NAIROBI: The Kenyan shilling was steady on Friday, supported by the previous day’s intervention by the central bank which sold dollars into the market after the local currency weakened. The benchmark NSE-20 share index finished lower while the all share index notched some gains for a second straight day. At the close of trade, commercial banks quoted the shilling at 97.45/55 to the dollar versus 97.50/70 at Thursday’s close.
The shilling lifted from an intra-day low of 98.95/99.05 – a level last seen in Nov. 2011 – after traders said the central bank had sold an undisclosed amount of dollars late on Thursday. “Yesterday we saw a massive move. The dollar sales have helped,” a trader at one commercial bank said.
The shilling has been undermined by a stronger dollar, falling foreign exchange inflows due to reduced tourist arrivals after frequent Islamist militant attacks, and a widening current account deficit due to demand for imports like capital goods.
In the stock market, the NSE-20 share index fell 0.4 percent to close at 4,786.74 points. The broader all share index added 0.67 points to close at 162.13.
Traders said the divergence in the two indices could be signalling an end to the recent bear run at the bourse but it would take a few more days for the trend to be confirmed.
In the debt market, bonds worth 2 billion shillings ($21 million) were traded, up from 1.37 billion shillings worth of bonds which changed hands on Thursday.
