NAIROBI: The Kenyan shilling rebounded 1 percent from its session low on Friday to close firmer against the dollar, as investors began liquidating some dollar positions following the shilling's rate-cut induced dip.
Kenyan shares barely moved as investors awaited corporate earnings.
At the 1300 GMT market close, commercial banks quoted the shilling at 84.00/20 per dollar, stronger than Thursday's close of 84.15/35. The shilling earlier hit an intraday low of 84.90/85.10.
The earlier fall was in reaction to the central bank's bigger-than-expected 150 basis point interest rate cut after the market close on Thursday.
"People who were holding large dollar positions decided to liquidate (them) when the shilling depreciated," said a trader at one commercial bank.
Traders said the shilling could still come under pressure from the rate cut, which took the policy rate down to 16.5 percent, potentially making it harder for banks to fund long dollar positions.
The central bank could however counter the pressure using other arsenals in its tool kit, like repurchase agreements (repos), to soak up excess liquidity from the market.
During Friday's session, it mopped up 7 billion shillings ($83.4 million) in repos, having received bids worth 11.05 billion shillings for its 7 billion shilling offer of seven-day, 14-day, 21-day and 28-day repos.
On the stockmarket, the benchmark NSE-20 share index , finished the day almost flat, having shed two points to close at 3,793.32 points, as focus turned to corporate earnings.
British American Tobacco Kenya closed half a percentage point down at 380 shillings per share, after the cigarette maker reported flat first-half revenue due to lower demand for semi-processed leaf and a stronger shilling.
Analysts said the previous day's interest rates cut had already been factored into the market - the benchmark index rose to a 12-month high earlier in the week - adding that focus would shift to companies' financial results.
"If corporate earnings are supportive, the shares will continue their rally," said Eric Musau, an analyst at Standard Investment Bank.
Banks are expected to start posting their half-year results later this month while a slew of blue chips, including brewer EABL and sugar firm Mumias, will post full-year earnings next month.
In the debt market, government bonds worth 425.1 million shillings were traded, up from 615.4 million shillings on Thursday.
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