Copper price hits US$6,000 mark
Written by Millennium on July 20, 2019
SUN BUSINESS REPORTER writes
@SunZambian
THE three-month London Metal Exchange (LME) price rose as much as 2 percent to $6,102 a tonne, the highest since May 16, according to Barclays Bank Zambia daily market update.
But in the same report the bank reported that gold price fell on Thursday as investors booked profits after the metal hit a two-week high earlier in the session on increased expectations of a dovish monetary policy stance from the U.S. Federal Reserve.
Spot gold slipped by 0.4percent to $1,421.06 an ounce. Prices had jumped about 1.5percent in the previous session and extended gains early on Thursday to hit $1,426.80, gold’s highest since July 3.
Oil prices finished with significant losses on Thursday, pressured by fears of waning fuel demand.
Brent crude for September delivery dropped US$1.73 to close at US$61.93 a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange.
On the local money marker, Barclays reported that the Zambian Kwacha was down 15 Ngwee against the dollar on Thursday due to a spike in dollar demand from commodity importers.
Corporate firms sought the dollar from market open in anticipation of a weaker Kwacha pushing it to a low of K12.700/12.750 to the dollar where it closed on the day.
The local unit is likely to be on the defensive with a bias to gain as we head towards the month end.
On Money Market the bank reported that the cost of borrowing funds on the interbank decreased yesterday to 10.40% from 10.48% with the liquidity levels still remaining tight at K378.68 Million from K609.87 million.
The volumes of funds traded were relatively unchanged at K95.00 million from K80.00 million on the day.
It further reported that the local market was active on Thursday mainly due to the Treasury Bill auction tender No. 15/2019 where yields on all tenors stayed unchanged.
The 91 days, 182 days, 273 days and 364 days yields remained at 16.50percent, 16.00percent, 25.25percent and 26.50percent respectively.
