NAIROBI: The Kenyan shilling was stable on Tuesday but traders said they expected it to come under pressure in coming days as corporate clients return to the market to buy dollars at the end of the month.
At 0725 GMT, commercial banks quoted the shilling at 85.70/90 to the dollar, compared with Monday's close of 85.75/85.
Traders said they expected to see increased activity as the month drew to a close, a time when typically importers from sectors like energy and manufacturing come to buy dollars.
"The shilling remains marooned within the same levels as yesterday as there's no remarkable activity from both the corporate and interbank counters," Joshua Anene, a trader at Commercial Bank of Africa, said.
"We expect activity to pick up as we approach the end of the month, and with it we expect the shilling to come under some slight pressure. We expect corporates to return as we approach the end of the month. So we expect to see increased dollar buying activity."
Traders said they expect the shilling to trade in the 85.60 to 86.00 in coming days. The shilling is 0.9 percent up versus the dollar since the start of 2014.
Technical analysis charts of the 14-day and 50-day weighted moving averages show the shilling maintaining a strengthening bias in the near term.
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