THE National Payment System (NPS) processed transactions worth ZW$72.25 billion, during the week ending April 9, 2021, representing a decline of 11.93% as compared to the figure recorded in the previous week, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe has said.
DUMISANI NYONI
In its latest report, the central bank said transactions worth ZW$72.25 billion were processed during the week ending April 9, 2021, from ZW$84.34 billion recorded in the previous week.
Real-time gross settlement (RTGS) transactions were 13.61% lower, closing at ZW$57.84 billion while in value terms, RTGS constituted 77.91% of the total transactions; point of sale system (11.85%); mobile (9.29%) and automated teller machine (0.95%).
In the week under review, NPS transaction volumes stood at 24.99 million, 1.92% higher than in the previous week, with mobile accounting for 78.25%; point of sale system at 19.42%; automated teller machine (1.55%) and RTGS at 0.78%.
Meanwhile, the RBZ said the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange (ZSE) lost ZW$31.92 billion, or 6.01% worth of market capitalisation, closing at ZW$498.88 billion during the week under analysis, compared to ZW$530.80 billion recorded in the preceding week.
“During the week under review, the cumulative volume and value of shares traded increased by 85.83% and 80.30% to 56.84 million shares and ZW$581.52 million, respectively,” the central bank said.
The RBZ said the local bourse exhibited bearish sentiment, resulting in all industrial indices registering losses. As such, the All-Share, Top 10 and Top 15 indices shed 4.87%, 5.03%, and 6.28% to close at 4 270.34 points, 2 479.11 points and 2 790.88 points, respectively.
The decline in the market indices was a result of share price losses for Simbisa Brands Limited at 27.67%, First Mutual Holdings Limited at 25.35%, Dairibord Holdings Limited (18.01%), Padenga Holdings Limited (17.43%), and Edgars Stores Limited at 12.80%.
Partially offsetting the aforementioned losses were gains in the share prices of Starafrica Corporation Limited (18.13%), NMBZ Holdings Limited (14.36%), General Beltings Holdings Limited (12.69%), CBZ Holdings Limited (6.74%) and Zimbabwe Newspapers (5.88%).
“The mining index, however, recovered from the loss in the previous week, gaining by 5.08% to close at 5 587.95 points, during the week under analysis. The increase in the mining index emanated from gains of 5.99% and 2.94% in share prices for Bindura Nickel Corporation Limited and RioZim Limited share prices, respectively,” the report reads in part.
