Market Comment - 31.08.2021

ZSE weakens further…. Losses on the bourse persisted in Tuesday’s session as selected heavies weighed on the market. The primary All Share Index dipped a further 0.98% to close at 6652.31pts as the Industrial Index lost 1.00% to 21922.43pts. The blue chips Index let go 1.19% to 3595.05pts while, the Mining Index gained 0.22% to close pegged at 6115.85pts. Thirty-two stocks registered price movements distributed into seven risers and twenty-five fallers to leave the market with a negative breadth of eighteen. Leading the fallers of the day was apparel retailer Edgars which plunged 11.17% to $3.5000, followed by associated group Truworths which was 8.31% weaker at $2.0000. Insurer FML shed 6.98% to settle at $23.2000 while, banking group FBC was 5.07% lower at $28.0000. Sugar processor Star Africa capped the day’s decliners on a 4.69% fall to trade at $1.8431. Other notable fallers were OKZIM (-2.48%), Simbisa (-2.36%), Cassava (- 2.47%), Delta (-1.76%) and Econet (-1.29%). The top gainer for the day was Medtech which grew 3.07% to $0.2654 with SeedCo trailing on 2.66% increase to $78.0000 albeit scrappy 100 shares. Innscor soared 1.34% to close at $91.5696 as banking group NMB improved 0.76% to $13.8857. Nickel miner Bindura completed the winners’ set as it inched up 0.33% to settle at $4.9939. Activity aggregates improved as volumes were up 1.48% at 2.63m shares while, turnover was 76.98% higher at $67.73m. The most liquid stocks for the day were OK Zimbabwe, Dairiboard and Innscor as they dominated both the volume and value categories with a combined contribution of 49.27% to the latter and 69.48% to the former. Foreign sales amounted to $3.76m with a nil purchases recorded for the day. VFEX registered no trades for the day while, the Old Mutual Exchange Traded Fund jumped 18.22% to $2.5000 on 16,800units which yielded an outturn of $42,000.00.