Market opens February in the black…
The ZSE capped the first day of the new month in the black as bulls continued to rage in the market. A total of twenty-three counters charged against one that faltered. The All Share Index jumped 5.41% to settle at 572,092.73pts while, the Blue Chip Index was 4.97% firmer at 258,447.28pts. The Agriculture Index was 5.46% up at 1,607.57pts while, the Mid-Cap index was the major gainer amongst its kind as it inched up 7.00% to 1,952,521.89pts. Tea producer Ariston headlined the gainers list of the day as it charged 49.49% to settle at $93.8514 where supply could be found. Trailing behind were four counters Fidelity, NMB, ZB and OK Zimbabwe that garnered 15.00% each to settle at $470.3500, $1,707.0500, $2,081.2500 and $546.7000 respectively. Sugar processor Star Africa was the sole loser in the session as it shed 1.49% to close at $8.9379 after they reported a loss after tax of $22.61bn for FY23.
Activity aggregates traded mixed in the session as volumes traded faltered 46.69% to 5.53m shares while, turnover increased by 10.73% to see $28.61bn exchange hands. Delta continued to dominate the activity aggregates as it claimed 36.44% of the volume traded and 79.46% of the turnover. Other notable volume drivers were NMB, Econet and Star Africa that had respective contributions of 16.64%, 13.76% and 10.01%. In the ETF category a total of three funds registered price movements, segregated into two risers and one faller. Old Mutual Top 10 ETF buttressed prior sessions gains as it inched up 6.30% to $95.3337 while, Morgan & CO MS ETF was 3.54% higher at $530.0000. Datvest MCS was 0.93% weaker at $15.385. A total of 457,102 units worth $40.93m traded today. The Tigere REIT was 0.08% firmer at $592.9177 as 85,210 units traded. In other news, TSL released its FY23 results in which they reported a PAT of $63.35bn for the year, the company went further and announced that they will change their functional currency to USD$ starting FY24.