The shilling rose to a six month high against the US dollar in early
trading on Tuesday morning as the currency market reacted positively to
the peaceful conclusion of the presidential poll contest.
By CHARLES MWANIKI, cmwaniki@ke.nationmedia.com
Posted Tuesday, April 2 2013 at 12:21
Posted Tuesday, April 2 2013 at 12:21
CBK listed the shilling at an indicative rate of
84.98 units to the dollar, the first time the shilling touched the 84
levels since October 8, 2012 when it closed at 84.91 to the dollar.
The local unit closed at a mean of 85.63 to the dollar on Thursday
as the country went into the Easter weekend which was highlighted by
the eagerly awaited Supreme Court decision on the Presidential petition.
The Supreme Court ruled
that the election of Mr Uhuru Kenyatta as the fourth President of Kenya
was valid, and according to analysts the peaceful aftermath of the
petition has helped set a good mood for the currency market.
“The market has taken this conclusion very
positively. Going forward we are closely watching how much the offshore
investors are bringing in and what areas of the economy they will put
their money into,” said Mr Stephen Lagat, head of trading at
CFC-Stanbic.
He said that CFC-Stanbic opened trading in the
morning at 85.00/20 levels, and later the local unit strengthened by mid
morning to trade at 84.55/75 levels.
Mr Lagat however said that the shilling is not
projected to run to 83 levels in the short term, given that the currency
market is mainly driven by inflows.
ABC Bank opened at 84.90/85.30, and said in a
morning note to clients that the shilling is expected to gain this week
after investors had let go of dollars from Thursday due to the speedy
resolution of the petition, as well as declining end month demand.
No comments:
Post a Comment