Story of the Day:
In the final week of January and First week of February 2022 trading on the Lusaka Stock exchange, yet another week of no trades. The equities market recorded a score of 100% to 0% on the bond market, which was the complete opposite in the first week of February 2021 as it was the bond market that dominated the equities market. Read more
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Minister of Commerce, Trade and Industry Chipoka Mulenga says the bureaucracy involved in registering a company has been a major hindrance to most foreign companies wanting to invest in Zambia. In an interview, Friday, Mulenga said government wanted to limit the number of licenses needed when registering a company so that people could easily set up businesses. Read more: News Diggers
Mineworkers Union of Zambia says local participation in the mining sector through local ownership will help stabilise the exchange rate because there will be no externalisation of funds. Read more: News Diggers
The Government has handed over part of the black mountain to cooperatives owned by Zambian youth and women. President Hakainde Hichilema says the slag dump has been given to cooperatives owned by the Zambian youth and women who have been granted licenses to operate. He says this follows consultation and due diligence on the matter. Read more: ZNBC
Zanaco Plc Chief Executive Officer Mukwandi Chibesakunda has jointly-won the African Female Leader of the Year Award, jointly alongside, Nigeria’s Stella Fubara-Director of International Operations at Dubai Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing. Read more: Lusaka Times
The Zambia Association of Manufacturers-ZAM- is concerned that the continued depreciation of the Kwacha may result in an upward adjustment of fuel pump prices next month. Read more: Zambian Observer
International Business and Finance
Europe’s stock markets closed sharply lower on Monday, but recouped some losses in afternoon trading on hopes of a deal to resolve Ukraine tensions. The FTSE 100 ended 1.7% down, and the main markets in Paris and Frankfurt 2% lower, with travel stocks hard hit. Reports from Russia that talks with the West over Ukraine should continue helped improve investor sentiment. That limited losses on Wall Street, where at lunchtime in New York the Dow Jones was down 0.5% and Nasdaq up 0.7%. Read more: BBC News
Oil prices have been climbing ever since the global economy started to recover from Covid-19. Now, as the United States warns that Russia could imminently invade Ukraine, they’re pushing even higher. What’s happening: Brent crude futures, the global benchmark, rose above $96 per barrel on Monday before falling back slightly. Read more: CNN
Uganda’s central bank on Monday said the country’s economy is on a strong rebound after the easing of COVID-19 restrictions that were closing out some sectors. Bank of Uganda in a monthly monetary policy statement for February said between the months of October 2021 and January 2022, high-frequency indicators showed that the economy was on a recovery trend. Read more: CGTN
Nearly two years of gains have been wiped from PayPal Holdings’ market value since the payments company reported a disappointing fourth quarter with cringe-inducing guidance after the market closed Feb. 1. Read more: Yahoo Finance
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In 45 trades recorded yesterday, 40,027 shares were transacted resulting in a turnover of K471,340.02 . Trading activity was recorded in AECI, Airtel, Bata, British American Tobacco, Copperbelt Energy Corporation, Chilanga Cement, Madison Financial Services, National Breweries, Zambia Reinsurance, PUMA and, ZAMEFA, Zanaco, Zambia Sugar, Zambeef. The LuSE All Share Index (LASI) maintained its close at closed at 6,386.82 points with a -0.74 percent change. The market closed on a capitalization of K68,817,926,929 including Shoprite Holdings and K34,035,241,489 excluding Shoprite Holdings.