Story of the Day:
In a week that saw ZCCM IH Group CEO Mabvuto Chipata declare a profit for the year of K448 million and a K53 million dividend for the financial year ending March 2019 at their Annual General Meeting, it was the announcement of the group’s gold intentions that were the limelight and focus that the group intended to communicate to shareholders and keen investors. Read more
Local Business and Finance
About 278 million U.S. dollars was expected to be invested in Zambia by South African firms this year, a Zambian official said on Friday. Read more: News Ghana
Zambia and the European Union (EU) on Friday expressed commitment to build strong ties in various areas of mutual interest. Read more: News Ghana
The Standard Chartered Sustainable Development Goals Investment Map has revealed an almost 10 trillion US dollars opportunity for private-sector investors across all emerging markets to help achieve the UN Goals, with Zambia representing 9.5 billion US dollars of that total. Read more: Lusaka Times
Zamtel says it has made a lot of progress in implementing the reorganisation exercise aimed at improving organizational efficiency. Read more: Lusaka Times
The production of glass products at a multi-million-dollar glass manufacturing company in Kapiri Mposhi District has started. Eagle Glass Company has invested US$15million to set up the factory with production capacity of up to 50,000 tonnes of flat and laminated glass annually. Read more: ZNBC
ZESCO has reduced the number of load shedding hours from 15 hrs to between 10 and 12 hrs daily across the country. Read more: Zambian Observer
MOBE Sugar Company, a wholly Zambian owned private manufacturing project has started talks with Luanshya Municipal Council which are expected to culminate into the opening up of a 150 million Euros worth ultra-modern sugar refinery plant and auxizillary factories in the district. Read more: Zambia Reports
International Business and Finance
The world’s already huge debt load smashed the record for the highest debt-to-GDP ratio before 2019 was even over. Read more: CNN
China kept its lending benchmark rate steady for the second month in a row on Monday, after the central bank left borrowing costs of medium-term loans unchanged earlier this month. Read more: CNBC
Amazon.com Inc. wants to make your hand your credit card. The tech giant is creating checkout terminals that could be placed in bricks-and-mortar stores and allow shoppers to link their card information to their hands, according to people familiar with the matter. Read more: Wall Street Journal
Six West African countries have criticised the changes of the regional CFA Franc currency to Eco, saying its not in line with what was agreed for the adoption of a single regional currency. Read more: Africa News
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 Zambia Sugar. 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: