– Kwacha slides against the US dollar

 

 

Kwacha slides against the US dollar

 

Lusaka, July 09, 2012, ZANIS  —  The Zambian kwacha began the week on the back foot.

 

 

Standard Chartered Bank Country Corporate Affairs Manager Chanda Chime – Katongo says that the Zambian Kwacha begun the week by sliding 40 points against the dollar earlier on Monday.

 

 

Ms Katongo has attributed this slide to strong corporate  right hand side  which pushed up demand for the greenback.

 

 

She said that the kwacha bears were exacerbated by global trends following general dollar strength against a basket of currencies.

 

 

ZANIS reports that Ms Katongo said this in the Standard Chartered Bank Daily briefs.

 

 

 

She said Inter-bank was around K 5.5100 – 5.550 level at 1600 CAT yesterday, compared to Friday’s  K 5.4700 –  K 5.510 levels.

 

 

 

She said the Market Money Interbank liquidity in the market is currently approximately K 1 billion with an overnight rate of 11.56 percent.

 

 

 

Ms Katongo said with the continued upside inflationary pressure resulting in another potential rate hike in the near term, we maintain a bearish view on interest rates.

 

 

 

She said Money markets are likely to remain tight and secondary markets continue to register demand mainly on the longer end of the yield curve.

 

 

 

She said due to demand   for shorter dated t-bills are currently subdued due to funding stress on the interbank arising from continued concentration of liquidity with a few players.

 

 

 

Ms Katongo said the bank will continue to note decent supply along the yield curve.