Monday, 16 November 2015 21:05
NAIROBI: Kenya’s shilling firmed in minimal trading on Monday ahead of the central bank’s rate-setting meeting, while stocks closed higher.
At close of trade, commercial banks quoted the shilling at 102.20/30 to the dollar, compared with Friday’s close of 102.35/45.
“Today, the market is just awaiting the rate decision tomorrow. Nothing has happened,” said a senior trader at one commercial bank.
At its last meeting in September, the central bank held its lending rate at 11.50 percent, saying inflation had fallen towards its medium-term target.
A trader at another commercial bank said the central bank had also sold a small amount of dollars.
The central bank intervened several times last week to sell the US currency, keeping the shilling from reaching the 102.50 mark, traders said. The central bank does not usually comment on any intervention and does not say if it is defending any level.
The shilling has been under pressure this year, partly because of global dollar strength and partly because of domestic factors like a widening trade gap and budget deficit.
On the Nairobi Securities Exchange, the main NSE-20 Share Index was up 11.08 points to close at 3,928.72 points.
On the secondary market, government bonds worth a total 402.8 million shillings were traded, down from 2.22 billion shillings on Friday.
