The local bourse started the week on a high note as the mainstream index rose by 0.07% to close at 198.55 buoyed by gains in blue chip stock. The resources index however closed flat at 69.19.

Activity was restricted to 16 counters and of these 3 went up while 2 came off  with the different closing unchanged.

Topping the risers’ set was CFI which gained an impressive 20% to close today’s session at 21.60c just marginally shy of the minority offer price of 22c. Stalap a vehicle controlled by ZIMRE together with NSSA and Baobab has offered to buy out minorities at 22c, as the duo of NSSA and Rudlands gang up to “save” CFI. A marginal mop up is expected and post the offer Starlap and Messina will remain the single largest shareholders of CFI.

Starlap will likely fail to garner enough majority to pass resolution even after increasing its stake from the current 41% which prolongs the company’s resuscitation. Last year a number of the company’s units were placed under judicial management and the group has been a loss maker since 2010.

Telecoms giant capped the risers after adding a marginal  0.27% to close at 36.90. Econet targets to upgrade its data service from 2G to 3G network by end of 2017. In the first quarter the telecoms sector committed less to capex due to liquidity constraints prevalent in the economy.

Banking stock NMB which was a riser in the prior week, eased by 5.88% to close the session at 4c. Heavy counter Seedco which a weekly loser in the prior week plummeted by 0.37% to close at 133.50c. All the 4 resources stocks remained unchanged at previous trading levels .

Turnover in the session went down by 94% to $0.06 million from the prior session with top contribution coming from heavy cap Padenga. OK, Econet, Simbisa and ZPI  featured among the top value drivers. The total number of shares traded in today ‘s session came in at 0.6 million.