Kenyan shilling steady after Central Bank rate hold

Kenya‘s shilling barely moved against the dollar on Thursday, with traders saying there was little market reaction to the central bank’s decision a day earlier to hold its benchmark lending rate at 11.5 percent. Stocks fell.

At 0715 GMT, commercial banks quoted the shilling at 102.30/40, little changed from Wednesday’s close of 102.35/45.

“There was really nothing going on today. Inflows and outflows have been totally balanced,” said a trader at one commercial bank. A second trader confirmed there was little impact from the central bank’s action.

The central bank said its current lending rate was adequate to contain inflation.

On the Nairobi Securities Exchange, the main NSE-20 Share Index was down 36.54 points, or 1 percent, to close at 3,759.94 points.