Kwacha loses recent gains against the dollar

Mon, 03 Oct 2016 10:15:24 +0000

THE Kwacha lost some of its recent gains against the US dollar on the back of increased demand from corporates at the weekend, according to Cavmont Bank Zambia daily market report.

The local unit opened relatively strong at K9.750 / K9.800 and looked certain to continue its impressive run seen the previous trading session. But the Kwacha closed at K9.850 / K9.900, K0.1 weaker than the day’s opening rate. On local money markets, the bank reported that commercial banks’ aggregate current account balance decreased by K6.18 million to K1,344.76 million while the overnight borrowing and lending rate decreased by 0.38 percent to 16.32 percent. Total funds traded on Interbank were K220.00 million.

The Central Bank was still conducting Open Market Operations (OMO) and was looking to reduce market liquidity by K200 million. Accepted rates were averaging 13.93 percent on 7-day term deposits. The Lusaka Stock Exchange (LuSE) All Share Index dropped by 0.41 percent to post 4,400.67 points.

On the international scene, copper price stirred to life on the London Metal Exchange (LME) after it posted a rise of US$18.50 to drive the selling price of the red metal to US$4,828.00 a tonne. The price of Brent crude oil also went up by US$1.97 and the commodity was presently selling at US$48.28 a barrel. The bank further reported that the price of gold fell by US$5.68 to push the trading price of the precious metal to US$1,319.00 an ounce.