ZSE:- Sell off in blue chips persists

Published: 13 September 2013

ZSE's heavily capitalised counters Delta and Econet entered their second day of bruising losses that dragged the Industrials further down.

While there are still bids on the board in the most traded counters on the bourse, indications are that they will renege when reasonable volumes of shares are availed.

The Industrials Index eased a further 1.89 points or 0.99% to 188.35 dragged again by heavyweight counters Delta and Econet while Innsoor and OK Zimbabwe traded unchanged.

Delta closed as one of the top 5 losers on the market dropping 4.81c or 3.85% to 120.09c losing 5.44% in just 2 days.

Econet eased another 0.49c or 0.91 % to 53.5c while other blue chips Innscor and OK Zimbabwe traded unchanged at 81 c and 23.1c respectively.

The Minings Index closed unchanged at 48.73 with no activity recorded in the mining counters.

Daily market turnover dropped to $1,312 million on a volume of 3.338 million shares against yesterday's $3,064 million on a volume of 9.008 million shares.

Weekly turnover, however, improved to $8,607 million on a volume of 28.22 million shares compared with last week's $7.059million on a volume of 21.38million shares.

The top riser on the day was RTG which gained 0.20c or 13.33% to 1.70c after launching a new package, "Stay now, pay later" that allows individuals and organisations to book into the hotel group's hotels on credit

Cigarette manufacturer BAT added 80c or 8.70% to 1000c after publishing a good set of June financials given that there were two non-recurring items on the income statement of $10.6 million and $3.6 million for the employee share ownership and forgiveness of trade payable respectively. The topline barely changed at $23 million due to offsetting combinations of sales volumes decline on local brands and price increases on key brands.

NTS was one of the three counters that traded in the green advancing 0.10c or 3.45% to 3c ahead of its AGM next week.

MedTech led the top 5 fallers, shedding 0.01c or 16.67% to 0.05c while Willdale dropped 0.05c or 16.67% to 025c. Dawn and Masimba eased 10% and 5.26% each to 0.90c and 9c respectively.

FML also closed in the negative, dropping a marginal 0.01c or 0.08% to 13c after reports that the firm has waded back into the mobile insurance waters by introducing a cellphone-based funeral assurance poEcy.

The Zfn board ended the week largely in the red after the benchmark Datvest All Share Index dropped 1.22 points or 0.96% to 126.05 while the FBC ZSE-10 Index eased 1.64 points or 1.24% to 130.52.

The Manufacturing Index took the heaviest knock after losing 4.76 points or 2.04% to 228.46 while the Property Index eased a further 2.08 points or 1.81 % to 112.76 weighed down by the gloomy outlook of the sector reported in the 6 months to June.

The Tourism Index was the only sector to record gains on the Zfh board after adding 2.18 points or 8.37% to 28.25 spurred by gains in RTG.
- zfn