Market Comment - 04.08.2021

The ZSE notches further in mid-week trades… The ZSE notched further in mid-week trades with three of the indices we review recording gains. The All-Share Index put on 0.97% to close at 6938.38pts while, the Blue Chip Index gained 0.92% to settle at 3724.76pts. The old Industrials added 0.99% to end at 22876.96pts. Conversely, the mining index closed in red as it eased 0.32% to 6119.81pts, as Bindura continued to fluctuate. Mashonaland holdings led the gainers of the day as it advanced 16.34% to close at $3.5000, albeit on scrappy shares while, seed manufacturer SeedCo extended 9.44% from previous day to settle at $73.4343. Microfinance group Getbucks buttressed prior sessions gains as it advanced 6.06% to settle at $7.8100, followed by Delta which was 4.58% stronger to $94.5887 on firming demand. Dairibord edged up 3.67% to $35.2500 as other notable gains were recorded in Innscor (+2.46%), National Foods (+1.72%) and Cassava (+0.51%). Banking group NMB led the losers of the day as it eased 16.67% to close at $11.0000, followed by media group Zimpapers which went down 5.50% to $3.2130. Clothing retailer Edgars was 3.07% weaker at $3.1502 as 8.68m shares exchanged hands in the counter. Conglomerate Innscor declined 2.46% to $107.3008 on weak demand while, its subsidiary Simbisa dropped 1.77% to trade at $44.2015, completing the top five laggards of the day. Thirty-one counters registered price movements disseminated into seventeen gainers and fourteen losers to leave the market with positive breadth of three. Activity aggregates improved in midweek session as a total of 20.78m shares exchanged hands, yielding a turnover of $295.38m. The duo of Edgars and NMB anchored the volumes traded for the day with a combined whopping contribution of 73.6%. Value drivers of the day were NMB (24.64%), Simbisa (17.45%) and SeedCo (16.89%). The Old Mutual ETF dropped 0.42% to trade at $1.9917. No trades were recorded on the VFEX as Padenga closed bid at $0.1800 and SeedCo International offered at $0.2520.