Story of the Day:
In the first week into the month of August 2021 bond trading, we have yet another full week of no trades on the bond market. We are not quite certain why the bond market has not been recording trades for the past few weeks. The equities market completely eclipsed the bond market recording a 100%. Read more
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Wall Street bank JPMorgan recommended buying Zambia’s local currency sovereign bonds on Monday after opposition leader Hakainde Hichilema secured a landslide election victory. Read more: Market Screener
Commercial banks have recorded a 16 percent decline in the number of active accounts in the second quarter of this year from 1.9 million to 1.6 million on account of being written off. However, despite the drop in the number of accounts, banks are holding loans valued at K24.1 billion, showing that the financial sector has increased the lending limits in the wake of coronavirus. Read more: Zambia Daily Mail
Farmers should adapt to the use of digital platforms to market their produce online. Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) country director Kennedy Habasimbi said promotion of smart technologies will enable farmers to remain resilient in the wake of coronavirus and other shocks. Read more: Zambia Daily Mail
Favourable rainfall led to improved cereal and livestock production over most of the region, with South Africa, Zambia, and Zimbabwe recording maize surpluses, according to the SADC. Read more: Chronicle
International Business and Finance
Afghanistan’s economy is “shaped by fragility and aid dependence”. That is the troubling overview set out by the World Bank several months before the Taliban takeover. Economic prospects look even more precarious now, as future financial assistance is under a cloud of uncertainty. Read more: BBC News
The US federal agency in charge of road safety is opening an official investigation into Tesla’s “self-driving” Autopilot system. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said it was acting following 11 Tesla crashes since 2018 involving emergency vehicles. In some cases, the Tesla vehicles “crashed directly into the vehicles of first responders”, it said. Read more: BBC News
The S&P 500 has doubled on a closing basis from its Covid trough of 2,237.40 on March 23. It took the market 354 trading days to get there, marking the fastest bull market doubling off a bottom, according to a CNBC analysis of data from S&P Dow Jones Indices going back to WWII. Read more: CNBC
Foreign holdings of U.S. Treasuries in June climbed to their highest since February 2020, Treasury Department data showed on Monday, in what analysts described as broad-based demand that helped drive yields lower for the month. Read more: Reuters
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In 53 trades recorded yesterday, 3,830,864 shares were transacted resulting in a turnover of K5,101,245. Trading activity was recorded in Copperbelt Energy Corporation, Lafarge, PUMA, Zambia Breweries, ZCCM and Zanaco. The LuSE All Share Index (LASI) maintained its close of 4,662.80 points, as there were no share price movements. The market closed on a capitalization of K61,090,615,597 including Shoprite Holdings and K26,307,930,157 excluding Shoprite Holdings.
Chart of the Day:
