Good morning. Here’s what you need to know
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LUSE’s total market capitalisation up by 10.2% in Q1
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Zesco to import additional 40 megawatts of power from Mozambique
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Samsung profit up by 931%
In Local Business and Finance News
Lusaka Securities Exchange (LUSE) has disclosed that its total market capitalisation grew by 10.2% to K97.76 billion in the first Quarter of 2024. Addressing Journalists at a media briefing in Lusaka, LUSE Chief Executive Officer, Nicholas Kabaso said this is compared to a 2.98% increase recorded during the same period last year, with annual growth in market capitalisation standing at 30.26%. He attributed the development to positive market performance and the recent completed assets acquisition under Real Estate Investments Zambia PLC (REIZ). “Market performance for the first quarter of 2024 remained positive. Total market capitalisation as at end of Q1 stood at K97.76 billion up by 10.2%.” “This was favourable than prior year quarter one movement of 2.98%. Annual growth in market capitalisation was 30.26%,” Mr. Kabaso stated. Mr. Kabaso also revealed that during the quarter under review, the Lusaka Securities Exchange All Share Index closed at 17.3%, making it the second-best performing quarter since 2000. Read more: MoneyFM
The Kwacha has continued to post gains since the announcement of Zambia’s successful debt restructuring deal last week. According to Zambia National Commercial Bank (ZANACO)’s treasury team, this is as the interbank market continues to experience net inflows of dollars against limited hard currency demand. The interbank market opened Thursday’s trading at K24.74 and K24.79 per US dollar on the bid and offer respectively, and closed stronger at K24.65 and K24.70. The Bank expects the local unit to remain stable throughout today’s trading sessions. With regards to local currency liquidity, “Bank of Zambia maintained its absence on open market operations in a bid to tighten money supply in support of the foreign exchange market.” “Local currency liquidity was K2, 888.50 million and overnight interbank activity was K450 million. The weighted cost of the overnight interbank funds was 18.4%,” the bank stated. Read more: Money FM
ZESCO has announced an amendment of its existing power purchase agreement with Electricidade de Mozambique (EDM), a state-owned power utility company. The power utility company’s Managing Director, Victor Mapani, signed the agreement with his counterpart at EDM, Marcelino Alberto. This is according to a statement issued on Thursday by ZESCO. Mapani said an additional 40 megawatts would be added to the existing 50 megawatts off-peak power. He noted that the amendment extended the original 50 megawatts off-peak power supply agreement by an additional year. He said the additional power supply would be prioritised for sectors crucial to Zambia’s economy, including manufacturing, agriculture and essential services. Read more: Zambia Monitor
Zambia’s banking sector anticipates the country’s rating agencies to improve its sovereign ratings following the successful restructuring of its external debt in the sum of US$10.1 billion. This includes the US$6.3 billion with the Official Creditors Committee, which was agreed in principle in June 2023 and US$3.8 billion with bondholders, which was agreed in principle in March, 2024. The Bankers Association of Zambia (BAZ) Chairperson, Lowani Chibesakunda, in a statement issued on Thursday, expressed confidence that the debt restructuring would improve the attractiveness and creditworthiness of the country. BAZ congratulated all stakeholders involved in the development. “As an industry we look forward to the next phase of the country’s economic growth and transformation as the debt relief creates the much-needed fiscal flexibility. Read more: Zambia Monitor
The Chinese Embassy in Zambia on Wednesday donated about $500,000 to the Zambian government to help the country fight against cholera. The contribution was part of the cholera assistance measures announced by the embassy at the height of the cholera outbreak in January this year. Wang Sheng, charge d’affaires at the Chinese embassy, said the embassy has been working with Zambian authorities to implement the assistance measures in the past month. “We are delighted to see that the cholera outbreak in Zambia has been alleviated, but its eradication remains a long-term task,” he said during a handover ceremony attended by Zambian Minister of Finance and National Planning Situmbeko Musokotwane. Read more: CGTN
The United Nations has called for emergency humanitarian aid in Zambia due to the El nino induced drought, which has destroyed almost half of the country’s staple corn crop. According to the UN Children’s Fund reports that more than six million Zambians, half of them being children, have been affected by the drought. Speaking at a media briefing, UN Assistant Secretary General Reena Ghelani says two million crops have failed and six million Zambians are in need of food supplies due to the drought. And Ms. Gheleni who is also the UN Climate Crisis Coordinator for El Nino said the amount of crop failure that the country has faced is very devastating and leaves many people in need of food aid. Read more: Lusaka Times
In International News
Samsung Electronics estimated on Friday its first-quarter operating profit would rise more than 10-fold, topping market expectations, as chip prices have started to rebound from a severe downturn thanks to a boom in artificial intelligence. But the guidance was not enough to cheer investors who sent Samsung shares down 1.3% early on Friday, in line with a 1.1% drop in the wider South Korean market, as they await updates on progress in its high-end memory chip business that has been lagging behind rivals. The world’s largest memory chip and TV maker estimated its operating profit rose to a better-than-expected 6.6 trillion won ($4.89 billion) in the quarter ended March 31, beating a 5.7 trillion won LSEG SmartEstimate. That was up 931% from 640 billion won a year earlier and would be Samsung’s highest operating profit since the third quarter of 2022. But revenue missed expectations, likely rising 11% from the same period a year earlier to 71 trillion won, below a LSEG SmartEstimate of 72.3 trillion won. Read more: Reuters
Janet Yellen has kicked off her second visit to China as US treasury secretary with a warning of the risk to jobs and businesses posed by overproduction of certain goods in the world’s second largest economy. On Friday, her first full day of meetings in the southern megacity of Guangzhou, Yellen said she would address the oversupply of Chinese goods in key industries, such as electric vehicles (EVs) and solar panels. The issue has quickly emerged as a major area of contention globally and in the run-up to November’s US presidential election. Read more: CNN
Copper has risen by 0.7 percent to $9,329 a tonne on the London Metal Exchange( LME ) as aluminum advanced 0.8 percent. Copper touched US$9,380 a tonne, the highest intraday level since late January 2023, following a three percent surge on Wednesday after a gauge of Chinese manufacturing came in better-than-forecast. According to Bloomberg report seen by Zambia Monitor, copper rose to a 14-month high as expectations for United States (US) rate cuts and threats to supply added impetus to a rally that’s been underway since early February. It climbed for a fourth session on the LME after Federal Reserve Chair, Jerome Powell, said it would likely be appropriate to begin lowering borrowing costs “at some point this year.” Read more: CNN
Apple is laying off 614 workers in California, according to a new state filing, the company’s first significant round of job cuts since the pandemic. The affected Apple employees worked at eight different facilities in Santa Clara, according to the WARN notice posted by California. The workers were officially informed of the cuts on March 28 and the changes are effective May 27, the filing said. Apple hasn’t been forced into the same kind of downsizing as its tech peers, largely because the iPhone maker grew more slowly than rivals during the pandemic. The filing comes weeks after Apple canceled a long-running project to build an electric, self-driving car in a team called the Special Projects Group. Read more: CNBC
Finally, Capital Markets News
In 221 trades recorded yesterday, 83,300 shares were transacted resulting in a turnover of K468,087.51. The following price changes were recorded yesterday: -K0.01 in CEC Zambia, +K0.12 in Standard Chartered Bank Limited and -K 0.01 in Zambeef. Trading activity was also recorded in BATA, CEC Zambia, Real Estate Investments Zambia, ZANACO and Zambia Sugar. The LuSE All Share Index (LASI) closed at 12,806.99 points, 0.32% higher than it’s previous close at 12,766.69 points. The market closed on a capitalization of K99,917,802,122.60 including Shoprite Holdings and K65,135,116,682.60 excluding Shoprite Holdings.
41 Govt Bond trades with total face value of K247,373,000 were processed yesterday, resulting in a total turnover of K203,095,030.
