Story of the Day:
Chibuku maker, National Breweries Plc has announced the resignation of its Managing Director after two years in the role. Read more
Local Business and Finance
With markets running K882million long into Thursday 16 January, Bank of Zambia sold K531.7million ($36.6million) worth of treasury bill assets in the second government debt sale of 2020. Read more: The Business Telegraph
The United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) together with BongoHive Innovation and Technology Hub have announced the names of five Zambian fintechs selected for the inaugural cohort of the FinTech4U accelerator programme. Read more: Venture Burn
Airtel Networks Zambia Plc has announced its plans to introduce a more attractive non-expiry data bundles as one of its goals for the year 2020, a pronouncement made few hours after its arch rival and main competitor MTN Zambia introduced the Non-Expiry Data Bundle on the Zambian market. Read more: Zambian Business Times
The Economic Association of Zambia (EAZ) says government has the ability to meet debt obligations and therefore the country’s fiscal position is not “at the point of no return” as an international news publication claims. Read more: ZNBC
The Tanzania-Zambia Railway (TAZARA) board of directors has called on the company management to increase the freight traffic in a bid to declare dividends to the two governments. Read more: Zambia Daily Mail
World Wild Fund (WWF) deputy country director Norman Rigiva says there is need to explore new farming techniques for Zambia to become resilient to climate change effects. Read more: Zambia Daily Mail
International Business and Finance
Ethiopian Airlines ambitious trajectory seems not to know any bounds as they have announced plans to build a new international airport “bigger than Charles de Gaulle.” The fruition of this project will see the new airport becoming the biggest in Africa. Read more: Zambian Observer
Microsoft has pledged to remove “all of the carbon” from the environment that it has emitted since the company was founded in 1975. Read more: BBC News
China’s economy grew 6.1% in 2019, according to GDP figures released today. While that’s in line with expectations, it’s also the country’s weakest growth in nearly three decades. Read more: CNN
Morgan Stanley lifted its performance goals on Thursday after beating Wall Street estimates by a wide margin, the latest sign that Chief Executive James Gorman’s strategic vision for the bank is bearing fruit. Read more: Reuters
The five most valuable U.S. tech companies now account for over 17% of the S&P 500, up from 11% in 2015. Read more: CNBC
Capital Markets Report
In 55 trades recorded yesterday, 27,005 shares were transacted, yielding a market turnover of K54,300. Share price gains of K0.87 in AEL Zambia and K0.02 in Lafarge were recorded today. There was also trading activity in Copperbelt Energy Corporation, Standard Chartered Bank Limited, Zambia Breweries, Zanaco and ZSUG. The LuSE All Share Index (LASI) closed at 4,257.65 points, 0.12% higher than its previous close of 4,252.42 points. The market closed on a capitalization of K56,527,056,210 including Shoprite Holdings and K22,287,850,230 excluding Shoprite Holdings.
Chart of the Day: