Kwacha fights off loss

BUUMBA CHIMBULU writes THE Zambian Kwacha is in the near term expected to continue trading on the defensive with a bias to post further losses, Absa Bank Zambia has said. According to the Bank, this was after the local currency traded on a weaker note on Friday as the rather volatile week came to an end.  The Bank, in its daily market report, explained that the local currency swings were largely driven by timing differences between dollar purchase and sell activities on the market from importers and exporters. “The local unit opened the week at K18.65/18.700 against the greenback and was on a roller coaster as the unit touched an intra-week low of K17.950 to the dollar before bouncing back to close the week at K18.65/18.700/$ again on the bid and offer respectively,” Absa said. Elsewhere, the South Africa’s rand firmed on Friday, with sentiment toward risk and emerging market currencies boosted by an easing in tensions between China and the United States and optimism about the re-opening of some economies around the world.  The rand was 1.32 percent firmer at 18.3450, extending the gains that saw it rise more than two percent this week. Meanwhile, London copper climbed to its highest in eight weeks on Monday, boosted by expectations of better demand for metals as certain countries started to ease lockdowns put in place to curb the coronavirus pandemic.  Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange (LME) rose as much as 1.8 percent to US$5,370 a tonne, its highest since March 16, 2020. The Sun