NAIROBI: The Kenyan shilling weakened 0.4 percent and stayed at three-year lows on Monday due to dollar demand from the energy and telecoms sectors, while stocks increased slightly.
The shilling closed trade at 93.75/85 to the dollar, from Friday's close of 93.40/50 - near levels last seen in November 2011.
"There is a bit of demand from corporate clients; energy sector and telecommunications," said John Muli, a trader at African Banking Corporation.
Chris Muiga, a trader National Bank of Kenya, said the local currency was however looking oversold, meaning it could attempt a correction.
Traders said they forecast the shilling to trade in the 93.50 to 94.00 ranges in the next few days.
The shilling is down 3.4 percent against the greenback so far this year.
The dollar's global strength has also put pressure on the shilling over the past several months, while Kenya's main foreign currency earners, have been floundering.
Tourism has been affected by reduced earnings owing to militant attacks in the country and horticulture, while poor rains have hurt the agriculture sector.
On the Nairobi Securities Exchange, the main NSE-20 Share Index was up by 9.04 points, or 0.18 percent, to close at 5,102.04 points.
Telecoms firm Safaricom - due to announce its full year results next week - was up 0.3 percent to end the session at 17.25 shillings a share.
Analysts say Safaricom's shares have been lifted in recent sessions by a favourable outlook for its annual performance and anticipation of solid results.
On the secondary market, government bonds valued at 844.1 million shillings ($9.00 million) were traded, down from 1.25 billion shillings traded on Friday.
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