BOZ SCOUTS FOR K1.5BN FROM BOND SALES
By BUUMBA CHIMBULU
THE Bank of Zambia (BoZ) was yesterday on the market looking to raise K1.50 billion in bond sale.
The sale is likely to be oversubscribed with chances of yields edging lower, according to Access bank Zambia daily treasury report.
According to the financial institution, it anticipated an oversubscription of yields owing to market liquidity adequately at more than twice the amount sought.
Still on the money market, the bank indicated that aggregate liquidity on the market closed lower at K3. 29 billion from K3. 42 billion the previous trading day.
“The volume of funds traded increased to K377 million from to K235 million. The overnight lending rate also inched higher to 8.49 percent from 8.50 percent.
“The liquidity, however, still appeared to be evenly distributed among the banks,” the bank stated.
On the foreign exchange market, Access stated that the Central Bank was absent with its intervention aimed at meeting the demand from importers.
It indicated that activity on the interbank market remained low with supply woes still having their impact on the transaction turnover.
“The USDZMW currency pair ended the Thursday trading day quoted for 17.219/17.269 after having begun the day quoted at 17.208/17.258,” it stated.
Meanwhile, Absa bank Zambia said the Zambian Kwacha continued on the same trajectory in Thursday’s trading session as it added to its previous day’s losses against the greenback.
At market open, it indicated, the Kwacha was quoted at K17.200/K17.250 per dollar compared to its previous close of K17.130/K17.180 on the bid and offer respectively.
“With dollar supply from corporates making end of month conversions still in sight while demand remains unmatched, the local unit is anticipated to trade defensively against the dollar in the short term,” Absa stated.