Kwacha steadies against the dollar
Written by Millennium on March 23, 2019
BUUMBA CHIMBULU writes
THE Zambian Kwacha was steady against the dollar on Wednesday with healthy inflows from corporates meeting demand from the energy sector and manufacturers, Barclays Bank Zambia market report has said.
According to the banks’ daily market update, the Kwacha was likely to trade in tight band with a bias to gain in the near term owing to healthy inflows from corporates. “The local unit closed at its opening levels of K11.980/12.030 per dollar on the bid and offer respectively as most market participants stayed on the fence to see the Kwacha’s next move,” Barclays bank Zambia said.
And Access Bank Zambia treasury market, said the Kwacha closed where it opened in Wednesday’s session at12.00/12.050 per dollar.
The bank said the Kwacha traded flat as demand was met by last week’s supply of dollars from the mining firms.
“We expect the Kwacha to continue trading within the narrow range of 11.800-12.100 up to the end of the month. The dollar plummeted after federal’s surprise dovish signal on the benchmark rate,” said the bank.
Meanwhile, London Metal Exchange (LME) copper and most other base metals rose on Thursday, backed by a softer dollar after the United States Federal Reserve abandoned plans for a further rate rise this year, and by a lack of near-term supply.
London Metal Exchange copper rose 1 percent to US$6,518.5 a tonne, having touched a near three-week high earlier in the session.
Prices were testing a resistance around US$6,505, with a break of the US$6,540-level potentially opening the way to peaks last seen in July 2018.
