Story of the Day:
As we come to the final month of the second quarter of the year, we see the equities market still struggling to redeem itself as we still see such mundane activity as not many company securities are recording significant trades to move the equities market. The bond market recorded a score of 98% to 2% on the equities side which is a 6% decrease from the first week of June 2020. Read more
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The Zambia Revenue Authority (ZRA) has in the first five months of 2021 recorded positive revenue collections of K31.5 billion in gross revenue and refunded K4.2 billion as VAT refunds. The net collection is K31.5 billion against a target of K24.2 billion, thereby recording a surplus of 7.3 billion against the target. Read more: ZNBC
The Zambia Development Agency (ZDA) says it recorded 76.6% annual work deliverables in the year 2020. This represents a reduction of 3.8% compared to 2019, when it recorded 80.4%. ZDA Board Chairperson David Masupa says there was also a US$5.8 billion projected investment in 2020 against over 300 projects. Bishop Masupa stated that the manufacturing sector was the highest sector with an investment of US$1.2 billion, representing 24.7%. Read more: ZNBC
Vice President Inonge Wina happy that the 200 million dollars partnership investment with the China National Building Materials (CNBM) group is coming up accordingly. The partnership is aimed at contributing to the realization of the Vision 2030 to transform Zambia into a prosperous middle-income nation by 2030. Read more: The Independent Observer
The United Party for National Development (UPND) has dismissed claims that the party intends to suspend the delivery of the Social Cash Transfer (SCT) programme once elected into power. In a statement released to the media by the party’s Presidential Spokesperson, Anthony Bwalya, UPND said that contrary to the reports, the party intends to increase the Social Cash Transfer from K150 per month to K500 once elected in power. Read more: Lusaka Times
International Business and Finance
The Rand Merchant Bank/Bureau of Economic Research (RMB/BER) Business Confidence Index released on Wednesday showed that business confidence increased by 15 points to 50 in South Africa in the second quarter of 2021. Read more: CGTN
President Joe Biden has revoked an executive order from his predecessor Donald Trump banning Chinese apps TikTok and WeChat in the US. The ban faced a series of legal challenges and never came into force. Instead, the US Department of Commerce will now review apps designed and developed by those in “the jurisdiction of a foreign adversary”, such as China. Read more: BBC News
Bitcoin surged after El Salvador passed a law to adopt bitcoin as legal tender. The cryptocurrency was trading at $37,176.44, up 13%. On Wednesday, lawmakers in the Central American country passed a law that made bitcoin legal tender. Among other things, it means prices can now be shown in bitcoin and tax contributions can be paid with the digital currency. Read more: CNBC
Ferrari has turned to a top tech executive to be its new CEO and lead the company into the age of electric supercars. Benedetto Vigna, currently the president of micro-electromechanical systems and sensor groups at the Geneva-based computer chip maker STMicroelectronics, will take over as CEO September 1. Read more: CNN
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In 58 trades recorded yesterday 250,147 shares were transacted resulting in a turnover of K732,534. Trading activity was recorded in AEL Zambia, BATA, Copperbelt Energy Corporation, Investrust, Pamodzi, Standard Chartered Zambia, Zambia Breweries, Zambeef, Zanaco and ZSUG. The LuSE All Share index (LASI) maintained its close at 4,292.98 points, as there were no share price movements. The market closed on a capitalization of K58,938,767,411 including Shoprite Holdings and K24,694,126,636 excluding Shoprite Holdings.
Chart of the Day:
