African stock markets with a strong foreign investor component caught the global 24 February 2020 Covid-19 pandemic induced sell-off bug with an ensuing bear market that would extend for most of the second quarter. The pandemic was to remain a significant factor till the end of the year, with most markets finishing in the red, notwithstanding the tepid recovery that started in the third quarter.
The MSE was one of the four markets to trade in the positive(see tablebelow), both in local currency and US$terms, rubbing shoulders with heavyweights;Nigeria, andSouth Africa (SA). Zimbabwe’s Industrial Index, up 1046% in the localcurrency, has anuniqueness that makes it incomparable to othermarkets, especially when the movementin the parallel market rate is taken into account.
