Absa Bank Zambia says the Kwacha lost some ground against the US Dollar in yesterday’s trading session as demand continued to surge with limited Dollars in sight.

In its latest Market update report, the bank said at 08:30hrs, commercial banks quoted the local unit at Twenty One Kwacha Six Ngwee and Twenty One Kwacha Eleven Ngwee per dollar, 5 ngwee lower than the previous day’s close where it traded until closure.

The financial institution stated that in the near term, it expects the currency to continue on the same trajectory as market dynamics adversely move against it.

“The liquidity levels in the market continued to increase in yesterday’s trading session as market players prepared to participate in the T-bill auction scheduled for today moving to K2, 888.33 Million from K2, 785.20 Million with the volumes of funds traded on the interbank reducing further to K450.00 Million from K455.00 Million seen the previous day.”

“The weighted overnight interbank rate increased to 8.18%,” it said.

Meanwhile, the commercial bank disclosed that Copper prices, rose on Thursday, with the London contract set for a third straight session of gains, as investors eyed more stimulus and support from the United States, the world’s largest economy.

“Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange advanced 0.5% to $7,874 a tonne by 05:08 GMT, while the most-traded January contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange was up 0.7% at 58,280 Yuan a tonne.”