Market Comment - 21.10.2021

Bullish impetus continues... The bullish sentiment persisted on the bourse in Thursdays’ session to see the indices record new all-time highs. The traditional Industrial Index swelled 6.91% to end at 40749.78pts, as it surpassed the 40000pts mark to record a year-to-date gain of +365.34%. The All-Share Index was 6.88% up to close at 12312.57pts while, the Mining Index rose 3.69% to 7510.67pts. The Blue-Chip Index surged 9.28% to 7827.02 as the selected heavies continued to glitter in the market. Cigarette manufacturer BAT led the gainers of the day on a 20% surge to trade at $2,750.9889 while, seed manufacturer SeedCo advanced 16.73% to $142.6275. Sugar manufacturer Hippo added 15.25% to $316.0000. Meikles buttressed prior sessions gains as it jumped 14.17% to $186.6900 while, beverages manufacturer Delta capped the top five risers’ list as it soared 12.28% to settle at $178.1011. Other notable gainers were Cassava (+10.87%), Econet (+11.37%), Art (+9.67%) and Innscor (+7.86%). Zimplow which is currently trading under cautionary led the laggards of the day after tumbling 14.48% to $21.2280 while, Axia followed on a 6.31% trim to $42.1667. Construction group Masimba weakened 2.42% to end pegged at $53.6667 while, hotelier African Sun declined 1.64% to trade at $10.0000. Sugar refiners Star Africa capped the top five shakers pack, having lost 1.28% to settle $1.5858. A total of thirty-nine counters registered price movements distributed into twenty-eight gainers and eleven fallers. Volume of shares traded declined 35.11% to 4.19m as First Capital, Medtech and OK Zimbabwe anchored the aggregates with a combined contribution of 53.49%. Turnover dropped 47.63% to $161m with Innscor, Delta, BAT, OKZim and Cassava claiming a total of 83.37% of the outturn. Elsewhere, Padenga traded 121,652 shares at a stable price of USD22.0000 while, no trades were recorded in SeedCo International. The Old Mutual ETF gained 1.46% to trade at $4.0592 as 188,873 units exchanged hands, yielding a value outturn of $766,680.51.