NAIROBI: The Kenyan shilling firmed slightly on Thursday, riding on positive sentiments after the country successfully sold its debut Eurobond for $2 billion.
At 0921 GMT, commercial banks quoted the shilling at 87.35/45 to the dollar, up from Wednesday's close of 87.50/60.
On Wednesday, the National Treasury confirmed it had raised a total $2 billion with a debut Eurobond with 5-year and 10-year tranches. The cash will be used for budget support and repayment of a $600 million syndicated loan.
A day earlier, a senior official said the Eurobond had been oversubscribed and had received bids worth $8.8 billion.
"It's slightly stronger. I suppose it is sentiments from the Eurobond and confidence shown by international investors in Kenya because of oversubscription in the bond," Andlip Nazir, senior trader at I&M Bank, said.
"I think that's pushing the market. So there is good demand at these levels but we should see a gradual shilling strengthening."
Traders said they expect the shilling to trade in the 87.20 to 88.20 range in the days ahead.
"It's really range-bound. The Eurobond news has actually strengthened it for the last couple days. But the gains will be limited towards 87.20 or thereabouts," said Chris Muiga, senior trader at National Bank.
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