Kenyan's shilling and Zambia's kwacha are seen weaker in the coming week, hurt by rising dollar demand from importers settling end of month payments.
It was quoted at 3.9500 to the dollar at 1130 GMT on Thursday, compared with last week's 3.9200-3.9800 band. "Some level of stability is expected within the week ahead owing to slowing appetite for the greenback and reviving confidence in the cedi as a store of value, especially after the MPC (Monetary Policy Committee) held the policy rate unchanged," analyst Joseph Biggles Amponsah of Dortis Research said.
Commercial banks quoted the shilling at 102.20/30 to the dollar, a touch stronger than last Thursday's close of 102.30/40. "Tomorrow and next week we are expecting end of month (dollar) demand to kick in," said one Nairobi-based trader. The shilling has been stable this year after weakening 11 percent against the dollar last year.
"The market was disappointed by the outcome of the MPC meeting. Coupled with the scarcity of dollars in the market, the naira is heading toward another sharp fall in the coming days," said the head of Nigeria's Bureau de Change association, Aminu Gwadabe. Nigeria pegged its exchange rate at 197 to the dollar in February last year and halted dollar sales to Bureaux de change operators.