NAIROBI: Kenya’s shilling was steady against the dollar on Thursday, traders said, but seen weakening in the coming days as importers complete orders to cover the holiday period at the end of the year.

At 0902 GMT, commercial banks quoted the shilling at 122.70/90 per dollar, the same as Wednesday’s close.

Kenya’s shilling has lost 7.9% of its value against the greenback since the start of the year, touching fresh lows of 122.80/123.00 on Thursday morning before pulling back, according to Refinitiv data.

Kenyan shilling weakens on dollar demand from oil importers

“Supply remains very thin across sectors. There’s still quite a bit of demand out there and we haven’t seen the central bank intervene for a few weeks,” said a foreign exchange trader at a commercial bank.