Kwacha in dramatic comeback

Sat, 01 Jul 2017 11:15:04 +0000

By BUUMBA CHIMBULU

TUESDAY’S trading session saw the Kwacha making a comeback from its previous losses – hitting a high of K9.150 – following a boost from increased supply on Interbank which outstripped demand from buyers.

The Kwacha made a comeback against the dollar on Thursday, recovering from its previous day’s losses to trade at an intra-day high of K9.1500 / K9.200 on Interbank.

According to Cavmont Bank daily market report, the Kwacha’s performance was boosted by increased supply on Interbank which outstripped demand from buyers.

Additionally, some inflows from exporters and corporate sellers also played a role in the local unit’s appreciation.

The Kwacha later closed its trading session at K9.150 / K9.200, K0.15 stronger than the Wednesday’s opening levels of K9.300 / K9.350.

On the money market, commercial banks’ aggregate current account balance increased by K87.03 million to K499.89 million while the overnight borrowing and lending rate decreased by 0.09 percent to 12.44 percent.

Total funds therefore traded on Interbank were K169 million.

Meanwhile, the report indicated that the Central Bank was in the market conducting Open Market Operations (OMO) and was looking to reduce market liquidity by K1.05 billion.

Accepted rates were averaging between 9 percent and 22.31 percent on 1 day and 21 days respectively.

On the London Metal Exchange (LME), copper prices during the Thursday session were trading at US$5,914.50 a tonne.

This was after the red metal registered an increase of US$65.00. As of June 30th  copper prices increased by US$ 0.01 or 0.41 percent to 2.69 from 2.68 in the previous trading session.

Historically, copper reached an all-time high of 4.58 percent in February of 2011 and a record low of 1.94 percent in January of 2016.