Story of the Day:
The Real Estate Investment Zambia (Board) has indicated that it will not be proposing a Dividend at the forthcoming Thirty-eighth Annual General Meeting of that will take place at Southern Sun Hotel, Ridgeway, Lusaka on Wednesday 25th March 2020 at 10:00 Hrs. Read more
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Zambia signed an $825 million contract with a China Railway Construction Corp. unit to upgrade tracks in the south of the country, the company said. The project will last eight years and will cover nearly 650 kilometers (404 miles) of lines, China Railway said a statement, without saying how it will be financed. Read more: Bloomberg
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in Africa’s red metal producer Zambia, announced on 02 March 2020 in a memo that it would with immediate impact effect temporarily take over Lawrence Sikutwa and Associates (LSA) Asset Management wing and subsidiary Madison Asset Management Company (MAMCo) Ltd due to license breaches. Read more: The Business Telegraph
The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) has launched a 50 million African women speak digital platform to help African women access information on growing their businesses. In 2011, a feasibility study was conducted by COMESA and it revealed that there is lack of linkages with lending institutions, limited capacity to develop bankable business plans and limited access to information on business registration. Read more: Zambia Daily Mail
KPMG Featured Article
Technology has brought about significant changes in the lives of human beings. Human intelligence has been influenced by emerging technologies like Artificial Intelligence, Big Data Analytics, Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), Blockchain, Cloud Computing and Connected devices as in the Internet of Things (IoT). We can now operate like one global village enabled by the one big engine; technology. The paradigm shift has also affected major auditing firms and businesses at large. Read more
International Business and Finance Sponsored By Royal Air Charters
In an extraordinary attempt to contain the coronavirus’s economic fallout, the United States Federal Reserve slashed interest rates on Tuesday as policymakers unanimously approved their biggest one-time cut, and first emergency rate move since the depths of the 2008 financial crisis. Read more: New York Times
Facebook is reportedly rethinking its plans for its own digital currency after resistance from regulators. It is now considering a system with digital versions of established currencies, including the dollar and the Euro, according to Bloomberg and tech site The Information. Read more: BBC News
The 10-year Treasury bond yield dropped below 1% for the first time in history on Tuesday, as investors grew increasingly worried about the novel coronavirus outbreak. US government bond yields have been trending lower since the start of the year, but their fall accelerated as US financial markets reacted strongly over the past couple weeks to the potential economic damage from the spreading disease. Read more: CNN
IATA has disclosed that African airlines have to brace for economic losses in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak. Raphael Kuuchi, Vice President of IATA Africa said preliminary estimates showed that airlines risk losing about US$400 million from flight cancellation and suspension to and from China alone. Read more: Africa News
South Africa entered its second recession in two years in the final quarter of last year as agriculture, transport and construction contracted, data showed on Tuesday, highlighting the impact of power cuts on the economy. Read more: Reuters
Oil prices rose more than 1% on Wednesday on expectations that major producers have moved closer to an agreement to enact deeper output cuts aimed at offsetting the slump in demand caused by the coronavirus outbreak. A panel of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies, a group known as OPEC+, recommended cutting oil output by an extra 1 million barrels per day (bpd) on Tuesday. Read more: Reuters
The EU’s chief trade negotiator hopes to broker a “mini deal” with the US as he seeks to curb transatlantic tensions before Washington follows through with an increase in punitive tariffs on Europe’s aircraft sector. Read more: Financial Times
Capital Markets Report
In 1 trade recorded yesterday, 24 shares were transacted yielding a market turnover of K60. Trading activity was recorded in Zambia Sugar. The LuSE All Share Index (LASI) maintained its close of 4,250.48 points, as there were no share price movements. The market closed on a capitalization of K57,319,774,180 including Shoprite Holdings and K23,080,568,200 excluding Shoprite Holdings
Chart of the Day: