Kenyan shilling falls on dollar demand ahead of New Year

NAIROBI: The Kenyan shilling weakened 0.2 percent in early trading on Monday as corporate clients bought dollars ahead of the New Year holiday, traders said.

The shilling fell to 86.20/30 from Friday's close of 86.00/10 on thin volumes.

"We're seeing some last minute corporate demand and there are no dollar inflows. It's a very thin market," said Andlip Nazir, senior trader at I&M Bank.

Nazir said the weakening trend would continue into the first week of January with more corporate clients including importers seen in need of the US currency.