Market Comment - 18.08.2022

Bearish sentiment prevails... The bearish sentiment took its toll in the penultimate session of the week as twenty bears charged against five bulls to see the market close with a negative breadth. The top laggard of the day was logistics concern Unifreight that plunged 15.00% to close at its 16-day low of $34.0000. Cable manufacturers Cafca succumbed 14.99% to $200.2000 on scanty 500 shares. Media group Zimpapers dropped 14.70% to end pegged at a vwap of $3.6125 while, National Foods plummeted 14.29% to close at $1500.0000. Brick manufacturers Willdale capped the top five decliners of the day on a 10.38% retreat to $2.0029. Banking group NMB led the winners of the session after accumulating 9.09% to $17.9997 while, Edgars followed as it amassed 5.24% to close at $7.0000. Beverages group Delta put on 4.13% to $238.5532 while, Proplastics improved 0.63% to $22.5000. Retailer OKZIM completed the gainers’ pack after a 0.31% rise to $30.1488. The All-Share Index slipped 1.70% to 14438.57pts while, the Blue chips Index trimmed 1.90% to 8736. 23pts.The Agriculture Index shed 5.59% to close 82.79pts while, the Mid Cap Index slid 0.92% to 30031.81pts. Volumes traded went down 13.08% to 3.25m shares to yield a turnover of 234.88m which dipped 32.96% in comparison to the prior session. The trio in NMB, Delta and Simbisa were the top volume and value leaders of the day claiming a combined 77.66% of the former and 89.90% of the latter. Padenga let go 0.06% to close at USD$0.3360 while, Bindura was stable at USD$0.0309. The ZSE ETF Index tumbled 0.32% to close lower at 400.5517pts as four ETFS traded in the negative territory with only one gaining. The Old Mutual ETF suffered a knock of 3.69%, trailed by MIZ that tripped 3.19%. Cass Saddle and Datvest ETFs fell 1.02% and 0.45% to close at $1.5500 and $1.6290 in that order. The Morgan and Co MCS was the sole gainer of the day on a 6.26% uplift to $28.1600 despite trading paltry 462 units.