NAIROBI: The Kenyan shilling was barely changed against the dollar on Wednesday, unable to break out of its recent ranges, while shares inched lower as earnings reports came in.
At the 1300 GMT close of the market, leading commercial banks posted the shilling at 86.65/75 per dollar, barely moved from the previous day's closing rate of 86.60/70.
Traders said it was likely to be stuck in a narrow band of 86.30-86.70 in the next few days.
They cited a lack of demand for dollars or news that could move the currency.
"Without that, the market remains directionless," said Duncan Kinuthia, head of trading at Commercial Bank of Africa.
In the money markets, where recent drops in the overnight borrowing rate had unleashed pressure on the currency, there was scant movement.
The weighted average interest rate on the interbank borrowing market stood at 8.4044 percent on Tuesday from 8.4012 percent the previous day.
On the Nairobi Stock Exchange, the benchmark NSE-20 share index, inched down 0.1 percent to close at 4969.24 points.
East African Portland Cement led the fall, dropping 7 percent to 97.50 shillings a share after its first half profit more than halved to 171 million shillings.
National Bank was the second-biggest faller, falling by 2 percent to 31 shillings per share as investors poked holes in its earnings report for 2013. The bank raised its pretax profit and dividend per share for the period, while at the same time cutting provisions for bad debts.
"Earnings were up significantly, but on lower provisioning, so the market appeared not to take that very well," said Ian Gachichio, a research analyst at Kestrel Capital.
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