Kenyan shilling stable but traders see FX demand picking up

NAIROBI: Kenya’s shilling was stable against the US dollar on Friday, but traders said they expected it to come under pressure from foreign-currency demand from the manufacturing sector.

At 0900 GMT, commercial banks quoted the shilling at 128.50/129.50 to the dollar, the same level it closed on Thursday.

Kenyan shilling firms to new 1-year high

Foreign-currency inflows for a 50 billion Kenyan shilling infrastructure bond auction earlier this week have helped support the local unit in recent sessions.

“There’s a lot of (FX) demand kicking in,” one trader said.

“What had lifted the shilling was the infrastructure bond (auction). Now the (market) fundamentals are coming back into play.”