By MAIMBOLWA MULIKELELA –

THE Kwacha was under pressure most of last week trading on the back foot against the dollar, weighed down by strong interbank and corporate demand to see it touch an intraday low of K6.385/6.405 on Friday.

A check by Times of Zambia on Friday May 2, 2014, showed that the local unit was trading against the greenback at K6.385/6.405 compared to the previous week’s close of around K6.260/6.280.

Standard Chartered Bank indicated that the Kwacha was trading at around K6.300/6.435 as at 15: 29 hours on Friday, while at JIT Bureau de Change Limited, the local unit was in K6.250/6.400 range.

According to the ZANACO daily Newsletter, the local unit opened the week at K6.265/6.285 and later slid by 90 ngwee to touch an intraday low of K6.330/6.350 where it closed.

Tuesday’s trading saw the local unit closing the day at K6.320/6.340 and the following day the market opened unchanged from the previous trading.

The kwacha is likely to trade range-bound in the current environment with factors of demand and supply being the main drivers of the currency pair’s next move.

Trading range is expected to be between K6.250 and K6.350 in the near term.

And the copper prices slightly changed on Friday but were set to log its biggest weekly loss in seven weeks after the United States (U.S) withdrew liquidity.

According to the Reuters, three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange (LME) edged down by 0.1 per cent to $6,636 a tonne, after closing little changed in the previous session.

Copper prices have dropped by 1.9 per cent this week.

China’s markets were closed on Friday for a second day, while many continental European markets are set to reopen after a May Day break. The LME will be shut today.