The Kenya shilling strengthened against the dollar on Friday in quiet trade and is expected to operate in a wide range going forward, dealers said. At 1040 GMT, commercial banks quoted the local unit at 62.80/90 to the dollar, compared with Thursday's close of 63.00/10.
"Trading is very quiet," said Peter Njuguna, a senior dealer at Commercial Bank of Africa. Dealers said a central bank announcement holding its benchmark lending rate at 8.75 percent in its latest monetary policy statement had not affected trading.
"It does not impact on the foreign exchange markets it hardly moves the markets," said a dealer at Barclays Bank. The bank said the country's Monetary Policy Advisory Committee had encouraged the bank to monitor developments in the strengthening of the shilling, to make sure that external competitiveness was not eroded and to manage any excess volatility should it emerge.
Late last month the shilling hit a nine-year high of 60.45/55 to the dollar before giving up some of its gains. Dealers said they expect the local unit to trade in the 62.00-65.00 range against the dollar in coming days.
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