Nigeria's naira seen stable while Kenyan shilling could weaken

LAGOS: The Nigerian naira is seen trading broadly stable amid tepid offshore demand for Nigerian assets, while the Kenyan shilling could weaken on healthy dollar appetite from oil importers. NIGERIA The naira is seen broadly stable next week against the dollar, with offshore investors staying on the sidelines despite the US Federal Reserve's decision to leave interest rates steady.

The naira eased to 360.30 per dollar on Thursday from 359.80 a week earlier. It also weakened at exchange bureaus to 362 but held firm at 306.95 on the official market, thanks to central bank support.

Traders said volumes of traded currency for both investors and exporters were down to $105 million on Wednesday compared with an average daily volume of $270 million this year. Nigeria operates a multiple exchange rate regime.

"We don't have new monies coming in," one trader said, adding that appetite for local assets had weakened even with the Federal Reserve's dovish tone on US interest rates. KENYA  The Kenyan shilling is seen under pressure, undermined by oil and merchandise importers buying dollars to meet end-month obligations and an excess of local currency liquidity in the money market.

Commercial banks quoted the shilling at 101.80/102.00 per dollar, compared with 101.55/75 at last Thursday's close.

"We're seeing...high levels of liquidity on the money market side," said a senior trader from one commercial bank, adding they also anticipated strong demand from oil and merchandise importers looking to meet end-of-month payment obligations. TANZANIA  The Tanzanian Shilling is expected to hold steady due to dollar inflows from exports of agricultural commodities.

On Thursday commercial banks quoted the unit at 2,295/2,305 against the dollar, little-changed from last week's close of 2,293/2,303.

A trader from one of the commercial banks in the capital Dar es Salaam said the shilling was likely to trade broadly stable because "on the supply side we expect to see some inflows from the agriculture sector." UGANDA The Ugandan shilling is seen trading with a firming tone, underpinned by offshore investor inflows and lacklustre appetite for hard currency.

At 1020GMT commercial banks quoted the shilling at 3,690/3,700, compared to last Thursday's close of 3,730/3,740.

"The market has healthy supplies from offshore investors and commodity exporters while on the demand side appetite from major importers is flat...so the overall momentum is toward a stronger local unit," said a trader at one of the commercial banks.

The central Bank of Uganda this week sold Treasury bills worth 175 billion shillings ($47.49 million).

ZAMBIA The kwacha is expected to remain firm next week, supported by increased dollar supply, after rate easing in the Euro-zone and a decision by the Fed to hold rate steady.

On Thursday, commercial banks quoted the currency of Africa's second-largest copper producer at 12.8000 per dollar, up from a close of 13.1900 a week ago.

"We expect the kwacha to continue gaining against the greenback albeit at a slower pace," the local branch of South Africa's First National Bank (FNB) said in a note.