Market Comment - 22.03.2022

Top Caps buoy ZSE gains... The market continued to edge higher in Tuesday’s trades buoyed by gains in heavy cap counters. The All-Share Index advanced 2.51% to 15854.72% while, the segregated Industrials gained an almost similar 2.50% to close at 52383.52pts. The Mid Cap Index was up 0.13% to settle at 25104.79pts while, the Blue-Chip Index was the major gainer amongst the indices as it surged 3.32% to 10639.14pts lifted by gains in Delta, Ecocash and Innscor. Headlining the gainers’ list of the day was conglomerate Art Holdings which rose 18.75% to $19.0000, trailed by National foods that jumped 15.60% to $2023.0000. Proplastics soared 8.85% to end the session at $37.6957 while, bankers NMB climbed 8.36% to $12.7321. Hotelier African Sun capped the top five risers set as it added 6.44% to close at $6.1777. The other notable gainer of the day was Innscor that recorded an all-time high of $330.0623 to post a YTD gain of +103.64%. Agricultural concern Ariston led the laggards of the day as it shed 9.00% to $3.0421, followed by sugar processor Star Africa that let go 8.79% to $1.3592. Zimpapers relinquished yesterdays’ gains as it dropped 7.42% to $2.4071 as spirits and wines manufacturer AFDIS trimmed 5.77% to $245.0000. General Beltings capped the top five worst performers of the day on a 5.54% loss to $1.5530. Volume traded jumped by 74.75% to see 7.65m shares exchange hands as Econet, OKZIM, Delta and Willdale claimed 78.54% of the aggregate. Value traded ballooned by 237.36% to $809,47m as the duo of Delta and Econet contributed a combined 73.78% of the turnover. Foreign sales stood at $56.46m while, purchases amounted to $42.69m as the market registered a net funds outflow position. The ETFs traded mixed in the session, as the Morgan & CO ETF pared 1.75% to $13.7066 while, the Old Mutual ETF rose by 16.42% to $9.2132. Datvest ETF was up 0.05% at $1.6872. Elsewhere, on the VFEX, no trades were recorded.