Market Comment - 24.02.2022

Market extends losses... The market extended losses in the penultimate session of the week as demand continued to wane in selected counters across the board. The All-Share and the Industrial Index lost a similar 0.83% to settle at 14877.30pts and 49192.99pts respectively. The ZSE Top Ten continued to lose ground as it shed 0.91% to 9990.44pts weighed down mainly by Cassava, Delta and Econet. The Mid Cap Index eased 0.63% to close at 23488.69pts. A total of thirty-five counters registered price movements distributed into fourteen gainers and twenty-one fallers to leave the market with a negative breadth of seven. Apparel retailer Edgars led the fallers pack on a 16.64% drop to $4.5012, trailed by agricultural equipment supplier Zimplow that declined 10.63% to $19.5114. Construction group Masimba was 9.49% down to $45.0000 while, Simbisa succumbed 8.18% to $160.7868. Axia capped the top five losers of the day after retreating 5.97% to trade at $60.0330. Logistics group Unifreight headlined the gainers’ list of the day as it surged 8.21% to close at $26.0250, followed by TSL that put on 6.67% to settle at $80.0000. Zimre holdings Limited advanced 5.65% to end pegged at $3.8092 while, bankers NMB ticked up 3.73% to $12.4999. National Tyre Services capped the top five winners of the day on a 2.86% lift to $7.2000. Activity aggregates improved as volume of shares traded ballooned by 2672.14% to 41.12m shares while, value traded jumped 309.86% to $409.83m. Star Africa dominated the volume category as it claimed a chunk of 83.92%, leaving other counters scrambling for the remainder of 16.08%. A total of 34.52m shares worth $58.4m exchanged hands in the counter. Econet, Delta, Star Africa and NMB were the top value drivers with respective contributions of 35.91%, 23.09%, 14.55% and 13.75% to the outturn. The Morgan & Co ETF extended losses as it declined 0.67% to $14.5009 while, the Old Mutual ETF rose 7.25% to $9.5377. Elsewhere, on the VFEX, Padenda traded 84,747 shares worth US$17,796.