Following are the weekly outlooks for leading frontier African currencies.
For the first time in several years, the local unit has withstood seasonal first quarter pressure and recovered almost all its year-to-date losses against the greenback. It was trading at 3.8350 to the dollar by 1130 GMT on Thursday, compared to 3.8400 last week, down just 1 percent since January. "The cedi is expected to hold firm on the back of an impressive first quarter performance, which would encourage traders and corporate bodies not to speculate on the currency," said Biggles Amponsah of Accra-based Dortis Research.
Bank of Ghana governor Henry Kofi Wampah told Reuters on Tuesday he was taking early retirement at the end of March, four months ahead of schedule.
"It is still rallying," said a senior currency trader at a commercial bank, adding banks were required by the regulator to hold a certain ratio of funds in the local currency at the end of the month.
"Some support will come from the mop-up operation by the central bank although we'll likely see a stable range," said a trader from a leading commercial Bank. The trader said appetite for hard currency from importers was modest and that the shilling would play in 3,355-3,385 range.
On Thursday, the Bank of Uganda removed 192 billion shillings ($57 million) from the interbank market.
"This bullish trend could continue into next week. In due course sizeable demand for dollars is expected to come from oil marketing companies," one commercial bank trader said.