NAIROBI: The Kenyan shilling firmed slightly on Thursday as demand for a broadly weaker dollar by importers slowed down, with traders expecting the local currency to gain further.
By 0834 GMT, commercial banks quoted the shilling at 86.60/80 per dollar, a tad firmer than Wednesday's close of 86.70/90.
"The shilling is strengthening a bit on reduced customer dollar demand," said John Muli, a trader at African Banking Corporation.
Muli said tight shilling liquidity in the foreign exchange market and a globally weaker dollar, could help the local currency strengthen further.
The shilling has remained well supported by tight supply in the local market due to companies paying the latest instalment of tax to government and inflows into a 12-year infrastructure bond in September, whose sale has been extended for the next three months.
"The infrastructure bond is expected to continue to support the shilling in the short term," the Bank of Africa said in a daily note.
On money markets, the weighted average overnight interbank lending rate rose for the 16th straight session on Wednesday, to 9.7819 percent, from 9.9612 percent on Tuesday.
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