African currencies week ahead: Uganda shilling to strengthen, Ghana cedi to hold steady

Uganda's shilling is forecast to gain ground against the dollar in the week to Thursday, while Zambia's kwacha will weaken, traders said.
KENYA - The Kenyan shilling is likely to be stable in the coming week, supported by tightening liquidity in the local money market and reduced demand from oil importers, who have already bought dollars to meet their obligations, traders said.
Commercial banks quoted the shilling at 102.45/65 per dollar, compared with 102.55/75 at last Thursday's close. "The prevailing theme still remains tight liquidity on the money market ... There is a 40 billion-shilling bond that is going to be placed and that is likely to take shillings out of an already tight market," said a senior trader from one commercial bank.
GHANA - Ghana's cedi is expected to be stable next week as central bank sales helped meet dollar demand by businesses, analysts said. The cedi had been under pressure in recent weeks but showed signs of stability this week. It was trading at 4.97 to the dollar at mid-morning on Thursday, compared with 4.99 a week ago.
"We expect both demand and supply to remain stable as we close the year, as major purchases for the holidays have been secured," currency analyst Raphael Adubila said.
UGANDA - The Ugandan shilling should gain amid inflows of dollars from remittances and offshore investors looking to buy government debt. Commercial banks quoted the shilling at 3,694/3,704, compared with last Thursday's close of 3,730/3,740.
"Around this time of the year, remittance flows are quite substantial, but also we have auctions coming up that we think will draw good flows from offshore investors," said Robert Mpuuga, head of treasury at Bank of Africa. He referred to debt auctions on December 19 and December 24, which are expected to raise a total of 435 billion shillings ($118 million)
TANZANIA - The Tanzanian shilling is expected to hold steady in the upcoming week. Commercial banks quoted the shilling at 2,305/2,350 against the dollar, the same level as a week ago. "We expect the shilling to remain at 2,305/2,350 next week ... unless the central bank intervenes," a senior trader from one commercial bank said.
ZAMBIA - The kwacha is likely to come under pressure next week from increased demand for dollars by the government and foreign portfolio investors. Commercial banks quoted the currency at 11.9500 per dollar, down from a close of 11.8000 a week ago. "Pressure will come from government debt servicing and foreign investors buying hard currency after getting payments on government securities," financial analyst Maambo Hamaundu said.