In the final week of trading for February, the last 4 days of the trading month saw the LuSE finish slightly stronger than the previous week with a 51% and 127% surge in turnover and shares traded respectively.
Bond Activity
During the week, bonds of total face value of K805,100,000 were transacted in 18 trades, yielding a market value sales of K526,688,000, according to Lusaka Securities Exchange weekly report.
Companies Traded
Trading activity was also recorded in
- Airtel Zambia
- British America Tobacco Zambia
- Lafarge Zambia
- Real Estate Investments Zambia
- Zambian Breweries
- Metal Fabricators Zambia (ZAMEFA)
- Zanaco Bank
- ZCCM IH
- Standard Chartered Bank
- and CEC Africa on the quoted tier
The LuSE All Share Index (LASI) closed at 5,779.05 points. The market closed on a capitalization of K62,760,493,626 including Shoprite Holdings and K28,521,287,646 excluding Shoprite Holdings.
Daily Trading Diary
Monday 25th
- 15 trades recorded on the day
- 22,193 shares were transacted, yielding a market turnover of K9,096.
- Share price gain of K0.03 was posted in CEC Zambia.
- Trading activity was also recorded in Standard Chartered Bank, ZAMEFA, ZANACO and CEC Africa on the quoted tier.
- The LuSE All Share Index (LASI) closed at 5,790.77 points up by 0.20% from its previous close of 5,779.05 points.
- The market closed on a capitalization of K62,748,863,432 including Shoprite Holdings and K28,509,657,452 excluding Shoprite Holdings.
Tuesday 26th
- 1 trade recorded on the day
- 300 shares were transacted, yielding a market turnover of K630.
- A share price gain of K0.38 was posted in CECZ. The LuSE All Share Index (LASI) closed at 5,939.24 points up by 2.56% from its previous close of 5,790.77 points. The market closed on a capitalization of K63,366,363,659 including Shoprite Holdings and K29,127,157,679 excluding Shoprite Holdings.
Wednesday 27th
- 39 trades recorded on the day
- 51,860 shares were transacted, yielding a market turnover of K52,856.
- CEC Zambia recorded a loss of K0.15.
- Trading activity was also recorded in BAT Zambia, Real Estates Investments Zambia, Standard Chartered Bank, ZCCM Investments Holdings, Zanaco Bank and CEC Africa on the quoted tier.
- The LuSE All Share Index (LASI) closed at 5,880.63 points down by 0.99% from its previous close of 5,939.24 points.
- The market closed on a capitalization of K63,122,613,569 including Shoprite Holdings and K28,883,407,589 excluding Shoprite Holdings.
Thursday 28th
- 15 trades recorded on the day
- 32,275 shares were transacted, yielding a market turnover of K37,878.
- A share price gain of K3.00 was posted in AELZ.
- Trading activity was also recorded in Airtel, CEC Zambia, Standard Chartered Bank, Zanaco and CEC Africa on the quoted tier.
- The LuSE All Share Index (LASI) closed the month at 5,895.35 points up by 0.25% from its previous close of 5,880.63 points.
- The market closed the month on a capitalization of K63,183,833,369 including Shoprite Holdings and K28,944,627,389 excluding Shoprite Holdings.
Friday 1st March*
- 41 trades recorded on the day
- 21,991 shares were transacted, yielding a market turnover of K28,285.
- CEC Zambia and Standard Chartered Bank recorded losses of K0.24 and K0.02 respectively.
- Trading activity was also recorded in Lafarge Zambia, Zambia Breweries, Zanaco Bank and CEC Africa on the quoted tier.
- The LuSE All Share Index (LASI) closed at 5,793.56 points down by 1.73% from its previous close of 5,895.35 points.
- The market closed on a capitalization of K62,760,493,626 including Shoprite Holdings and K28,521,287,646 excluding Shoprite Holdings.
Financial Insight Monthly Analysis
In the month that saw the Governor of the Central Bank of Zambia announce to the market that he would be holding rates at 9.75%, trading on LuSE was at its weakest in comparison to the performance of the exchange in January 2019.
The magnitude of the turnover and shares traded slump is significant. February turnover was only 1.4% of value that was created in January while the number of shares traded also slumped to 5%. Appetite for share trades was lacklustre during the month with some days seeing only a single or no trades being recorded.
Week by week performance saw trades being weakest in the third and fourth week of the month with week 2 being the strongest by value of trades and turnover.
Over the last two months, the LuSE All Share index has dipped to a low of 5086.69 (in mid-January) to a high of 5939.24 (in the first week of February). The index closed the month of February at 5895.35, up by 200 basis points.
If the purchasing manager’s index (PMI) reported by Stanbic Bank on 5th February was any indicator, there was evidence of cooling in the purchase orders around manufacturing. This can possibility explain why trades were slow as it is indicative of tight liquidity in the market.
Important Announcements
Shoprite announced their interim results
According to Group CEO Pieter Engelbrecht, 2018 has been a transformational year and the Group remains Africas largest and most profitable retailer. Our first half performance is below expectations, but not a reflection of the health of the business. The results for the six months were affected by an overlapping of multiple factors disrupting the trading environment. These include factors in our external operating environment, where economic conditions have left our core customer under significant financial pressure and in which significant currency devaluations wiped out the performance in the Non-RSA operations.
New Board Member at AEL Zambia Plc.
The Board of Directors of AEL Zambia PLC (“the Company” or “AELZ”) (the “Board”) announced the appointment of Ms Grace Bwanali as Director of the Board effective 1 March, 2019.
IZWE Further cautionary renewal
The holders of the listed notes, as well as other market participants, are referred to the Further Cautionary Announcement issued on 22 August 2018 in which the Board of Directors of Izwe Loans Zambia Limited (“theCompany”) (“the Board”) informed them that the Company was reviewing and considering various strategic growth opportunities that may include pursuing a listing on the Lusaka Securities Exchange Plc (“LuSE”).
*March 2019 trades not included in the February analysis
**All data presented in this report is sourced from Stock Brokers Zambia, Lusaka Securities Exchange and Bloomberg.