Market Comment - 02.02.2023

Market maintains gains in Thursday''s session... The market maintained gains in the penultimate session of the week as the primary All Share Index put on 0.82% to 23653.77pts. The Blue chips Index rose 0.78pts to 14407.72pts lifted by gains in Delta and Econet while, the Mid Cap Index added 0.95% to 49388.8. The Agriculture Index was the major gainer amongst the Indices we review as it eked out 3.73% to close at 103.78pts. Banking Group First Capital headlined the gainers’ list of the day as it surged 6.57% to $14.0676 trailed by Proplastics that advanced 6.19% to $62.5976. TSL closed the day pegged at $52.0000 following a 3.44% uptick while, construction group Masimba was 2.97% firmer at $118.0000. Sugar processor Hippo Valley capped the top five risers of the day on a 2.91% ascent to close the day trading at $425.0500. Retailer OK Zimbabwe led the worst performers of the day on a 4.62% loss to settle at $44.0185 as General Beltings parred 2.58% to end at $1.7025. Hotelier African Sun shed 1.17% to $32.1899 while; Ecocash Holdings eased 0.42% to $51.3884. Bankers FBC capped the top five laggards of the day as it went down 0.08% to $66.0000. Activity aggregates were mixed in the session as the volume of shares traded declined 74.40% to see 11.83m shares worth $2.59bn exchange hands which, representing a 100.76% increase in total value traded. Econet, Innscor and Star Africa drove the volume aggregate of the day as they contributed a combined 87.19% of the total. Duo in Innscor and Econet were the value leaders of the day as they claimed 50.77% and 38.65% of turnover respectively. The ETF’s traded mixed in the sessions as the Cass Saddle and Datvest ETF fell 4.49% and 1.71% respectively. The Old Mutual Top 10 ETF was up 2.09% at $7.7186 as the two Morgan & Co ETFs remained stable. Tigere REIT was stable at $50.6200 as 146 units worth $7,390.52 exchanged hands. Elsewhere, on the VFEX SeedCo International and Simbisa closed 3.58% and 3.23% lower while, Padenga was stable at US$0.2875. A total of 7,381 shares worth US$3,137.08 exchanged hands.