Kwacha expected to gain

THE Kwacha is expected to gain against the United States (US) dollar due to inflows of the greenback on the market, Zanaco Bank says.
In its daily treasury newsletter, the bank says the local unit was yesterday anticipated to trade in the range of K7.30 and K7.45 against the dollar in the near-term.
“The Kwacha is expected to continue its recent bullish [strong] run as hard currency inflows appear to outweigh consumer greenback demand which has slackened in part due to a tight monetary environment,” reads the statement.
On Tuesday, the Kwacha gained for a second consecutive day after tight local currency supply triggered a greenback interbank sell-off.
The bank says commercial banks quoted the local currency at K7.39 and K7.41, stronger than Monday’s close of K7.40 and K7.42.
It says on Tuesday the local unit touched a high of K7.32 and K7.34 on the back of increased interbank selling of the greenback and closed the day at its high on the bid and offer respectively.
Similarly, Finance Bank, in its daily market update, says the Kwacha is expected to maintain its momentum on account of improved corporate flows.
The bank says the local unit opened trading at K7.40 and K7.42 on Tuesday where it hovered most of the day but began making gradual gains through the day appreciating to highs of K 7.34 and K7.36, on the back of corporate conversions, posting a 0.8 percentage point gain against the greenback.
Cavmont Bank also says the Kwacha closed trading at K7.34 and K7.36 which was 0.95 percentage point stronger compared to Monday’s closing level.
In its market report, the bank says the local unit remained largely unchanged against the dollar and activity was largely subdued as both exporters and importers stayed out of the market.

ZambiaDailyMail