Tuesday, 27 October 2015 19:14
NAIROBI: Kenya’s shilling was steady on Tuesday, as dollar inflows by investors chasing high-yielding government debt matched demand for foreign exchange at the shillings’ stronger levels.
Meanwhile, the benchmark share index slipped, as investors sold stocks and switched to Treasury bills.
By the 1330 GMT close of the money market, commercial banks quoted the shilling at 101.60/70, little changed from the 101.60/80 close on Monday.
“This level will be there for a while,” said one dealer at a commercial bank. “All eyes are on the T-bills.”
Interest rates on Treasury bills were all above 22 percent at last week’s auctions, and investors are watching to see if they go higher this week. The higher rates attracted offshore investors.
However, demand for dollars was emerging around the 101.50 level, preventing a further strengthening without more foreign exchange coming in, the trader said.
In the equity market, the benchmark NSE 20 share index closed down 23.10 points at 3,913.51, hovering close to levels last seen in August 2012.
“We are seeing a lot more movement of investors from the equity side to the fixed-income side,” said Daniel Kuyoh, an analyst at Kingdom Securities. “This primarily to do with the more attractive returns we are seeing on fixed-income instruments.”
