Tuesday, 03 November 2015 12:36
NAIROBI: Kenya’s shilling held steady on Tuesday, with traders expecting the currency to trade in a tight range through the day.
At 0645 GMT, commercial banks quoted the shilling at 101.95/102.15 to the dollar, barely changed from Monday’s close of 101.95/102.05.
“Nothing has happened this morning. I don’t see anything on the horizon today that will make us change direction,” said one trader at a Nairobi-based commercial bank.
The shilling, down about 13 percent against the dollar this year, has firmed in recent weeks due to inflows of dollars from offshore investors chasing high-yielding government debt.
Traders say the local currency was likely to stay supported as long as the yields on short-term Treasury bills remained elevated.
Yields on the benchmark 91-day paper slipped at last week’s auction to 19.471 percent but remain far above usual levels.