Several major African currencies were expected to hold steady or stay with a tight band in the week ahead.
On Friday, commercial banks quoted the shilling at 3,365/3,375, unchanged from last week's close 3,365/3,375. "Some support may come from inflows from commodity exporters and the liquidity mop-up," said Faisal Bukenya, head of market making at Barclays Bank, forecasting that the currency would trade around the 3,365-3,380 level.
"As we approach the end of the month, we expect to see some companies offloading dollars to meet taxes and salary obligations. So the shilling will likely maintain the same levels next week," said William Francis, a dealer at Commercial Bank of Africa Tanzania.
"The cedi is expected to slip marginally against the USD in the period, if sufficient dollar supply is not seen," said Joseph Biggles Amponsah, analyst at Accra-based Dortis Research.
On the Thursday, the naira touched an all-time low of 365.25. The bank, which is the main supplier of dollars on the interbank market, has been selling almost daily to improve liquidity.