KAMPALA: The Ugandan shilling was weaker on Monday on dollar demand from energy and telecoms companies, although hard currency inflows from charities slowed the currency's decline.
At 1120 GMT commercial banks quoted the shilling at 2,770/2,780, weaker than Friday's close of 2,762/2,772.
"Energy sector players are buying (dollars)... that's putting significant pressure on the shilling," said Ahmed Kalule, trader at Bank of Africa.
Kalule said the global strength of the greenback was also feeding a negative market sentiment on the shilling's outlook.
The shilling is 9 percent weaker against the greenback so far this year.
Faisal Bukenya, head of market making at Barclays Bank, said telecoms companies were also buying dollars, but hard currency inflows from non-governmental organisations were "cushioning some of the pressure otherwise the shilling would have lost more."
The charities are converting some of their hard currency holdings for early payment of December salaries and any other outstanding operational expenses for the year, Bukenya said.
Bukenya said the local currency would likely trade in the 2,760-2,785 range against the dollar in the days before Christmas with the shilling having a weakening bias.
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