THE Kwacha ended the first quarter down about 2 percent as demand continued to outstrip supply despite strengthening against the dollar, Barclays Bank Zambia has said.

The financial market however expects the Kwacha to trade within the new narrow range of 12.00 to 12.30 going in to the first week of April.

According to Barclays Bank Zambia daily market update, the local markets on Friday last week opened at K12.15/12.20 and closed 6 ngwee stronger at K12.09/12.14 per dollar on the back of decent corporate supply.

“The Kwacha is anticipated to post more gains in the days ahead as we witness a pick in dollar supply,” said the bank.

On Thursday last week, the Kwacha held steady against the dollar but lost some ground due to increased demand for the foreign currency by importers in anticipation of a weaker local unit.

The market closed at its opening levels of K12.15/12.20 per dollar on the bid and offer respectively as demand and supply were evenly matched on the day.

On the money market, market liquidity went up by 45 percent to K1.968 billion on Friday from 1.356 billion.

“The volumes of funds traded was relatively unchanged at K230 million from K225 million seen on Thursday.

The cost of borrowing funds on the interbank continued to hold firm at 9.92 percent” said Barclays bank.