NAIROBI: Kenya's shilling edged lower on Monday and traders said the trend was for further weakening as corporate demand for dollars picked up during the month.
At the 1300 GMT close, banks quoted the shilling at 91.20/30 the dollar, compared with Friday's close of 91.05/25.
Traders said the shilling, which has lost 0.7 percent this month, would trade between 91.00 and 91.50 in the coming days.
"There are not too many fresh factors to give the currency direction," said Chris Muiga, senior trader at National Bank of Kenya. "I think in the next few days we could see it weaken."
Corporate demand for dollars tends to pick up as the month progresses and payment deadlines for importers and others fall due.
The weakening trend could be checked if the central bank offered support with dollar sales, but traders said past intervention in recent weeks provided only short-term relief.
On the share market, the benchmark NSE 20 index closed fractionally higher at 5,121.99, up just 0.03 percent.
In the debt market, bonds worth 1.87 billion shillings were traded, down from the 2.52 billion shillings on Friday.
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