• Kwacha expected to trade defensively in the near term.
• Local unity continued on the same trajectory in Friday’s trading session.
• Liquidity levels in the market continued to increase in Friday’s trading session.

Absa Bank Zambia says the Kwacha is expected to trade defensively in the near term as dollar demand lingers on the market following the beginning of a new month.
According to the Absa Zambia Market update statement the Kwacha continued on the same trajectory in Friday’s trading session as it added to its previous day’s losses against the greenback.
The Bank said the local unit opened the day trading at between 21:38 and 21:43 per dollar, indicating a 1 ngwee shy from Thursday’s close, where the Kwacha traded firm throughout the day to close unchanged as corporates seeking dollars stayed on the fence in hope of some inflows from exporters.
“The liquidity levels in the market continued to increase in Friday’s trading session following the T-bill auction held on 28th January, 2021 moving to K2, 119.41 million from K1, 901.76 million,” the statement read.
It further said the volumes of funds traded on the interbank adversely reduced to K507.00 million from K696.00 million seen the previous day while the weighted overnight interbank rate was little changed at 8.44 percent.