Investors in Zimbabwe sell stocks on hopes Robert Mugabe will resign or be fired
The stocks, which are denominated in US dollars and were used to hedge against rising inflation, fell 10% on Monday to an eight-week low
Lagos — Investors have dumped Zimbabwean stocks every day since the military seized power, on optimism that 93-year-old President Robert Mugabe will be forced to step down. The stocks, which are denominated in US dollars and were used to hedge against rising inflation, fell 10% on Monday to an eight-week low of 387.38, bringing the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange industrial index’s retreat since the army’s takeover on the morning of November 15 to 27%. The bourse’s market capitalisation has plunged $4.8bn in that period to $11.1bn, according to data compiled by Bloomberg and the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange. Zimbabwe’s stocks soared this year after the government printed a new form of money — called bond notes — to deal with a cash shortage, stoking concerns over price growth in a nation that saw inflation jump into the billions of per cent about a decade ago. While Zimbabwe has mostly used the dollar since scrapping its own worthless currency in 2009, greenbacks have become scarce as Zimbabwe’s...
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