Story of the Day:
The coming of Covid 19 has brought detrimental consequences to the health of the global economy worse off the economies of third world countries like Zambia. With the January annual rate of inflation at 21.5%, way above the 2021 targeted single digit bracket of 6-8% by the ministry of finance, Zambia’s economic growth has been hampered severely by Covid 19. Read more
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Zambia and the International Monetary Fund begin discussing a loan programme and debt relief for Africa’s first pandemic-era sovereign default on Thursday, with a controversial mining deal, an election and a mountain of debt to China looming over the talks. Read more: MSN
Status Minerals Explorations Limited intends to set up an open-pit manganese mine with an annual production of between 3,000 and 8,000 metric tonnes in Mkushi. Read more: Zambia Daily Mail
Copper prices yesterday climbed to their highest in nearly eight years, reaching US8,275 a tonne on the London Metal Exchange. “London copper prices climbed to their highest in nearly eight years on Wednesday (yesterday), as supply worries and optimism over further U.S. stimulus boosted investor sentiment,” Reuters reported. Read more: Zambia Daily Mail
Minister of Tourism and Arts Ronald Chitotela has tasked his new Permanent Secretary Patrick Lungu to establish a tourism television channel to help market the country’s tourism sector. The Minister said formulating a tourism channel on the national broadcaster (ZNBC) would greatly help drive the country’s crusade to market the tourism sector locally and abroad. Read more: Lusaka Times
International Business and Finance
The UK boss of KPMG will step aside while the accountancy giant investigates offensive comments he allegedly made at a meeting on Monday. Bill Michael reportedly told consultants to “stop moaning” about the impact of the pandemic and lockdown on people’s lives, and to stop “playing the victim card”. Read more: BBC News
There are signs the EU plans to cut the UK off from its financial markets, the Bank of England governor has warned. Andrew Bailey said the City wanted to reach an agreement on financial rules, but would not accept being “dictated” to by Brussels. Read more: BBC News
Uber lost $968 million on a GAAP basis during the quarter, an improvement from a year ago when losses amounted to $1.1 billion. For all of 2020, Uber’s net losses amounted to $6.77 billion, around a 20% improvement from a staggering $8.51 billion loss in 2019. Read more: CNBC
US stocks finished mixed on Wednesday but the Dow managed to eke out a fresh all-time high thanks to a few strong gainers. Walgreens, which will soon offer the Covid-19 vaccine, was the best performer in the index. The Dow finished up 0.2%, or 62 points, putting it at a new record high. The S&P 500 ended flat. The Nasdaq Composite slipped 0.3. Read more: CNN
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In 9 trades recorded yesterday, 25,007,454 shares were transacted yielding a market turnover of K12,503,731. A share price gain of K0.03 was recorded in Zanaco. Trading activity was also recorded in Airtel. The LuSE All Share Index (LASI) closed at 3,911.32 points, 0.25% up from its previous close of 3,901.39 points. The market closed on a capitalization of K57,349,093,397 including Shoprite Holdings and K23,115,322,212 excluding Shoprite Holdings.
Chart of the Day: