Innscor, Econet drive market gains, Greenback goes ballistic

Business Writer

The local bourse had another solid trading session during the midweek session, as the ZSE All Share Index rose by 8,67 percent to close at 15 023.86 points.

This was against Tuesday’s trading session, which closed at 13 825.66 points.

Market breadth strengthened as 17 stocks advanced against 11 losers.

Gains in Innscor, Econet and Simbisa saw the Top 10 Index gain 11,52 percent to close at 9 303.36 points.

Innscor added 14,90 percent to end at $309.37, leaving its year-to-date gain at 90,51 percent.

Telecoms giant Econet ,was up 14,67 percent to finish at $118.45. Simbisa, which is set to delist from the ZSE and move over to the VFEX, rose 14,28 percent to settle at $170.33.

Beverage maker Delta, which had the most traded value of $114,137,175 for the day, plunged 0,37 percent to close at $256.20.

The Medium Cap Index was 2,37 percent higher at 29 499.17 points. Logistics firm Unifreight gained 14,97 percent to become the best performing stock ahead of its AGM on Friday.

ZHL leapt to $5.75, notching up 14,54 percent in the process.

On the other hand, NMB led the losers’ chart in percentage terms as it lost by 10 percent to close at $18.00.

Dairibord followed with 9,07 percent to finish at $22.18 while Mash Holdings eased 3,37 percent to close at $6.60. Meikles shed 2,98 percent to close at $114.95.

The Small Cap Index lost 1,01 percent to settle at 489 213.56 points on Edgars, which fell 4,76 percent to $7.00.

Turnover improved from yesterday’s $100,43 million to $444,56 million.

The Datvest ETF added 6,06 percent to close at $1.61 while the OM ZSE Top-10 ETF gained 0,32 percent to settle at $5.21.

These were the only movements in the ETF market as other ETFs remained flat today.

On the commodities side, oil prices were broadly stable on Wednesday as pressure from a strengthening dollar and crude storage builds was offset by US production cuts caused by Hurricane Ian.

Brent crude futures were up US5c, or 0,06 percent, at US$86.32 per barrel, while US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were down US9c, or 0,1 percent, at US$78.41 per barrel. Both contracts erased earlier falls after rising more than 2 percent in the previous session.

Gold prices are moderately higher and near daily highs, on safe-haven buying amid a very nervous marketplace across Europe and the US. Traders and investors are keeping a very close eye on the currency markets. Gold prices did drop to a nearly 2,5-year low yesterday.

The yellow metal is trading at US$1 664 which is 1,7 percent higher, whilst platinum remained unchanged at US$846.80.

The greenback has gone ballistic as the U.S. dollar index is higher and hit another 20-year high today.