Industrials firm up on gains in heavyweights

Published: 04 June 2014

Industrials firmed up on Tuesday with 5 out of the markets 10 heavily capitalised counters trading in the positive while volumes recovered from yesterday with meaningful volumes trading in CBZ, Delta and FBC.

The breadth of the market was positive today with 7 counters trading in the positive against 4 decliners. Yesterday there were only 4 risers against 9 that traded lower.

The Industrials Index gained 1.19 points or 0.68% to 176.10 spurred by gains in heavyweights Hippo, TSL, Econet, Innscor and SeedCo.

Hippo led the top gainers, adding 5c or 10% to 55c while TSL closed 3.45% firmer at 30c. Telecoms counter Econet advanced 0.93c or 1.41% to 67.03c and conglomerate Innscor picked 1c or 1.41% to 72c.

Blue chip Delta remained stable at 117.3c while retailer OK Zimbabwe closed buyers only at 8c ahead of its finals and analysts briefing on Thursday. SeedCo advanced 0.30c or 0.42% to 72.5c.

The Minings Index eased 0.17 or 0.50% to 33.54 as coal miner Hwange dropped 0.29c or 6.04% to 4.51c cancelling gains in Bindura which added 0.02c or 0.92% to 2.2c.

There was a significant increase in the market turnover to $1.300 million on 8.176 million shares against yesterday's $335 649 on a volume of 5.31o million shares.

Meikles also traded in the positive, gaining 1.49c or 9.03% to 17.99c.

Turnall led the top losers on the market dropping 1c or 33.33% to 2c while clothing retailer Edgars eased 1.64% to 12c and bankers CBZ was 0.07% weaker at 14.99c.

FML closed buyers and sellers only at 6c and 8c respectively ahead of its AGM this afternoon.

The Datvest All Share Index added 0.77 points or 0.63% to 122.43 while the FBC ZSE-10 Index was 1.10 points or 0.86% firmer at 128.54.

The Agri-Industrial Index closed 1.55 points or 2.90% up at 54.99 on gains in SeedCo and Hippo while the Conglomerates Index added 1.42 points or 2.34% to 62.07 as Innscor, Meikles and TSL traded firmer.

There were 4 indices that closed lower on the Zfn board with the Mining Index shedding 0.60% to 13.34, the Manufacturing losing 0.25% at 221.39, the Truworths Retail Index ending 0.23% weaker at 242.78 on losses in Edgars and the Banking Index which closed little changed 0.01% down at 81.44.

Meanwhile ZB Stockbrokers stopped conducting business on the ZSE yesterday following ZBFH's intention to sell its asset management and stockbroking units to focus on core business areas of banking and insurance.

- zfn