Equities end week in the red

US13,50c.
The stock was affected by rumours that the conglomerate’s negotiations with Olam had hit a brick wall.
But the resources index closed the week 0,81 percent firmer at 98,31 points, buoyed by firm bid in Bindura after reports that Mwana Africa was set to restart operations at Trojan Mine.
This comes after Mwana Africa chief executive officer Mr Kalaa Mpinga announced recently that the mining giant had successfully raised US$33,5 million and secured a new strategic Chinese investor for the mine.
“We are very well placed to begin the process of restarting our Trojan Nickel Mine and further continue our exploration work — which is already yielding some compelling results,” he said in a statement.
Recovery by Econet, which added US6,01c to                   US376,01c, was not enough to push the mainstream index upwards. Seed Co was offered lower at US80c with no bids in sight. Only three counters traded in the red, led by starafrica, which lost 20 percent to US0,4c and Zimpapers, which dropped 15 percent to US0,85c.
Seven counters traded in the positive, led by Afre, which recovered 8,70 percent to US6c.
ABCH added a cent to US59c as the financial counter struggles to find firm footing in the year. The counter has now lost 38 percent in the year.
All the financials have been trading below their opening prices for the year with CBZ being the worst performer, dropping 53 percent, a scenario out of sync with the huge earnings posted by the company.
Property companies have also been trading in negative territory with Mashonaland being the worst performer dropping 32 percent in the year while ZPI has lost 28 percent.
Turnover was largely unchanged at US$1 million from 8,9 million shares, supported by trades in Innscor, Econet, Pearl and TA as active stocks fell to just 20 stocks.
Foreign investors were fairly active, accounting for 36 percent and 28 percent of the purchases and sales respectively.
The stock market continued on a downward slide that began in mid-2011 as the mining index failed to break the 100-point barrier and the industrial index failed to rise above 150 points.
The sluggish performance underpinned by low industrial recovery has further been exacerbated by the anticipated bad performance of the agricultural sector on the back of droughts that affected parts of Midlands, Mashonaland West and Mashonaland Central provinces.