Story of the Day:
Three weeks into January 2022 bond trading, yet another week of no trading activity. The bond market has been quite mundane as there has been little to no trading activity from towards the end of 2021 and beginning of 2022. There were no trades recoded throughout the week. Bonds are a low risk investment issued when the government borrows money from its people. You can purchase bonds using the Lusaka Securities Exchange Application online. Read more
Local Business and Finance Sponsored By Liquid Intelligent Technologies
ZSIC Life PLC Managing Director Christabel Banda has left her post after serving the company since 2017. ZSIC Life PLC recorded 50% premium growth, with a notable 13% premium growth in 2021. Read more: Lusaka Times
Barely four months after project commissioning, over 40,000 smallholder rural farmers have been incorporated under an agriculture finance system through which they will access digital financial services offered by AB Bank Zambia. Read more: Zambia Daily Mail
Chilanga Cement Zambia Plc has advised its shareholders and the market that the post-completion price adjustment exercise will be completed within four weeks following the share sale and purchase agreement with Huaxin (Hainan) Investment Limited. Read more: Times of Zambia
The Market Price Index (MPI) is still in effect and all procuring entities should utilise the benchmarked prices when making purchases, Zambia Public Procurement Authority (ZPPA) has said. ZPPA director general Idah Chella advised procuring entities to utilise the benchmarked prices when undertaking their procurement, stating that the MPI issued in October, 2021 was still in effect. Read more: Times of Zambia
International Business and Finance
Japanese motor industry giant Toyota saw its profits fall by 21% for the last three months of 2021 as the global chip shortage hit production. The company said that its third quarter operating profit came in at 784.4bn yen ($6.8bn). The world’s best-selling carmaker also cut its annual production target by 500,000 vehicles to 8.5 million. Read more: BBC News
Apple on Tuesday said it plans to introduce a contactless payment option later this year that will let businesses use iPhones to process transactions in stores without any additional hardware, competing with services like Square. The new “Tap to Pay” feature will allow US merchants of all sizes to accept payments simply by holding their iPhone close to the customer’s iPhone or Apple Watch. It also works with contactless credit and debit cards. Read more: CNN
The Ministry of Finance in Ghana has accused Moody’s Investors Service of bias, following the ratings agency’s decision to downgrade the West African country’s credit rating from a B3 to a CAA1 on Friday. According to Reuters, Moody’s decision to downgrade Ghana was due to what it described as the “increasingly difficult task government faces in addressing the intertwined liquidity and debt challenges.” Read more: Business Insider
Amid the economic impacts of COVID-19 and the protracted recovery across Africa, Brookings Institute has recommended two essential strategies that policy makers should consider adopting, in order to guarantee a resilient economic recovery on the continent. Brookings Institute acknowledged that even though the success of the recommended strategies may be context-based, they could potentially accelerate the continent’s economic recovery. Let’s take a look at them. Read more: Business Insider
Capital Markets Report Sponsored By ZCCM-IH
In 21 trades recorded yesterday, 51,352 shares were transacted resulting in a turnover of K82,959. A share price gain was recorded in PUMA of K0.01. A share price loss of K2.30 was recorded in National Breweries. Trading activity was also recorded in Airtel, Bata, Investrust, Chilanga Cement, Zambeef, Zanaco, and Zambia Sugar. The LuSE All Share Index (LASI) closed at 6,444.46 points, 0.50% down from its previous close of 6,476.52 points. The market closed on a capitalization of K68,861,839,410 including Shoprite Holdings and K34,079,153,970 excluding Shoprite Holdings.