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By MAIMBOLWA MULIKELELA –
THE Kwacha slipped against the United States dollar on Tuesday but later showed signs of stability on the day as it kept within a narrow trading range against the United States (US) dollar.
The foreign exchange market was fairly active on the day with an even participation from buyers and sellers of the foreign currency.
ZANACO daily Newsletter said from an open of K6.14/K6.16, it floated between an intra-day high of K6.10/K6.12 and low of K6.18/K6.20.
The Kwacha eventually closed a ngwee shy of its low at K6.17/6.19 having lost 8 ngwee on the day.
In the near term, a measure of market consolidation was expected with moderated movements in the dollar/Zambian currency pair.
Further, the Kwacha was likely to trade between K6.08 and K6.22 in the short term.
On the money market, the money market liquidity levels significantly decreased to K593.42 million from the previous high levels of K900.09 million.
The volume of traded funds reduced to K488.1 million from K627.3 million and the weighted average overnight lending rate fell to 15.57 per cent from 15.89 per cent.
The report said the overnight lending rate was expected to remain above 15.5 per cent mark in the near term on account of the tight market liquidity levels prevailing in the market.
Meanwhile, Copper prices steadied on Tuesday as weak manufacturing data from top consumer China reinforced expectations that the country could move to stimulate its flagging economy and boost demand for industrial metals.
Reuters report that the three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange (LME) ended at US$6,660 a tonne, up 0.30 per- cent from Monday, when it hit its highest in nearly three weeks at $6,686 tonnes.
