If you’re following Zimbabwe Stock Exchange reports and coverage you will notice they always tell us about the top-selling shares in terms of value and volume. If you’ve ever wondered for whatever reason, which counters have the lowest trading volumes we have the article just for you. With a little research and some interpolation, we came up with a list of the 10 counters with the lowest trading volumes in 2021 on the ZSE.

Method

This is by no means meant to be a perfect process and there is room for error. Firstly I compiled June trade data up to June 14th and then compared that with monthly average trade data from the first 5 months of the year to come up with this list. I was tempted to use data from before but I opted against it because it is not as relevant to current conditions. So while data from the first 5 months of the year was considered the data is based heavily on June trade data.

Zeco

If you thought any counter other than ZECO was going to snatch this I don’t know which ZSE you’ve been looking at. Though there is some nuance to this. ZECO registered a single trade in 2021. That trade was at a volume of 2.5 million shares. However, to put it in context it was ZECO’s first trade in 6 years. The going concern status of the company has been in question for some time as they have failed to report on multiple occasions.

CAFCA

It was almost inevitable that CAFCA would end up on this list. While CAFCA is one of the counters with the highest rates of return in 2020 it has one of the smallest overall outstanding share volumes on the ZSE. Add to that the hefty price that it achieved in 2020 it really doesn’t see a lot of action.

BAT

From a high priced counter to one of the few counters that is priced higher than it. BAT doesn’t trade often or small. It’s a huge counter with huge returns. However, you would imagine that being a tobacco counter is amongst the reasons that the counter doesn’t move high volumes. With a lot of ZSE action being in the small-cap counters in 2021 BAT is firmly on our list of low volume trade counters.

NTS

National Tyre Services sent tongues wagging earlier in the year when it made a jump that resulted in a return of over 4000% year to date. Huge movement but it really happened in dribs and drabs of between 100 and 1000 shares per day. The company has posted positive results and in all fairness, the price lagged. It would seem the holders of NTS are not in a hurry to let go of their shares.

AfDis

I spend a lot of time looking at the ZSE reports and sheets for one reason or another. If there was one counter that I did not expect to see on this list it is AfDis. It consistently trades but the trades are admittedly low volume across the board. The company is in healthy form but is perhaps another counter with shareholders who do not see any point in letting go of it.

Lafarge

Lafarge is a company that has been to hell and is certainly on its way back. After having their plant closed and cutting production the company is back with a force. Having installed their new plant that complies with the Environmental Management Agency and the introduction of 3D house printing the company is finding its feet again in valuation. Trade volumes are low on the counter though as it is another one that holders seem happy to hang on to.

ZB

ZB Financial Holdings has been through a few things in recent times. The spot of bother with the former CEO didn’t bode well. The cash in transit heist raised questions of confidence and the delaying of 2020 Full-year results continues to raise eyebrows. The business is in good stead but trade volumes do drag along and it can have spells of days with no trades at all.

RioZim

The mining and minerals business in Zimbabwe is not seeing the best of days. So perhaps it’s not so surprising to see RioZim on this list. The counter not only has a low volume but a low frequency of trades. It can go for spells without trades in the counter.

Fidelity

Fidelity Life Assurance Limited has really been under the thumb since December 2020 when ZimRe made further moves to take over the entity. Trading volume has since been very low and the market prepares for delisting of the counter and consolidation. This is not the official position but these things only really go one way in our experience.

Unifreight

If we were handing out a most improved award it would go to Unifreight. The counter used to trade around the same frequency as ZECO and trades in the logistics company would warrant celebrations. This has changed as has the price jumping from 18.6 cents to $17.50 (9309%) at the time of writing. However, just like NTS, the trades happened at 100 units per day religiously until it settled around current pricing.

Surprised by the findings? Are there any counters you expected to see that did not appear? Let us know.