Story of the Day:
In the tale of opposites, the fourth week of March 2020 Corporate bond trading our pattern continues with the bond market completely eclipsing the equities market. with a score of 100% to 0%. Once again the equities market’s glory was short-lived as we saw last week it recorded a score of 12% to 88% which we hoped would have been a turning point for the equities market. Read more
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Zambia has asked banks for proposals on reorganizing as much as $11.2 billion of foreign debt as its debt-service costs rise and metal prices plunge, hurting its economy. The country “intends to implement a liability management of its external debt portfolio to lengthen maturity and enhance its capacity to meet debt-service obligations,” the finance ministry said in a request for proposals sent to lenders. Read more: Bloomberg
ZCCM Investments Holdings Plc (ZCCM-IH) has said that the company intends to appeal against the Ruling of the Lusaka High Court delivered on 23 March 2020 regarding a matter the firm commenced in 2016, against First Quantum Minerals. ZCCM-IH sad that the defendants on several occasions fraudulently engaged in transactions totaling in excess of $2 billion. Read more: Lusaka Times
Zambia’s major foreign exchange earner, copper, witnessed stability in price as disruption to supply caused by shutdowns of mines and shipping routes in view of the coronavirus (COVID-19) began to offset the huge hit to demand. Read more: Zambia Daily Mail
In line with guidance from Government to combat the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19), Zambian Breweries Plc has set a new milestone by becoming the first listed company on the Lusaka Securities Exchange (LuSE) to hold a virtual annual general meeting (AGM). Read more: Zambia Daily Mail
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Stock markets around the world suffered historic losses in the first three months of the year amid a massive sell-off tied to the coronavirus. The Dow Jones Industrial Average and London’s FTSE 100 saw their biggest quarterly drops since 1987, plunging 23% and 25% respectively. The S&P 500 lost 20% during the quarter, its worst since 2008. Read more: BBC News
he rollout of 5G mobile networks in Europe will “certainly be delayed” by the coronavirus outbreak, Huawei says. Senior executive Eric Xu also told reporters the delays could last until “the time when the pandemic is brought under control”. Read more: BBC News
The economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic could drive an additional 11 million people into poverty in East Asia and the Pacific unless “urgent action” is taken, the World Bank warned in a report released Monday. The bank’s baseline forecast projects that regional growth could slow to 2.1% in 2020, compared to estimated growth of 5.8% in 2019. However, under its worse case projection, the region’s economy could contract by 0.5%, creating the potential for an extended crisis. Read more: CNN
HSBC shares fell 9.5% and Standard Chartered was down 7.18% after both lenders canceled dividend payments for the 4th quarter of 2019 and possibly all payments until the end of 2020, at the request of the U.K. financial regulator in light of the coronavirus pandemic. Read more: CNBC
Goldman Sachs has revised its U.S. economy forecasts. The firm is now forecasting a real GDP sequential decline of 34% for the second quarter on an annualized basis, compared with its earlier estimate for a drop of 24%. It also cut its first-quarter target to a decline of 9% from its previous expectation for a 6% drop, and sees the unemployment rate rising to 15% by mid-year compared with its previous expectation for 9%. Read more: Reuters
Oil just posted its worst quarterly performance ever, dragged down by the coronavirus pandemic and a global price war that’s erupted at the same time. And the price could fall further as both Saudi Arabia and Russia are preparing to significantly ramp up production starting on April 1. Read more: Business Insider
Europe’s top financial supervisor has warned banks to exercise “extreme moderation” on their bonus payments this year and threatened to intervene if they failed to show restraint with payouts. Read more: Financial Times
Capital Markets Report
In 24 trades recorded yesterday, 579 shares were transacted yielding a market turnover of K2,443. A share price loss of K0.04 was recorded in Real Estate Investments Limited. Trading activity was also recorded in AEL Zambia, Copperbelt Energy Corporation and Zanaco. The LuSE All Share Index (LASI) closed at 4,232.83 points, 0.01% down from its previous close of 4,233.35 points. The market closed on a capitalization of K57,242,911,114 including Shoprite Holdings and K23,003,705,134 excluding Shoprite Holdings.
Chart of the Day: