Monday, 09 November 2015 13:08
NAIROBI: Kenya’s shilling was under pressure on Monday as the dollar gained globally on rising prospects for a US rate hike soon and as falling yields on Kenyan Treasury bills reduced their attraction to offshore investors.
By 0704 GMT, the shilling was quoted at 102.35/55 to the dollar, compared with Friday’s close of 102.25/102.35.
Dealers said the central bank was expected to support the shilling if it fell rapidly, discouraging a sharper move lower.
The central bank reported in a weekly report that it had foreign exchange reserves of $ 6.9 billion as of Nov. 5, up from $ 6.1 billion at the start of October.
“That will put the central bank in a good position to intervene if they want to protect the local unit,” said one dealer at a commercial bank.
The shilling has recently been helped by inflows of dollars from offshore investors chasing high-yielding government debt. But T-bills yields tumbled last week. The yield on 91-day paper slid below 14 percent from nearly 20 percent a week before.
