THE Kwacha opened interbank trading at KR5.310/5.330 on the bid and offer respectively before proceeding to touch a day's peak of KR5.300/5.320 during early morning trading.

According to ZANACO daily newsletter, the local unit on Wednesday traded relatively steady against the United States dollar.

However, with thin dollar inflows and demand for the greenback from interbank players continuing to be robust, the Kwacha retraced back to KR5.310/5.330 level where it eventually closed off trading.

The report said in the near term, the Kwacha was expected to hold steady against the dollar and should continue to trade between KR5.280 and KR5.350 on the interbank market.

Meanwhile, copper prices slipped on Wednesday to a near four-week low, dragged lower by demand concerns as buying from top consumer China remains subdued, with a weak Euro also weighing on prices.

Benchmark three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange (LME), was untraded in official rings, but was bid at $8,038 a tonne, down from a close of$8,050 a tonne on Tuesday.