Industrials stretch rising streak

Published: 05 May 2014

Industrials extended rising steak to 7 straight sessions on Friday after breaking for the Workers Day holiday albeit in thin volumes.

There was not even a single counter to record losses while volumes in normal trades were a paltry 3.426 million worth just about $250 000. The total market outturn was however boosted by a special bargain of 27.39 million Zimplow shares sold by brokers Platinum to IH Securities at 2.75c.

Thus the total market turnover closed at $1,010 million on 30.82 million shares down from Wednesday's $2,253 million on a volume o f 10.37 million shares.

The weekly volumes slipped to $4,822 million on a volume of 61.89 million shares compared to last week's $18.03 million on 62.56 million shares.

The Industrials Index gained 0.68 points or 0.39% to settle at 173.59 points following gains in heavyweights Delta, Econet and Innscor while there was no counter to trade on the downside.

The Minings Index was flat at 29.64 points after Bindura trading unchanged at 1.35c.

Blue chip Delta added 0.55c or 0.48% to 115.55c whilst Econet was up 0.03c or 0.05% to dose at 62.04c. TSL recovered 1.67% to 30.5c

Conglomerate Innscor edged up to 64.2c after gaining 1.20c or 1.90% whilst heavyweight retailer OK Zimbabwe traded unchanged at 19.9 c.

The top riser on the day was Meikles which added 0.50c or 2.78% to 18.5c after announcing that David Mills, MD of TM Supermarkets has assumed pre-retirement leave with immediate effect.

Bankers FBC closed 0.79% firmer at 12.8c while CBZ closed sellers only at 15 c after newly appointed CE Never Nyemudzo told the AGM on Wednesday that the firm recorded a 43.7% decline in after-tax profit to $5.8 million for the first quarter ending March 31 due to iquidity challenges and rising operational costs.

Zimplow closed buyers only at 2.3c normal trades the after group CE Zondi Kumwenda told the AGM earlier today that the firm is at an advanced stage of disposing some of its non-core assets in order to reduce its current borrowings.

The Datvest All Share Index advanced 0.41 points or 0.35% to 118.78 while the FBC ZSE-10 Index was 0.50 points or 0.40% firmer at 124.64

- zfn