The trading month of March has continued on its upward surge, eclipsing the total turnover of February making this month the strongest trading month to date in 2019.
Bond Activity
During the week, bonds of total face value of K13,779,000 were transacted in 16 trades, yielding a market value sales of K9,027,000.
Weekly Trading Diary
Monday 18
- 20 trades recorded on the first day of the trading week
- 62,126 shares were transacted, yielding a market turnover of K67,358.
- A share price loss of K0.02 was recorded in Madison Financial Services.
- Trading activity was also recorded in CEC, SCBL, ZCCM, ZNCO and CCAF on the quoted tier.
- CEC Africa traded 20,404 shares, generating a total turnover of K4,081 while which CEC Zambia contributed 84% to the total shares traded, trading 34,900 shares at a share price of at K1.55 per share
- The LuSE All Share Index (LASI) closed at 5,610.75 points down by 0.24 points from its previous close of 5,610.99 points.
- The market closed on a capitalization of K61,998,559,052 including Shoprite Holdings and K27,759,353,072 excluding Shoprite Holdings.
Tuesday 19
- 21 trades recorded on the day
- 15,457 shares were transacted, yielding a market turnover of K13,504.
- Share price gains of K0.01 and K0.25 was posted in CEC Zambia and Lafarge respectively.
- LAFARGE made a sizable contribution to the total shares traded on the day, trading 2,398 shares at a share price of at K3.25 per share.
- Trading activity was also recorded in BAT Zambia, Standard Chartered Bank and CEC Africa on the quoted tier.
- CEC Africa traded 11,000 shares, generating a total turnover of K2,200.
- The LuSE All Share Index (LASI) closed at 5,626.68 points up by 0.28 points from its previous close of 5,610.75 points.
- The market closed on a capitalization of K62,064,819,034 including Shoprite Holdings and K27,825,613,054 excluding Shoprite Holdings.
Wednesday 20
- 129,802 shares were transacted in 14 trades, yielding a market turnover of K306,340.
- A share price loss of K0.65 was recorded in Lafarge.
- Trading activity was also recorded in CEC Zambia and Zanaco Bank.
- The LuSE All Share Index (LASI) closed at 5,595.42 points down by 0.56% from its previous close of 5,626.68 points.
- The market closed on a capitalization of K61,934,793,097 including Shoprite Holdings and K27,695,587,117 excluding Shoprite Holdings.
Thursday 21
- 374,700 shares were transacted in 3 trades, yielding a market turnover of K718,680.
- A share price loss of K0.60 was recorded in Lafarge.
- Trading activity was also recorded in Zanaco and CEC Africa on the quoted tier.
- The LuSE All Share Index (LASI) closed at 5,566.56 points down by 0.52% from its previous close of 5,595.42 points.
- The market closed on a capitalization of K61,814,769,154 including Shoprite Holdings and K27,575,563,174 excluding Shoprite Holdings.
Friday 22
- In the final day of trading only 2 trades were recorded today
- 191,962 shares were transacted, resulting in market turnover of K383,924 of which LAFARGE contributed 100% to the total shares traded, trading at a share price of at K2.00 per share.
- The LuSE All Share Index (LASI) maintained its previous close 5,566.56 points as there were no price movements.
- The market remained on a capitalization of K61,814,769,154 including Shoprite Holdings and K27,575,563,174 excluding Shoprite Holdings.
Financial Insight Analysis
Trading on LuSE continued with its bullish run with highest trading week on record over the last two months. The last time the market trades peaked over K1 million in turnover was Week 4 of January 2019.
Thus far, K2.746 million in turnover has been realised in March. Week 4 saw 7 company’s shares being traded during the week. Lafarge Plc saw the highest number of trades with turnover of K1.366 million in 15 trades of over 651 thousand shares being traded.
Kwacha volatility against the ‘Greenback’ remains a concern for turnover realised in Kwacha – dollar transactions. The week opened with a kwacha to dollar exchange rate of K12.09 then subsequently peeked at K12.22 and finally closing the week at K12.13 to the dollar.
With a Price to Earnings ratio of 22, the Lafarge ‘sell off’ is substantial. The price traders paid was K2.00 per share. At the current P/E ratio, investors would expect higher earnings. However, a stock with a high P/E ratio is not necessarily a better investment than one with a lower P/E ratio, as a high P/E ratio can indicate that the stock is being overvalued.
The Lafarge PE Ratio was the second highest of the companies traded during the week. Standard Chartered Bank had the crown for highest PE ratio at 126. The high PE is an outlier due to the low earnings per share (EPS) in comparison to the current price of the stock. A further look at the Price to Book Value (P/BV ratio) reveals that its value, currently over 5, is above the market average of most companies on stock exchange. This would imply that the current price of this stock is overvalued.
On the tail end of trading, BAT Zambia recorded the lowest turnover of K480 with only 2 trades for the week.
Important Announcements
CEC Africa – Notice of Annual General Meeting
Notice is hereby given that the 6th Annual Meeting of CEC Africa Investments Limited, a Company duly incorporated in Mauritius, will be held at Intercontinental Hotel, Haile Selassie Road, Lusaka on Thursday 11th April 2019.
Lafarge Plc – Notice of Annual General Meeting
Notice is hereby given that the 27th Annual General Meeting of the members of Lafarge Zambia Plc will be held at the Taj Pamodzi, Lusaka, Zambia on 3 April 2019 at 09:00.
All data compiled from the Lusaka Securities and Exchange Daily and Weekly Reports, as well as Stock Brokers Zambia Website.