NAIROBI: The Kenyan shilling was steady on Monday, and traders said they expected it to strengthen slightly as companies and banks look for shillings to settle quarterly tax payments and pay for Treasury bonds bought at auction last week.
At 0754 GMT, commercial banks quoted the shilling at 87.40/50, unchanged from Friday's close.
"This week, we are expecting it to strengthen a bit on the back of tight liquidity. It's just tax payments and the bond payment which is going out today," Sheikh Mehran, a senior trader at KCB Bank, said.
Investors bought 22.79 billion shillings worth of five-year and 20-year Treasury bonds sold last week.
Traders said the shilling, which has lost 0.9 percent against the dollar so far this year, was expected to stay boxed in the 87.20 to 88.00 range in coming days.
"I guess above 87.50 you could see a bit of selling, below 87.50 a bit of buying - so, range-bound trading," said Duncan Kinuthia, head of trading at Commercial Bank of Africa.
"We have not seen any significant corporate activity," he said, adding there had been buyers when the shilling strengthened.
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