Trades remain depressed as Industrials tumble again

Published: 26 May 2014

Trading on the ZSE on Thursday remained gloomy as Industrials continue to sink dragged by losses in Delta while volumes closed much lower.

The Industrials Index lost 1.29 or 0.74% to 172.54 as heavyweight Delta closed on the downside cancelling gains in Innscor and Old Mutual while Econet and OK Zimbabwe traded unchanged.

Blue chip Delta closed amongst the top fallers on the day, shedding 3c to 115c after CE Pearson Gowero told an analyst briefing yesterday that the firm recorded a 1% decrease in revenue for the year ended 31 March 2014 as total beverage volumes remained flat due to softening demand and declining consumer spend.

Heavyweights Econet and OK Zimbabwe remained stable at 66c and 18c respectively.

Conglomerate Innscor advanced a marginal 0.10c or 0.15% to 68.6c while its associate Colcom added 1c or 4.76% to 22c. Meanwhile, dual listed Old Mutual closed 2.04% to 250c.

The Minings Index remained stable at 28.58 as Falgold remained stable at 3c while Hwange closed buyers only at 5c amid reports that the coal miner has terminated discussions with major shareholder Nicholas van Hoogstraten for a $50 million loan citing issues around management control and cost of the funding.

Daily market turnover significantly dropped to $559 998 on a volume of 1.824million shares against yesterday's $989 438 on a volume of 3.812million shares.

The top riser on the day was Art which gained 0.20c or 200% to 0.3c while bankers Barclays added 0.11 c or 3.14% to 3.61c ahead of their AGM today at 3pm.

Willdale led the top losers, dropping 0.03c or 30% to 0.07c and Masimba eased 0.21c or 17.36c to 1 c. Bankers ABC and CBZ dropped 1.41% and 0.07% to 70c and 15c respectively

- zfn