Kwacha heads for K7.7 mark

FINANCIAL market players predict the Kwacha to head in the K7.7 direction as copper price on the London Metal Exchange (LME) faces a near nine percent loss due to demand stutters.

The Kwacha is likely to breach the K7.7 level against the United States dollar, according to First National Bank (FNB) daily treasury issued on Friday.

The Kwacha swung between gains and losses in Thursday’s trading session, opening strong and thereafter depreciating to K7.67 where the market closed.

“As alluded [on Thursday], the Kwacha moves are currently based wholly on demand and supply in the market. Nevertheless, at this stage, a break into K7.70 looks more likely than a break into K7.50,” FNB anticipates after its review of the foreign exchange market.

A survey in most bureaux de change on Saturday showed that Unifinance Bureau buying is at K7.60 and selling at K7.75, FX Bureau at K7.65 and K7.76 and Gold Fields Bureau is at K7.65 and K7.77.
On the commodity trend, Reuters notes that London copper ticked lower on Friday and was facing its biggest monthly loss since January amid sputtering Chinese demand and a stronger dollar, with traders squaring books ahead of the month-end and Chinese factory data over the weekend.