THE Kwacha has appreciated slightly against the dollar helped by inflows from corporates looking to meet their mid-month taxes amid subdued Energy importer demand in the local market.

This is according to Barclays Bank Zambia daily market update.

At 08:30 hours, the bank said, commercial banks quoted the local unit at K11.96/12.01 per dollar, compared with K11.95/12.00 at Tuesday’s close.

“USD/ZMW currency pair closed at K11.93/11.98 on the back of corporate supply and is likely post more gains in the near term as dollar sellers take advantage of the rates,” the bank said.

On the money market, market liquidity was up K14 million in Wednesday’s trading session from K462 million posted on Tuesday to K476 million.

The average interbank overnight rate increased by one base points to close at 9.93 percent.

“On the fixed income, the market remained unchanged from the previous session. The government will be in the market today to auction the shorter end of the curve. We expect the auction to clear lower than previous levels,” said the bank.

And Cavmont bank Zambia indicated that the Kwacha breached the $/K12.00 psychological barrier following increased demand on the interbank.

The local unit touched an intra-day low of K12.00/ K12.05. However by noon, the local unit made a retreat and was being quoted at K11.94 / K11.99.

“In other emerging markets the South African. Rand (ZAR) lost further ground against the U.S dollar as it touched an intra-day low of $/ZAR13.8900 from its opening levels of $1/ZAR13.7700.

“The ZAR has recently come under pressure following an escalation of power cuts in South Africa,” said Cavmont bank.