Story of the Day:
With the month of September at an end, the “hottest month” of the year opened with bond and equity sales of K19,50 million and K199,7 thousand respectively. The corporate bond market represented 99% of all capital market activity. However, its performance has continued to be subdued due to liquidity challenges. Read more
Local Business and Finance
Zambia’s total external debt stock has risen sharply to US$19 billion since 2008, according to the latest World Bank’s International Debt Statistics (IDS) 2020 published on October 2nd. Read more: Zambian Observer
Zambia’s Konkola Copper Mines (KCM) smelter was on Wednesday shut down for annual maintenance two days earlier than planned after a leak, the provisional liquidator Milingo Lungu said. Read more: Reuters
Equity Bank Group is set to get a Sh13 billion discount on its purchase of four banks in Rwanda, Zambia, Mozambique and Tanzania from a London-listed investment group. Atlas Mara Limited says through its trading report to the London Stock Exchange (NSE) that it marked down the value of the four banks after the Equity Bank deal prompted a due diligence on their financial health. Read more: Club of Mozambique
Global mining conglomerate SRAM & MRAM Group entered into an agreement with LM Engineering of Zambia to enhance the operational performances and practices of small and mid-sized mines in Zambia. Read more: ANI News
The Bank of Zambia (BoZ) says commercial banks need to explore ways that can contribute towards alleviating some challenges that threaten the country’s economic growth. BoZ Governor Denny Kalyalya said the financial sector plays a significant role in the country’s economy through provision of various products and services. Read more: Zambia Daily Mail
International Business and Finance
New tax plans aimed at making global firms pay more tax have been published by an international economic body. The proposals would give governments more power to tax big technology firms such as Apple, Facebook and Google. Read more: BBC News
EU leaders have pulled apart the UK’s Brexit proposals, accusing Boris Johnson of putting forward untested ideas to solve the Irish border crisis. Chief negotiator Michel Barnier said the EU needed workable solutions “today not tomorrow”. Read more: Reuters
The battle for political and economic influence between the U.S. and China is playing out across Africa, and Beijing’s growing presence is troubling Western policymakers, experts say. Africa has become the fastest urbanizing region on the planet, and China has placed itself at the infrastructural vanguard of the new frontier. Read more: CNBC
U.S. stock futures pushed higher Wednesday morning after a report suggested that Beijing is willing to discuss a partial trade deal with Washington. Read more: CNBC
Africa could be home to 90% of the world’s poor by 2030 as governments across the continent have little fiscal space to invest in poverty-reduction programs and economic growth remains sluggish, the World Bank said. That’s up from 55% in 2015 and it will happen unless drastic action is taken, the lender said in its biannual Africa Pulse report released Wednesday. Read more: Bloomberg
Capital Markets Report
There were no trades yesterday. The LuSE All Share Index (LASI) maintained its previous close of 4,397.61 points as there were no price movements. The market remained on a capitalization of K57,109,173,694 including Shoprite Holdings and K22,869,967,714 excluding Shoprite Holdings.
Chart of the Day: