Story of the Day:
When the Electoral Commission of Zambia made the announcement that Hakainde Hichilema would be the next President of Zambia, the “last” piece in the economic jigsaw puzzle was finally in place. Read more
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Zambia’s kwacha extended its gains versus the dollar, making it the world’s best-performing currency since Hakainde Hichilema was announced the winner of the Aug. 12 presidential vote. The kwacha has appreciated by 7.8% this week to 17.92 per dollar, the best performance out of more than 140 currencies. Read more: Yahoo Finance
Copper producers, including First Quantum Minerals are ready to start expansion projects worth $2 billion in Zambia next year if the industry can reach an agreement on royalties with President-elect Hakainde Hichilema’s new administration. Read more: Bloomberg
The Association of Mine Suppliers and Contractors of Zambia (AMSCZ) has called on the President-elect Hakainde Hichilema and his government to ask the owner of Chambishi Metals Plc to hand it over to the Government as it is clear that they have failed to run it. The Chambishi plant has been on care and maintenance for over a year now leaving over 200 miners jobless. Read more: Zambian Business Times
The Zambia Development Agency (ZDA) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) to develop a business directory. This collaboration represents the meso-level component of a larger programme for supporting business friendly, inclusive national, regional policies and strengthening productive capabilities and value chains. Read more: Zambia Daily Mail
International Business and Finance
Toyota is to slash worldwide vehicle production by 40% in September because of the global microchip shortage. The world’s biggest carmaker had planned to make almost 900,000 cars next month, but has now reduced that to 540,000 vehicles. Volkswagen, the world’s second-biggest car producer, has warned it may also be forced to cut output further. Read more: BBC News
The Federal Trade Commission renewed its bid to break up Facebook on Thursday by filing an amended complaint in federal court alleging the tech giant has monopolized social media and harmed competition. The new complaint comes nearly two months after a federal judge tossed out the original complaint. Read more: CNN
Elon Musk said Thursday night at Tesla’s AI Day that the company is building a humanoid robot, and will probably have a prototype next year. “It’s basically going to start dealing with work that is boring, repetitive and dangerous,” Musk said of the Tesla robot. “What is the work that people would least like to do?” Read more: CNN
Mainland Chinese stocks fell as the Shanghai composite declined more than 1% and the Shenzhen component slipped 1.832%. China’s one-year loan prime rate (LPR) and five-year LPR were both left unchanged at 3.85% and 4.65%, respectively, on Friday. The Nikkei 225 in Japan fell 0.98% to close at 27,013.25. Read more: CNBC
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In 53 trades recorded yesterday, 1,098,414 shares were transacted resulting in a turnover of K1,456,351. Share price gains were recorded in Lafarge of K0.58 and in First Quantum Minerals Zambia of K0.20. Trading activity was also recorded in Copperbelt Energy Corporation, Pamodzi, Real Estate Investments Zambia and Zanaco. The LuSE All Share Index (LASI) closed at 4,649.43 points, 0.61% up from its previous close of 4,621.01 points. The market closed on a capitalization of K61,032,295,321 including Shoprite Holdings and K26,249,609,881 excluding Shoprite Holdings.