Market Comment - 24.12.2021

ZSE in the black ahead of festive holidays ... The ZSE closed the market in the black ahead of the festive holidays, with signs of resurgent demand seen across the top capitalized counters. The Primary all Share Index was 0.74% firmer at 9895.68pts while, the Industrial Index eked 0.75% to settle at 32429.98pts. The Blue-chip Index also followed on an identical 0.75% rise to 6130.95pts, with major gains being recorded in Delta (+1.91%) and Econet+ (6.52%). Headlining the gainers of the day was agricultural concern Ariston that jumped 17.08% to trade at $3.7481, trailed by telecommunications giant Econet that advanced 6.53% to close at $79.0113 with no sellers in sight. Property concern Zimre Holdings was 5.80% up to $3.5977 while, manufacturer ART surged 5.52% to $10.2000. Completing the top five winners set of the day was Mashonaland Holdings that put on 4.43% to trade at $2.9221. The market registered a positive breadth of seven as seventeen counters rose against ten fallers. MedTech Holdings led the laggards of the day for the second consecutive session as it declined 15.87% to trade at $35.0000. Trailing behind was banking group NMB that eased 12.68% to $9.4135 while, Cassava dropped 6.03% to $34.0014 post release of it HY22 results in which the company reported a loss after tax of $662m. General Beltings was down 3.87% to $1.9992 while, plastics manufacturer Proplastics shed 1.87% to $28.4587. Activity aggregates of the day faltered as the volumes of shares traded dropped 87.42% to see 2.66m shares exchange hands while, turnover dipped 90.78% to $125.1m. Volume leaders for the day were FML, Econet, Axia, OKZim and Simbisa with respective contributions of 19.71%, 11.31%, 11%, 10.97% and 8.61%. Econet, Meikles and Simbisa were the value leaders of the day with the threesome ‘s combined turnover claiming 51.53% of the aggregate. The Old Mutual ETF reversed yesterday’s losses as it lifted 16.67% to close at $4.9782 ,on 19,286 units worth $96,009.20