KAMPALA: The Ugandan shilling was a touch weaker on Tuesday, hurt by demand for dollars from manufacturing firms, and is not expected to move significantly before the release of inflation data at the end of the week.
At 0935 GMT commercial banks quoted the shilling at 2,598/2,608, marginally weaker than Monday's close of 2,595/2,605.
"The slight weakening for the shilling is being driven by pockets of demand from the manufacturing sector," said Isaac Iga, chief dealer at Orient Bank.
"I don't expect any drastic market moves since most players will be holding off on position-taking as they eye inflation data," he said.
The statistics office is due to release August consumer price index data on Friday.
Traders are keen to see if the low inflation trend holds. This could build pressure on the central bank to lower interest rates when its monetary policy committee meets in mid-October.
Last month Uganda's headline inflation rate fell to 4.3 percent from June's 5.0 percent, helped by slowing food prices.
Faisal Bukenya, head of market-making at Barclays Bank, said the shilling was likely to range between 2,595 and 2,615 in the coming days.
The local currency is down nearly 3 percent against the dollar in the year to date.
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