Kenyan shilling firms on tea sector inflows, shares dip

NAIROBI: The Kenyan shilling ended firmer on Tuesday helped by tea exporters selling foreign currency and a relatively weaker dollar globally. Shares dipped for the second session.

At the 1300 GMT close, commercial banks quoted the shilling at 85.05/15 per dollar, firmer than the 85.10/30 closing levels of the two previous sessions.

Wilson Mutai, a trader at Gulf African Bank, noted some tea proceeds later in the session and said with reduced end-of-month dollar demand "we should see some strengthening on the shilling."

Tea is Kenya's leading foreign currency earner and is sold in the port city of Mombasa every Monday and Tuesday. Exporters typically then convert their earnings into shillings to pay farmers and cover operational expenses.

In stocks, the main NSE-20 share index inched 0.03 per cent lower to 4,985.48 points, dragged down by shares in mobile phone service provider and most traded stock Safaricom.