Story of the Day:
We open the month of May 2020 bond trading on the Luse, with our constant pattern of the bond market completely eclipsing the equities market as it recorded a score of 100% on the bond market to 0% on the equities side. Read more
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Zambia has built 10 milling plants to process gold in a drive to formalise artisanal and small-scale miners and diversify from copper mining, state mining investment company ZCCM-IH said on Wednesday. The project is being undertaken by Consolidated Gold Company Ltd (CGCZ), a gold processing and trading joint venture between Karma Mining Services and Rural Development and ZCCM-IH. Read more: Reuters
Commercial banks have not been given risk-free financing from the Bank of Zambia’s K10 billion Medium-term Loan Facility, hence the need for them to still demand collateral from prospective borrowers, says the Bankers’ Association of Zambia (BAZ). Read more: News Diggers
In an effort to support businesses that have been negatively affected by coronavirus, Absa Bank Zambia Plc is considering getting about K100 million from the central bank’s K10 billion stimulus package for onward lending. Read more: Zambia Daily Mail
The end of the bitter war over the future of the Bulk Supply Agreement which expired last month, Zesco and Copperbelt Energy Corporation have commenced the process of arbitration with the hope of settling their deep-rooted differences. Read more: Lusaka Times
Developer Kalahari GeoEnergy Ltd. has secured a convertible loan of USD 3.2m for a up to three slim wells to be drilled for the company’s Bweengwa geothermal power project in Zambia, Africa. Read more: Think Geo Energy
International Business and Finance
Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell has warned that America faces a slow and painful economic recovery without additional government relief. The dark forecast from the head of the US central bank is a turnaround from early April, when he said he expected a robust rebound. Read more: BBC News
U.K. Ministers will have to raise taxes sharply in the coming months to deal with an estimated £337 billion deficit in the current financial year in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, according to a leaked Treasury document. The paper sets out a proposed “policy package” of tax rises and spending cuts which could have to be announced soon in order to “enhance credibility and boost investor confidence”. Read more: Financial Times
HSBC Holdings Plc lost around $200 million in one day in March because of disruptions to the gold market that caused prices to diverge dramatically in key trading hubs, according to a filing by the bank. The one-day loss was unusually large for a market in which the leading banks typically hope to make around $200 million in an entire year. Read more: Bloomberg
The biggest names in finance are coming around to a view that seemed unlikely a few weeks ago: Stocks are vastly overvalued. Read more: Bloomberg
Over 300 lawmakers from around the world on Wednesday urged the International Monetary Fund and World Bank to cancel the debt of the poorest countries in response to the coronavirus pandemic, and to boost funding to avert a global economic meltdown. Read more: MSN
Mozambique’s constitutional court on Tuesday declared null and void loans worth $1.4 billion that triggered the country’s worst financial crisis when they were revealed, in a ruling welcomed by debt campaigners. Read more: The Citizen
Capital Markets Report
There were no trades recorded yesterday. The LuSE All Share Index (LASI) maintained its close at 4,090.33 points, as there were no share price movements. The market closed on a capitalization of K56,624,199,184 including Shoprite Holdings and K22,384,993,204 excluding Shoprite Holdings.
Chart of the Day: