Story of the Day:
The Importance of Risk Management in Small, Medium and Micro-Sized Enterprises (SMMEs). Read more
Local Business and Finance
Upstart fintechs’ entry into financial services hasn’t set up a fixed battle with the established banks in Africa. Quite the contrary. That was one of the messages from Wane Ng’ambi, chief digital banking officer at Zambia National Commercial Bank. Read more: Yahoo Finance
The average tax-to-GDP ratio for the 26 countries participating in the new edition of Revenue Statistics in Africa was unchanged at 17.2% for the third consecutive year in 2017. Read more: LinkedIn
The Kwacha is likely to depreciate even further before the end of this year, falling to an average K14.50 per dollar, amidst strong demand for the greenback by both offshore and local players, Cavmont Bank data shows. Read more: News Diggers
Energy Minister Mathew Nkhuwa has clarified that Zambia paid US$20.5 million to Eskom of South Africa for power imports and not the US$27 million being reported in some sections of the media. Mr Nkhuwa said power imports for one month cost the country US$20.5 million US$6.5 million was for the arrears for the power supplied to Zambia in 2015. Read more: Zambian Observer
Chililabombwe Member of Parliament Richard Musukwa has appealed to Standard Chartered Bank Zambia not to close its branch in Chililabombwe district because of huge trade volumes at Kasumbalesa border post that the bank handles. Read more: Zambia Reports
International Business and Finance
Shares in Alibaba rose in their Hong Kong trading debut after the ecommerce group raised more than $11 billion in this year’s biggest equities offering, in a move that makes the company’s stock much easier to trade for mainland Chinese investors. The company’s stock price opened 6.25 per cent higher at $23.90 per share. Read more: Financial Times
U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell signaled that interest rates are unlikely to rise anytime soon, saying Monday that the central bank remains firmly committed to meeting its inflation goals. The Fed considers a 2% inflation rate to be a signal of sustainable growth and a level that keeps interest rates high enough to allow for mobility in the event of an economic downturn. Read more: CNBC
China has unveiled new guidelines about the protection of intellectual property, a move that could mark a big step toward appeasing the United States, and may even help pave the way for a long-awaited trade truce. Read more: CNN
EBay is selling its StubHub ticketing businesses to Viagogo, a European rival, in a $4 billion deal. Read more: Reuters
Uber will not be granted a new licence to operate in London after repeated safety failures, Transport for London (TfL) has said. Read more: BBC News
Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HP) shares were trading lower late Monday after the company reported mixed financial results for its fiscal fourth quarter. For the quarter ended Oct. 31, the enterprise computing company posted revenue of $7.2 billion, flat sequentially but down 9% year over year. Read more: Barron’s
Capital Markets Report
In 14 trades recorded yesterday, 12,541 shares were transacted, resulting in a market turnover of K21,483. Trading activity was recorded in AEL Zambia, Copperbelt Energy Corporation, Standard Chartered Bank Limited and CEC Africa on the quoted tier. The LuSE All Share Index (LASI) maintained its previous close of 4,259.50 points. The market remained on a capitalization of K56,534,726,027 including Shoprite Holdings and K22,295,520,047 excluding Shoprite Holdings.
Chart of the Day: