Kenyan shilling steady, Safaricom helps shares rise

Kenya’s shilling was flat against the dollar on Wednesday, helped by weak demand for the U.S. currency.

At the official market close of 1330 GMT, commercial banks quoted the shilling at 101.75/85 to the dollar, the same as Tuesday’s close.

“There was minimal activity today. People are being cautious and there was no huge (dollar) demand,” said a senior trader at one commercial bank.

On the Nairobi Securities Exchange, the main NSE-20 Share Index rose 25.81 points, or 0.7 percent, to close at 3,815.40 points.

Telecoms firm Safaricom, the bourse’s biggest stock by market capitalisation, gained 1 percent to close at 15.70 shilling.