Friday 15 January 2010

Kenyan shilling stable vs dollar, eyes on c.bank

NAIROBI (Reuters) - The Kenyan shilling held steady against the dollar on Thursday and traders said any future gains would likely be limited by central bank buying of the U.S. currency.

At 0920 GMT, commercial banks quoted the local unit at 75.35/45, the same as Wednesday's close.

Traders said they saw the shilling in a 75.00-75.70 range in coming days.

"Both counters are well balanced and at the moment, what we are seeing is the bias remains for a stronger shilling, though CBK (Central Bank of Kenya) activity is limiting the shilling's appreciation," said a senior trader at one commercial bank.

The bank stayed out of the foreign exchange market on Thursday, but bought the U.S. currency in the previous session.

The central bank also said on Wednesday that remittances sent from Kenyans abroad in the first 11 months of last year fell by 3.2 percent to $553 million compared with a similar period in 2008.

Remittances are Kenya's third biggest source of foreign exchange after tourism and agricultural exports. Source

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