Good news as the Kenyan shilling closes steady; shares rise

The Kenyan shilling was little changed against the dollar on Monday as expectations of Central Bank intervention lent support to the local currency, while stocks rose.

At the close of trade, commercial banks quoted the shilling at 102.15/25 per dollar, barely changed from Friday’s close of 102.10/20.

Traders said trading volumes were thin, partly due to importers’ lower appetite for dollars ahead of Christmas.

“The aggressive posture of the central bank was supporting the shilling,” said one Nairobi-based trader, who noted that it was a “fairly quiet day” in the market.

The shilling, which is down 11 percent this year, dropped close to its record low in September, before it stabilised on the back of high lending rates and the central bank’s interventions in the market.

Traders said the central bank has been targeting 102.50 as the resistance level and has sold dollars when the local currency weakened past that point.

On the Nairobi Securities Exchange, the main NSE-20 Share Index rose 28.56 points, or 0.7 percent, to close at 4,230.67 points.

On the secondary market, government bonds worth a total 5.9 million shillings ($58,000) were traded, down from 942.9 million on Friday.