Story of the Day
Cellulant Zambia has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Lusaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) to offer digital payments to member businesses. This partnership will accelerate the uptake of Cellulant’s digital payment platform, Tingg, to over 200 members who’s customers will now enjoy a seamless payment experience when paying with mobile money. Read more
Local Business and Finance Sponsored By Liquid Intelligent Technologies
NATSAVE has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with SARO Agro and the Social and Economic Empowerment Development Cooperative Union (SEED) for financing and supply of equipment for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises. Witnessing the signing ceremony, Small and Medium Enterprise Development Minister Elias Mubanga said SME’s are the largest employers in the country and should be accorded all the support they can get. Read more: ZNBC
Minister of Green Economy and Environment Collins Nzovu says government will announce a clear road map on Mukula trading in the next two weeks. Read more: News Diggers
Zambia’s Anti-Corruption Commission has opened an investigation into an alleged payment made by Glencore, the London-listed trading house, to an unnamed political party. The probe in the southern African nation is the latest headache for Glencore, which has been trying to turn over a fresh leaf under new chief executive Gary Nagle. Read more: Financial Times
Ministry of Commerce, Trade and Industry Permanent Secretary, John Mulongoti, has said government will continue to promote trade and investments as well as enterprise development to stimulate economic development in the country.Mr. Mulongoti says government realises that formal employment alone cannot absorb all the graduates coming from colleges and universities hence the need to promote entrepreneurship. He said this in a speech read for him by the Director of Industry in the Ministry of Commerce, Trade and Industry, Sunday Chikoti during the She-rebuilds the world meeting organised by the Zambia Development Agency (ZDA) in partnership with Latvia business experts in Lusaka today. Read more: Lusaka Times
International Business and Finance
Supply shortages, logistics bottlenecks and rising costs are hitting Tesla as it rapidly ramps up production of its electric cars. While the problems have improved in recent months, they remain immediate challenges, Tesla said in a financial update for investors. Revenue was lower than expected in the three months ending in September, as car sales fell short of expectations. But at $21.45bn, it remained more than 50% higher than a year ago. Read more: BBC News
Shares in Hong Kong have slumped to the lowest level since the global financial crisis, after a major speech by the city’s leader on Wednesday. The benchmark Hang Seng index fell by more than 3% to its lowest level since May 2009, before regaining some ground. Investors are also concerned about the threat of a global economic slowdown as central banks around the world raise interest rates to tackle rising prices. Read more: BBC News
Nasdaq 100 futures were mixed on Thursday morning after surging Treasury yields ended a two-day rally for the major averages. Futures linked to the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.39% or 120 points, while S&P 500 futures rose more than 0.1%, and Nasdaq 100 futures fell 0.11%. Read more: CNBC
U.S. economic activity expanded modestly in recent weeks, although it was flat in some regions and declined in a couple of others, the Federal Reserve said on Wednesday in a report that showed firms growing more pessimistic about the outlook. Moreover, the U.S. central bank’s latest collection of anecdotes from contacts across its 12 districts, known as the “Beige Book,” noted inflation pressures had eased somewhat and were expected to continue doing so, a key “soft data” indication that the Fed’s aggressive interest rate hikes may have started to turn the tide against the highest inflation in 40 years. Read more: Reuters
Capital Markets Report
In 59 trades recorded yesterday, 7,820 shares were transacted resulting in a turnover of K25,719. Trading activity was recorded in Bata, Copperbelt Energy Corporation, Chilanga Cement, Standard Chartered Zambia, ZAMEFA, Zanaco, Zambia Sugar and CEC Africa on the quoted tier. The LuSE All Share Index (LASI) maintained its close at 7,233.72 points. The market closed on a capitalization of K72,418,746,522 including Shoprite Holdings and K37,636,061,082 excluding Shoprite Holdings.