Market Comment - 18.10.2022

Dull trading session on the ZSE... The market firmed up marginally in Tuesday’s session as mid cap counters sustained ZSE gains to see their own index put on 1.95% to 30494.08pts. The primary All-share Index added 0.44% to 13893.22pts while, the ZSE Agriculture Index advanced 0.62% to end at 70. 41pts.The Top ten Index was the only one to decrease as it closed with a 0.19% drop to 8206.02 pts . Leading the top five gainers was banking unit ZB Financial Holdings that soared 14.97% to $92.5500 as tobacco manufacturer TSL Limited pushed up 8.32% to $42.0000. Hotelier African Sun climbed 7.65% to $18.3000 while, construction firm Masimba Holdings was 5.93% stronger to close at $75.0000. Sugar processor Star Africa capped the top five risers on a 5.81% upsurge to $1.7610. Zimplow headlined the losers of the day as it slipped 9.52% to $13.1197 while, insurer Fidelity Life dropped 8.33% to $22.0000. First Mutual Properties shed 6.60% to end at $6.0714 as Ariston Holdings was 5.96% lower at $3.7343. Telecoms giant Econet completed the top five faller’s category on a 5.17% decline to $85.1640. The market recorded a positive breadth of four as fifteen stocks advanced against eleven that lost. Activity aggregates remained weak in the session as both turnover and volumes declined further. Turnover slid 23.76% to $115.26m as the volume of shares traded retreated 46.57% to 1.07m. The heavy cap duo in Econet and Delta anchored the value and volumes aggregates claiming 85.25% of the former and 68.44% of the latter. Other notable volume drivers were OKZIM and Ecocash with contributions of 11.63% and 11.04% apiece. Cumulatively, a total of 248,831 shares worth USD$90,535.85 exchanged hands on the VFEX. All counters on VFEX traded flat with Bindura, Padenga and SeedCo International at US$0.0305, US$0.3800, and US$0.3395 respectively. On the ETFs board a total of 52,536 units worth $186,584.41 traded. The MIZ ETF rose 2.93% to $1.2016, Datvest ETF improved 0.63% to $1.7324, and the Old Mutual ETF inched up 0.02% to finish at $5.2347.