Kenyan shilling steady, seen rangebound in quiet trade

Kenya: The shilling was flat at three-year lows in quiet trade yesterday and was seen rangebound in the next few days due to slack demand against a trickle of hard currency inflows. Commercial banks posted the shilling unchanged from Tuesday’s close at 90.30/90.40 to the dollar, a level it hit last Thursday before the Central Bank sold dollars to support the currency.

The shilling had retreated earlier this week after Islamist militants ambushed a bus and killed 28 people near the Somali border at the weekend, while dollar buying from importers sped up its decline against the dollar, traders said.