe’s finance minister Mthuli Ncube says the bourse will reopen without three dual listed firms who remain suspended. The three include Old Mutual Limited, Pretoria Portland Cement Limited, and SeedCo International Limited.
Ncube revealed that investigations by the Financial Intelligence Unit linked the movement in prices of the three dual listed stocks to the parallel market rate of the Zimbabwe dollar. In this case, investors used the stock prices as a proxy exchange rate implied by its prices on foreign bourses such as the Johannesburg Stock Exchange and the London Stock Exchange.
The reopened bourse will observe shortened trading hours as follows;
According to Justin Bgoni, CEO at ZSE, the bourse is currently engaging with the three suspended firms on the re-listing under suitable rules trading resumes. The government intends to have the three stocks transferred to a foreign-currency-denominated exchange in the town of Victoria Falls, planned for reopening towards the end of 2020.
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