The ZSE recorded marginal gains in the closing week of August on depressed trading activity as many players remained sceptical about the political environment. The All Share Index advanced 0.88% to 122,199.15pts while, the Industrial Index inched up 0.78% to 392,994.91pts. The Mid Cap index was the major gainer amongst the Indices we review as it garnered 5.69% to 450,491.88pts while, on the contrary the Blue-Chip Index declined 1.53% to 56,448.75pts. Elsewhere, financial and banking institutions released some good sets of HY23 results, with major highlights coming from FBC, ZB Bank and NMB as they reported inflation adjusted profits of $365.99bn, $678.46bn and $194.94bn respectively.Thirty-eight counters were active during the week under review distributed into twenty-one gainers, twelve losers and five that sailed stable, leaving the market with a positive breadth. First Mutual Limited was the best performer of the week topping on a 30.96% surge that took the insurer to $196.4458. BAT followed after rising 27.83% to close at $17,953.0000 with milk processor Dairibord adding a further 18.87% to end at $675.0000. Zimre Holdings Limited was 15.08% firmer at $67.2857 while, RIOZIM ticked up 14.98% on a rare trade. Nampak closed 12.24% higher at $165.0000 with HIPPO Valley Estates ticking up 11.11% and settled at $2,0000.0000. Turnall Holdings was 10.71% up as it closed at $15.5000 on firming demand while, Unifreight advanced 7.50% to $220.0000. Completing the Top Ten winners list was Zimpapers that added 6.92% to see it ending the week at $10.6923.
Mitigating gains obtained during the week were losses by brick manufacturers Willdale which succumbed 81.16% to $3.3544 while, CBZ trailed on a 21.39% slide that took the banking group to $628.8874. General Beltings was 11.63% lower at $38.0000 with retailer OKZIM declined 7.16% to settle at $130.2460 where demand could be found. Tanganda lost 5.58% during the week to close at $1038.5714 as TSL eased 4.39% to $500.0500. NMB bank dropped 4.14% to end pegged at $160.0836 while, Ecocash reversed previous gains after losing 1.83% to settle lower at $136.9822. FBC bank was 1.24% softer at $809.8631 as Beverage group Delta was also seen in the fallers zone after easing 1.15% to close at $2,174.7626.