Good morning. Here’s what you need to know
-
Central bank defends Kwacha, offloads $8.5m to support foreign exchange market
-
Noel Nkoma Appointed NRFA Board Chair
-
Canal+ offers $2.9 Billion for MultiChoice Acquisition
In Local Business and Finance News
Over the last five years, the Lusaka Securities Exchange (LuSE) has stood out due to its impressive growth, becoming the best performing stock market in Africa in 2021 with a notable 93.2% gain. This streak of success continued into 2022, with LuSE leading again by providing a 12% return to its investors in dollar terms. Such consistent achievements underline the dynamic expansion of Zambia’s financial market, supported by the country’s stable political environment. LuSE has seen its listings grow from 22 in 2010 to 25 by April 2022. This increase is a sign of a diversifying market, offering a wide array of investment options across various sectors from basic materials, financial services, to utilities. This diversification reflects Zambia’s rich and varied economic scenery, presenting numerous opportunities for both local and international investors. Read more on Financial Insight
The Bank of Zambia (BoZ) on Friday, last week, offloaded US$8.5 million on the foreign exchange market to partially offset increasing demand for the greenback. Steady trading with potential gains was, therefore, anticipated for the local currency in the near term. According to Access Bank in its daily market update, the Zambian Kwacha was in the green against the United States (US) dollar in Friday’s trading session. “On the market average interbank bid and offer, the USD/ZMW opened at K24.7017/24.7517 and closed at K24.6783/24.7283, respectively. “The Central Bank offloaded 8.5 million US dollars onto the market to partially offset increasing demand for the greenback,” the report showed. Read more: Zambia Monitor
Finance and National Planning Minister Situmbeko Musokotwane has appointed Economist Noel Nkoma as National Road Fund Agency (NRFA) Board Chairperson. Dr. Musokotwane says Mr. Nkoma replaces Avet Mulonga Hamuwele, who exited the board by mutual separation, in February, 2024. Mr. Nkoma’s appointment is effective from Tuesday 2nd April, 2024. In a congratulatory message, Dr. Musokotwane urged Mr. Nkoma to stimulate the Board and management towards the Government’s common purpose of building a better country for all. Dr. Musokotwane said Mr. Nkoma should prioritize the value for money in financing by ensuring that road sector funds are well managed and streamlined with strengthened payment systems. Read more: ZNBC
British High Commissioner to Zambia Nicholas Woolley says the UK government is expanding its long standing support to Zambia’s Social Cash Transfer Scheme. Woolley says the UK government will also provide K230 million additional support to the most vulnerable as an emergency drought cash payment. And Minister of Information and Media Cornelius Mweetwa says government will soon announce a roadmap of specific steps towards the actualisation of the Access to Information law. Speaking when he paid a courtesy call on the minister at his office recently, Woolley said the temporary expansion of the programme would support six million Zambian’s who had been affected by the drought. Read more: News Diggers
In International News
French media group Vivendi’s Canal+ made an all-cash mandatory offer on Monday to buy all the shares of South African broadcaster MultiChoice it does not already own for 35 billion rand ($1.9 billion), both companies said. That offer at 125 rand per share follows an indicative offer of 105 rand made by Canal+ on Feb. 1, which MultiChoice rejected as significantly undervaluing the company. The need to make a mandatory offer was triggered by Canal+, MultiChoice’s biggest shareholder, subsequently raising its holding in the firm above the 35% threshold. Its new offer values MultiChoice, in which it now owns a 36.6% stake, at about 55 billion rand, according to Reuters calculations. By 0759 GMT, shares in MultiChoice were up 3.7% at 116 rand. The deal would create a pan-African broadcasting powerhouse with about 31.5 million subscribers across over 50 countries, able to put African content to global audiences as well as compete on an international scale. Read more: Reuters
HSBC has agreed to sell its business in Argentina to Grupo Financiero Galicia, the largest private financial group in the country, for $550 million, the UK-based bank said on Tuesday. The move comes at a time when the bank is pushing harder into Asia, as part of a strategic overhaul HSBC unveiled in 2021, and has wound down businesses in other regions, including the United States and France. The sale of the Argentina unit “is another important step in the execution of our strategy and enables us to focus our resources on higher value opportunities across our international network,” CEO Noel Quinn said in a statement. The sale is expected to lead to a $1 billion pre-tax loss for HSBC in the first quarter of this year, the statement added. Read more: CNN
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol said on Tuesday his country will invest 9.4 trillion won ($6.94 billion) in artificial intelligence by 2027 as part of efforts to retain a leading global position in cutting-edge semiconductor chips. The announcement, which also includes a separate 1.4 trillion won fund to foster AI semiconductor firms, comes as South Korea tries to keep abreast with countries like the United States, China and Japan that are also giving massive policy support to strengthen semiconductor supply chains on their own turf. Semiconductors are a key foundation of South Korea’s export-driven economy. In March, chip exports reached their highest in 21 months at $11.7 billion, or nearly a fifth of total exports shipped by Asia’s fourth-largest economy. Read more: CNN
Zimbabwe’s new gold-backed currency started trading on Monday as businesses struggled with the nation’s umpteenth attempt at introducing it. Last Friday, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe launched the new gold-backed currency called ZiG to help stabilise the economy and protect citizens from currency fluctuations and sky-high inflations. The new currency, initially pegged at 13.56 to $1, replaces the Real Time Gross Settlement Dollar (RTGS), which had experienced a huge loss in value this year, trading at 28,720 to $1 before the transition, Reuters reported. Bank balances were converted into the new currency over the weekend, with customers given a 21-day window to do the same. The newly introduced ZiG banknotes will be available in denominations of 1, 2, 5, 10, 50, 100, and 200. New banknotes are set to be introduced into circulation by the end of this month, as announced by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe. Read more: Business Insider
Finally, Capital Markets News
In 109 trades recorded yesterday, 45,975 shares were transacted resulting in a turnover of K304,824.63. The following price changes were recorded yesterday: -K 0.04 in Standard Chartered Bank Limited. Trading activity was also recorded in Airtel, CEC Zambia, Chilanga Cement, Real Estate Investments Zambia, ZANACO, Zambeef and Zambia Sugar. The LuSE All Share Index (LASI) closed at 12,762.75 points, 0.12% lower than it’s previous close at 12,777.61 points. The market closed on a capitalization of K99,719,345,127.61 including Shoprite Holdings and 64,936,659,687.61 excluding Shoprite Holdings.
14 Govt Bond trades with total face value of K65,946,000 were processed yesterday, resulting in a total turnover of K53,032,600.
