ZSE shares slip back into the red as heavyweights falter

There were only 2 counters to trade in the positive in a Monday session where 14 counters traded lower while another 14 remained unchanged from previous levels resulting in the Industrials slipping back in the negative territory as most heavyweights traded lower.

The Industrials Index lost 1.89 points or 1.01% to 185.93 trimming year to date gains to 22% while the Minings Index dropped a significant 3.63% to 64.79 to close below the January 1 level of 65.12 TOT the first time this year.

Significant volumes in Delta and Econet helped the total market daily turnover to close above the psychological $1 million level at $1.286 million on a volume of 2.979 million shares.

Cafca led the day's fallers after dropping 10c or 25% to 30c while BAT dropped another 5c to 725c largely on profit taking after a fine run that saw the price rising by over 100% since January.

Selling pressure in CBZ saw the price easing 0.46c to 14.44c while Delta dropped 0.20c to 122.3c in deals worth $245 054.

Telecoms counter Econet remained stable at 65.1c after significant deals worth $838 144 as founder Strive Masiyiwa flagged plans to rebrand and reposition TN Bank in the next 12 months.

Other heavyweight counters to trade lower were Innscor which lost 1.01c to 83.99c ahead of its 0.80c interim dividend record date on Friday. Hippo was also 6c weaker at 130c.

OK Zimbabwe eased 0.40c to 20c while Old Mutual was 5c lower at 225c. TA Holdings lost a further 1c to 6c, its lowest level in 52 weeks.

In Minings, Hwange weighed heavily on the resources index after losing 2c to 14c while Bindura and RioZim remained unchanged at 2c and 45c respectively.

Lifestyle Holdings was 0.05c or 10% weaker at 0.45c after shareholders on Friday approved the group's delisting from the ZSE and a Scheme of Arrangement that will see them owning shares in a Mauritius based company.

Aico Africa slipped a further 0.80c to 4.1c another lowest level in 52 weeks.

The 2 counters to manage gains were Afdis which added 0.60c to 22.1c and Masimba Holdings up 0.15c to 2.3c after the company's management outlined to analysts the company's strategy following the transition from Murray and Roberts.

There was not a single sector to manage gains out of Zfn's 12 measures with the Datvest All Share Index dropping 0.91% to 126.45 while the FBC ZSE-10 Index was 0.66% weaker at 133.63.