THE Kwacha at the weekend made a remarkable comeback against the US dollar on the back of increased dollar supply on Interbank, especially from offshore investors who were looking to participate in the local bond auction.

According to Cavmont Bank Zambia daily market report, the local unit began trading at K9.950 / K10.000, but was later seen being quoted at K9.800 / K9.850 by early afternoon.

The Kwacha closed the week at K9.700 / K9.750, 2.51 percent stronger than the day’s opening levels.

On money market, the bank reported that commercial banks’ aggregate current account balance increased by K51.48 million to K926.76 million while the overnight borrowing and lending rate increased by 0.11 percent to 18.27 percent.

Total funds traded on Interbank were K123.30 million.

The Central Bank was still conducting Open Market Operations (OMO) and was looking to reduce liquidity by K300 million.

The average accepted rate was 11.3 percent on the 1 day term deposit.

On the international scene the bank reported that the price of copper remained depressed as it posted a further drop of US$12.00 to drive the selling price of the red metal to US$4,639.00 a tonne.

However the price of gold made a slight recovery after it went up by US$2.94 to push the trading price of the metal to US$1,326.75 an ounce.

The bank further reported that the price of Brent crude oil also went up by a marginal US$0.42 and the commodity was now selling at US$49.33 a barrel.

Meanwhile, the Lusaka Stock Exchange (LuSE) says a total of 20,436,767 shares were transacted in 8 trades, resulting in a market turnover of K98, 450,886.

According to its daily commentary, trading occurred in CEC, MFIN, PUMA and ZAMEFA.

The LuSE All Share Index (LASI) maintained the previous close of 4,401.43 points as there were no share price movements.

The market capitalization remained at K58, 813,647,690 including Shoprite Holdings and K24, 574,441,710 excluding Shoprite Holdings.

Source: Zambia Daily Nation