Market Comment - 05.01.2023

Blue-chips lift the market... Gains in the blue-chip counters lifted the market in Thursday’s session to see their own Index rise 3.43% to 13147.52pts. The primary All Share Index went up 2.76% to 20643.02pts while, the ZSE Agriculture Index extended 1.09% to finish at 76.39pts. The Mid-Cap Index inched up 0.92% to end at 38219.67pts. Seed manufacturer SeedCo Limited was the top gainer of the day after soaring 10.22% to $84.7988 while, retailer OK Zimbabwe climbed 8.33% to $35.9731 having traded a high of $36.0500. Ecocash Holdings ticked up 7.69% to $52.6496 as telecoms firm Econet went up 7.48% to $112.3093. Delta capped the top five risers’ list after a 6.89% upsurge to $403.5871. Innscor led the fallers of the day as it dropped 2.28% to $676.9948 while, Star Africa declined 2.18% to $2.2006. Ariston fell 1.77% to close at $3.9345 while, Mashonaland Holdings shed 0.45% to $9.1685. First Capital completed the top five fallers’ set as the banker trimmed 0.09% to settle at $17.4319. Volume of shares traded dipped 47.78% to 3.32m yielding a turnover of 460.38m which was 23.40% lower than the prior session’s outturn. Delta, Innscor and Econet claimed combined 83.66% of the value outturn. Volume leaders in their order were First Mutual Properties (18.30%), Delta (16.51%), Econet (13.23%), First Mutual Holdings (11.10%) and OKZIM (9.06%). Foreigners were net sellers in the session as purchases stood at $22,500.00 while, sellers amounted at $196.81m. On the VFEX, 279,074 shares were traded with Bindura accounting for a whopping 97.82% of the total as other counters scrambled for the remaining 2.18%. Caledonia, National Foods Limited and Nedbank Group were unchanged at prices of USD$13.0000, USD$1.7899 and USD$11.5000 respectively. Morgan & Co MCS was the only faller of the day amongst the ETFs as it slid 0.50% to $22.0000. The MIZ added 7.32% to $1.2234 while, Old Mutual ETF improved 3.34% to $6.5423. The Datvest ETF advanced 1.94% to $1.5002 on 989,147 units. The Tigere REIT ended at $48.4000 after a 2.74% on negligible 1,000 units.