NAIROBI: The Kenyan shilling inched down on Thursday in anticipation of increased demand for dollars from importers in the run-up to the end of the month when demand peaks.
Shares eked out meagre gains.
At the 1300 GMT close of trade, commercial banks quoted the shilling at 91.45/55 to the dollar, marginally down from Wednesday's close of 91.35/45.
"Demand is still heavy and the supply side is quite minimal," said Robert Gatobu, a trader at Bank of Africa. "In my view, we should still expect the shilling to be more bearish."
The shilling, which is down 1 percent this year, is expected to struggle for the rest of 2015, in large part due to the strengthening of the dollar against global currencies. A downturn in the valuable tourist industry is also weighing.
In the stock market, the benchmark NSE-20 share index added 7.68 points to close at 5,201.61 points.
In the debt market, bonds worth 3.55 billion shillings were traded, up from 2.74 billion shillings worth of bonds on Wednesday.
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