Kenyan shilling holds steady, shares edge up

The Kenyan shilling was stable on Wednesday, with trade slowing in the build-up to the traditionally quiet Christmas season while shares eked out meager gains.

At the 1330 GMT close of trading, commercial banks posted the shilling at 102.10/20, unchanged from the previous day’s close.

“The market is flat,” one Nairobi-based trader said. “The holiday mood is already here. Activities are slowing down.”

The shilling has been stuck in a narrow band of 102.00-102.50 for weeks as importer dollar demand keeps it from appreciating beyond 102.00 and the prospect of central bank intervention keeps it from weakening past 102.50.

In stocks, the benchmark NSE 20 share index edged up 0.3 percent to close at 3,989.87 points.

In the fixed-income market, bonds worth 2.9 billion shillings were traded, up from the previous day’s volume of 2.2 billion shillings.