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Oliver Kazunga, Senior Business Reporter
THE value of transactions traded on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange (ZSE) Direct platform in 2021 closed the year at $248,47 million while the number of active participants was 4 928.

The ZSE Direct, which was launched in September 2020 allows individuals in the country to participate on the ZSE through the virtual platform.

Responding to written questions from Business Chronicle last week, ZSE marketing and corporate affairs manager Ms Tapiwa Bepe said: “The value of transactions traded on the ZSE Direct platform for 2021 was $248,47 million.

“The number of active participants on the ZSE Direct since its launch in September 2020 is 4 928.”

The bourse started last year with the value of transactions on the ZSE Direct platform with about $5 million trades.

Activity on the platform has been on an upward trend closing 2021 around $250 million as the value of shares and the uptake of the product has been on a steady increase.

This shows that people were getting more confident and awareness of the ZSE Direct which increases more retail investors’ participation with a knock-on effect of increasing liquidity on the market.

Following the launch of the ZSE Direct, the local bourse was working with different institutions to increase access to the platform by retail investors.

When Zimbabwe adopted the local currency, the ZSE lost quite a number of foreign investors on the market and a buffer of local investors is always needed to support the domestic capital markets.

Towards 2013, foreign investors dominated the local money and capital markets and on average they were investing about 56 percent of all the trades on the market. — @KazungaOliver