The Kenya shilling gained ground against the dollar on Friday, helped by commercial banks unwinding long US currency positions ahead of the weekend. At 1020 GMT, commercial banks quoted the local unit at 75.70/90 to the dollar compared with Thursday's close of 75.90/76.00.
In early trade the local unit touched 75.95/76.05 before recouping its losses. It is expected to trade in the 75.50-76.00 range in the coming days, traders said. "We have seen a bit of more interbank selling than anything else," said Ignatius Chicha, treasurer at Citibank. Traders said the shilling would strengthen in coming days, helped by a slowing market activity ahead of the holiday season.