Kwacha maintains stability against the dollar
Written by Millennium on July 27, 2019
BUUMBA CHIMBULU writes
THE Kwacha remained stable against the United States dollar during Monday’s trading session, the Zambia Industrial Commercial Bank (ZICB) has said.
ZICB indicated in its daily treasury newsletter that activity was mostly subdued from both importers and exporters limiting the currency pair to trade in a very tight range.
The local unit, said the bank, had traded in positive territory in the last couple of sessions owing to strong supply from exporters.
“The Kwacha closed at 12.480/12530, unchanged from its opening levels and is likely to receive some support from the Treasury Bill auction to be held on Thursday this week,” said the bank.
And Barclays Bank Zambia daily market report said Kwacha was little-changed against the dollar on Thursday with hard currency inflows from mining houses and other corporates almost matching out importer demand on the day.
At 08:30 hours market open, the bank said, commercial banks quoted the Kwacha at K12.890/12.940 per dollar, compared with K12.870/12.920 at Wednesday’s close.
The local unit closed at K12.900/12.950 and is likely to trade within a tight band in the near term.
The dollar was little changed on Monday in thin summer trading, with the greenback’s upside potential hampered by expectations the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates at next week’s policy meeting.
Investors expect the Fed to reduce its key rate by 25 basis points and make another cut in September.
Foreign exchange markets were quiet on Monday and volatility low ahead of major central bank policy decisions next week.
