Bulls n Bears Daily Market Commentary : 13 May 2025

Wed May 14 08:47:57 CAT 2025

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Bulls n Bears Daily Market Commentary : 13 May 2025

ZSE commentary

ZSE in meagre gains...

The market recorded meagre gains in Tuesday' session as gains in selected heavies kept the market afloat. The mainstream All Share Index grew 0.87% to close at 194.57pts while, the ZSE Top Ten Index rose 0.98% to 189.12pts. The ZSE agriculture Index gained 0.75% to 204.71pts as the Mid cap Index gained 0.53% to end at 237.60pts. Banking group CBZ surged 11.63% to $7.9100 while, SeedCo Limited edged up 8.70% to $2.7500. Tea company Tanganda added 2.21% to settle at $0.8709 as

Ecocash reversed prior session losses as it edged up 0.73% to $0.1335. Star Africa capped the top five risers of the day on a 0.63% uplift to $0.0312. Leading the fallers of the day was Zimpapers that declined 0.18% to $0.1800, trailed by OKZIM that shed 0.16% to $0.3195. Beverages company Delta was 0.12% weaker at $13.4006. A positive market breadth of six was registered in the session as nine counters gained against three which faltered.

Volume of shares traded ballooned 488.50% to 3.77m to yield a turnover of $12.54m representing a 249.95% surge from prior session. Top volume drivers of the day were Ecocash (56.26%), Delta (20.04%) and Econet (10.44%). Delta claimed a hefty 80.65% of the total value traded leaving the other counters scrambling for 19.35% of the total traded. The Datvest MCS was stable at $0.0300 on 3,900 units. The Tigere REIT ticked up 1.12% to close at $1.1831 as 37,731 units

exchanged hands.

VFEX declines further...

The VFEX All Share Index retreated 0.03% to close at 112.13pts. Zimplow led the laggards of the day on a 14.09% slid to $0.0190 while, SeedCo International trimmed 5.25% to $0.1895. Axia gave up 4.53% to $0.0800 as African Sun parred off 0.85% to $0.0348. Padenga lost 0.70% to close the day at $0.2970. On the upside was Simbisa that ticked up 3.76% to $0.3232 while, First Capital extended 0.97% to $0.0521. Edgars went up 0.72% to $0.0140 while, Innscor rose 0.02% to $0.4706.

Volumes traded swelled 5942.75% to 833,899 shares while, turnover jumped 4283.83% to $159,696.02. Edgars, Innscor and SeedCo claimed a combined 89.83% of the volume

aggregate. Innscor and SeedCo anchored the value aggregate as they claimed 63.27% and 24.80% respectively..efesecurities

 <mailto:info at bulls.co.zw> 

South Africa

South African rand slips after unemployment rate rises

(Reuters) - South Africa's rand slipped on Tuesday after data showed the country's unemployment rate rose in the first quarter of this year.

At 1513 GMT, the rand traded at 18.355 against the dollar , about 0.6% weaker than its previous close.

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South Africa's official unemployment rate - one of the highest in the world - rose to 32.9% from 31.9% in the final quarter of last year (ZAUNR=ECI), opens new tab.

Unemployment has been on the rise since 2016 and has been stuck above 30% for the past five years.

Separately, the Business Day newspaper reported, opens new tab that preparations were at an advanced stage for a meeting between President Cyril Ramaphosa and U.S. President Donald Trump in Washington.

Ramaphosa's government wants to mend diplomatic and trade ties with the U.S. as relations have soured badly since Trump's return to the White House in January.

On the stock market, the Top-40 (.JTOPI), opens new tab index closed about 0.6% higher.

South Africa's benchmark 2030 government bond was weaker, with the yield up 3 basis points at 8.925%.

Reporting by Sfundo Parakozov and Bhargav Acharya. Editing by Alexander Winning and Mark Potter

Kenya

Kenyan Shilling’s Strength Lifts Airtel’s Revenues in East Africa

Airtel Africa has posted strong operational momentum for the year ended March 2025 in its East African markets, where the appreciation of the Kenyan shilling helped minimize the impact of currency volatility that weighed on other regional markets.

In the region, Airtel’s revenue climbed 13.6% in reported currency and 18.8% in constant currency to US$1.84 billion.

The region’s customer base in the region rose by 11.7% to 77.6 million, with data customers increasing 18.4% to 31.5 million.

The Kenyan shilling’s appreciation over the course of last year helped offset the drag from weaker currencies like the Zambian kwacha and the Malawian kwacha.

“Voice revenues were supported by customer base growth of 11.7% and voice ARPU growth of 1.3%. The customer base growth was largely driven by expansion of both increased network coverage and the increasing scale of the distribution network,” Airtel Africa said in its earnings announcement.

Data usage per customer in Airtel East Africa surged by 30.2%, reaching 6.2 GB per month, as Airtel deepened its 4G rollout and activated over 1,200 5G sites across key countries.

East Africa’s EBITDA rose 11.4% to US$877 million, while operating free cash flow grew 26% in constant currency to $585 million.

Nigeria, Francophone Africa, and Listing Plans

In Nigeria, reported revenue declined 30.4% to US$1.05 billion due to the sharp devaluation of the Naira. In constant currency, however, revenue surged 36.4%, supported by strong growth in both data and voice services.

“Data revenue grew by 44.5% in constant currency, as a function of both data customer and data ARPU growth of 6.3% and 32.1%, respectively. Data usage per customer increased by 33.4% to 8.4 GB per month,” the Telco reported.

In Francophone Africa, Airtel Africa registered modest growth with revenues rising 7.9% in constant currency to US$1.3 billion. EBIDTA margins in the year ended 2025 declined by 0.8% due to various regulatory changes and rising operational costs in key Francophone markets. Data revenue increased 24.1%, underpinned by a 23.5% rise in the data customer base and 44.2% growth in data usage.

Across the group, total revenue declined 0.5% in reported currency to US$4.96 billion but increased by 21.1% in constant currency. Airtel Money revenue surged by 29.9% in constant currency to US$994 million.

Airtel plans to list its mobile money unit in early 2026. The telco is betting on mobile money to drive growth, with Airtel Money now serving 44.6 million users and handling US$145 billion in annual transaction value. The service now accounts for over 20% of group revenue.

Airtel is also looking to broaden its data subscriptions’ customer base after partnering with Elon Musk’s satellite internet service, Starlink.

 <mailto:info at bulls.co.zw> 

Global Markets

Dollar steadies with trade talks in frame after sliding on muted US inflation

(Reuters) - The U.S. dollar steadied on Wednesday following its biggest decline in more than three weeks overnight, with cooler-than-expected U.S. consumer inflation data bolstering the case for Federal Reserve easing just as global trade tensions cool.

The Labor Department said the consumer price index increased 0.2% last month, below expectations of economists polled by Reuters for a 0.3% gain, after dipping 0.1% in March.

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At the same time, inflation is likely to pick up in the coming months as U.S. tariffs lift the cost of imported goods, although the outlook for U.S. trade has improved following an agreement with Britain last week and weekend talks with China that yielded a 90-day truce in their tit-for-tat tariff war.

U.S. President Donald Trump said in a Fox News interview that he could see himself dealing directly with Chinese President Xi Jinping on the final details of a trade deal, adding: "I'm not sure it'll be necessary."

Trump said earlier this month that he had "potential deals" with India, Japan and South Korea.

The U.S. dollar index , which measures the currency against six major peers, edged down 0.1% to 100.87 as of 0509 GMT, following a 0.8% slide on Tuesday.

The index had jumped 1% on Monday and touched a one-month peak on optimism that a de-escalation in U.S.-China trade tensions would avert a potential global recession.

"We have been flagging a tactical bounce-back in the USD, which has (now) played out," TD Securities strategists wrote in a research note.

"Beyond the modest Q2 USD bounce, we see another 5% move lower in the USD in H2 as global investors think about diversifying away from U.S. assets given continued uncertainty and volatility" surrounding U.S. policy, they said.

"Accordingly, USD rallies in Q2 should be opportunities

to sell."

The dollar gained 0.24% to 7.2122 yuan in offshore trading , after dipping to a six-month trough at 7.1791 yuan on Tuesday.

However, the U.S. currency dropped 0.41% to 146.89 yen , extending Tuesday's 0.66% slide. It had jumped 2.14% on Monday, the most since March 2020.

The dollar slipped 0.1% to 0.8384 Swiss franc .

The euro and sterling were little changed at $1.1191 and $1.3307, respectively.

The dollar index remains some 3% below its level on April 2, when Trump announced his "Liberation Day" tariffs, triggering a flight by overseas investors from U.S. stocks and bonds.

"We consider there is more upside to the USD in the near term as market participants reassess the outlook for the U.S. and global economies following the temporary U.S.‑China trade deal," Commonwealth Bank of Australia analysts wrote in a client note, predicting a 2-3% rise in the dollar index over "the next few weeks."

However, "we do not expect a full recovery in the USD back to levels traded at the start of the year," when the dollar index was around 108.50, the analysts said.

 <mailto:info at bulls.co.zw> 

Gold rebounds on bargain-hunting, softer US inflation data

(Reuters) - Gold prices rose on Tuesday on bargain-hunting after a sharp loss in the previous day, while softer-than-expected inflation data from the U.S. also lent support.

Spot gold rose 0.4% to $3,246.95 an ounce as of 1357 ET (17:57 GMT), after falling as low as $3,207.30 on Monday.

U.S. gold futures settled 0.6% higher at $3,247.8.

"We had a big correction in gold on Monday on the news that there is a deal made between the U.S. and China," Bart Melek, head of commodity strategies at TD Securities, said.

"However, tariffs (on China) are still 30%, which is quite negative for the economy."

The U.S. and China on Monday said they would pause their tariffs for 90 days. Following the talks in Geneva over the weekend, the U.S. said it will cut tariffs on Chinese imports to 30% from 145% while China said it would cut duties on U.S. imports to 10% from 125%.

Bullion had shattered multiple record highs in 2025, owing to concerns over economic slowdown following U.S. President Donald Trump's sweeping tariffs, strong central bank buying, geopolitical tensions and increased flow into gold-backed exchange-traded funds.

Elsewhere, U.S. consumer price index increased 0.2% last month, the Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics said on Tuesday. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast the CPI would rise 0.3%.

"The report does lean slightly friendly for the precious metals markets because it's not a problematic inflation report that would give the Federal Reserve pause on cutting interest rates," Jim Wyckoff, senior analyst at Kitco Metals, wrote in a note.

Financial markets expect the central bank to resume its policy easing in September.

Lower interest rates increase non-yielding bullion's appeal.

Spot silver rose nearly 1% to $32.89 an ounce, platinum climbed 1.4% to $985.92 and palladium gained 1% to $955.15.

INVESTORS DIARY 2025

Company

Event

Venue

Date & Time

Counters trading under cautionary

CBZH

GetBucks

EcoCash

Padenga

Econet

RTG

Fidelity

TSL

FMHL

ZBFH

Invest Wisely!

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DISCLAIMER: This report has been prepared by Bulls ‘n Bears, a division of Faith Capital (Pvt) Ltd for general information purposes only and does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy or subscribe for any securities. The information contained in this report has been compiled from sources believed to be reliable, but no representation or warranty is made or guarantee given as to its accuracy or completeness. All opinions expressed and recommendations made are subject to change without notice. Securities or financial instruments mentioned herein may not be suitable for all investors. Securities of emerging and mid-size growth companies typically involve a higher degree of risk and more volatility than the securities of more established companies. Neither Faith Capital nor any other member of Bulls ‘n Bears nor any other person, accepts any liability whatsoever for any loss howsoever arising from any use of this report or its contents or otherwise arising in connection therewith. Recipients of this report shall be solely responsible for making their own independent investigation into the business, financial condition and future prospects of any companies referred to in this report. Other  Indices quoted herein are for guideline purposes only and sourced from third parties.

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