The final week of March recorded the highest turnover in share trades with the total volume of the week ranking second highest in the month.
Bond Market Activity
During the week, bonds of total face value of K6,762,000 were transacted in 13 trades, yielding a market value sales of K5,071,000.
Weekly Trading Diary
Monday 25
- The week opened with 92 trades recorded on the day
- 246,050 shares were transacted, yielding a market turnover of K448,314, of which LAFARGE contributed 51%.
- Lafarge traded 111,079 shares at a share price of at K2.00 per share
- Share price gains of K2.48 and K0.01 were posted in Airtel and Madison Financial Services respectively while CEC Zambia and Standard Chartered Bank recorded a loss of K0.01 each.
- On the Quoted tier, 49,200 CEC Africa shares traded, generating a total turnover of K9,840.
- The LuSE All Share Index (LASI) closed 5,619.47 points up by 0.95% from its previous close of 5,566.56 points.
- The market closed on a capitalization of K62,034,809,348 including Shoprite Holdings and K27,795,603,368 excluding Shoprite Holdings.
Tuesday 26
- 26 trades recorded on the day
- 203,868 shares were transacted, resulting in a market turnover of K1,304,912.
- A share price loss of K0.02 was recorded in CEC. Trading activity was also recorded in AEL Zambia, Airtel, Lafarge, Prima Reassurance, Standard Chartered Bank and Zambian Breweries.
- The LuSE All Share Index (LASI) closed 5,611.66 points down by 0.14% from its previous close of 5,5619.47 points.
- The market closed on a capitalization of K62,002,309,336 including Shoprite Holdings and K27,763,103,356 excluding Shoprite Holdings
Wednesday 27
- 8 trades recorded today,
- 56,038 shares were transacted, yielding a market turnover of K109,276.
- A share price loss of K0.03 was recorded in CEC.
- Trading activity was also recorded in LAFA. The LuSE All Share Index (LASI) closed 5,599.94 points down by 0.21% from its previous close of 5,611.66 points. The market closed on a capitalization of K61,953,559,318 including Shoprite Holdings and K27,714,353,338 excluding Shoprite Holdings.
Thursday 28
- In 8 trades recorded on the day, 4,477 shares were transacted, yielding a market turnover of K4,025.
- Trading activity was recorded in PUMA, Zanaco and Zambia Sugar.
- The LuSE All Share Index (LASI) maintained its previous close of 5,599.94 points as there were no share price movements.
- The market remained on a capitalization of K61,953,559,318 including Shoprite Holdings and K27,714,353,338 excluding Shoprite Holdings.
Friday 29
- On the final day of trading for the month of March, 3 trades were recorded on the day
- 13,550 shares were transacted, resulting in a market turnover K20,327.
- Trading activity was recorded in CEC Zambia.
- The LuSE All Share Index (LASI) maintained its previous close of 5,599.94 points as there were no share price movements.
- The market remained on a capitalization of K61,953,559,318 including Shoprite Holdings and K27,714,353,338 excluding Shoprite Holdings.
Financial Insight Analysis
Final Weekly Analysis
In the final week of trading, 12 company’s securities were traded making it the highest number being traded on the Lusaka Securities Exchange in one week thus far.
Securities that traded for the first time this year included PUMA and Prima Reassurance. Airtel Zambia recorded the highest turnover for the week while Lafarge Zambia traded the most shares. Airtel’s turnover was K439,031 which was 30% higher than second placed Lafarge.
The crown for lowest traded security went to ZAMEFA with 99 trades that generated a turnover of K475. Trades this small are typical of savers who use the stock market to save their excess cash in the hope of capital gains.
The highest number of transactions (trades) was recorded for CEC Zambia. Financial Insight has observed that this security is one of the most traded on the LuSE in 2019. The security is attractive to investors as it pays an annual dividend. The most recent declared dividend was a special one following the company’s disposal of their 50% Fibre Optic interests to Liquid Telecom which gave them a handsome windfall that was channeled to investors through the declaration of a special dividend.
Monthly Analysis
Week 4 was the most bullish in terms of number of shares traded on LuSE. Over 770 thousand traded shares were recorded which translates to 42% of all the weekly shares traded. This reaffirms Financial Insights assertion of March being the rebound month following February’s dismal performance.
Quarterly Performance
With the first quarter of 2019 now at a close, January remains the strongest month in terms of number of shares traded and turnover. Although March rebounded, the quantum reduction is evidence of liquidity challenges that continue to plague the LuSE.
However, January’s high trade volumes can be attributed to trader disposal of assets due to obligations that they may need to meet at the beginning of the year. In addition, listed companies that have executives that have stock options and have parted company at the end of the previous year may want to liquidate their shareholdings, among other reasons.
Since the start of the year, the LuSE All Share Index has gained by 16.78% which shows an appreciation in value for the leading securities on the exchange. The index peaked at 5939.24 on 26th February 2019. It is now at 5599.94 as at close of Q1. The leading securities that influenced the index in Q1 were AEL Zambia, Zambian Breweries, National Breweries and Zanaco with the laggers (under performing securities) being Airtel, Puma, Invest Trust and Cavmont Capital. The Index Martket Capitalization now stands at K23.29 Billion.
With K37.1 million in turnover and 10 million shares traded, Q1 has now set the pace for the rest of 2019. Financial Insight anticipates Q2 will be marginally strong with economic indicators such as inflation and Purchasing Managers index showing a reduction in the former and an increase to over 50 in the latter. This is a positive sign going into Q2.
Information used in this report was sourced from Lusaka Securities and Exchange