NAIROBI: Kenya's shilling was steady early on Wednesday with investors and companies holding back on dollar purchases and keeping the currency below levels where the central bank intervened last week to sell dollars.
By 0715 GMT, the shilling was trading at 90.05/15 to the US currency, little changed on Tuesday's close of 90.10/20.
"We have seen buyers stay on the sidelines at levels above 90," said Duncan Kinuthia, head of trading at Commercial Bank of Africa. "There is a fear the central bank could come in again as they don't seem to like these levels very much."
Traders said the central bank intervened with dollar sales on Friday at around 90.30, a move which helped strengthen the shilling to below the 90-mark. It has weakened again since then.
The central bank does not tend to comment on any intervention but has previously said it had enough reserves to support the foreign exchange market in case of shocks.
Traders have suggested the currency was likely to hover in the 89.80 to 90.30 range for the next few days.
One trader at a commercial bank said he expected 90.50 to hold as a resistance level particularly as he said demand for dollars usually slowed towards the end of the year.
"Customers maybe would prefer to wait and see whether the central bank will do anything. So it is an issue of who will be the first one to pull the trigger," the trader said.
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