Kenyan shilling holds steady against dollar
The Kenyan
shilling held steady against the dollar in a slow market on Tuesday and
traders said they expected a firm underlying bid to continue, while
shares on the Nairobi Stock Exchange were mixed.
Commercial banks quoted the shilling at 80.60/70 to the dollar, against 80.55/65 at Friday’s close.
Although the
government declared Monday to be a working day, banking holidays
elsewhere meant only a handful of trades were made on the foreign
exchange market.
“There’s nothing.
Even on the interbank (market), I can see nothing happening. It’s only
a few customers here and there,” said Steve Lagat, a trader at CFC
Stanbic Bank.
“I think for the
next few days before the year ends, we will be trading in a narrow
range.” Traders said the shilling could strengthen slightly in the next
few days, but that it is likely to trade within a range of 80.30-80.80.
“We have seen some
dollar weakness globally that should have helped the shilling to
strengthen slightly. We are not seeing that happening here at the
moment, but I think going forward during the day and maybe tomorrow, we
could see some shilling strength,” said Andlip Mohamed, senior trader
at I&M Bank.
“I think … international market players are just squaring their positions before the end of the year.”
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