The Kenyan shilling held steady against the dollar on Friday and was expected it to firm slightly as exporters book profits after several days of weakness in the currency.
The shilling has lost 0.3 percent this week due to demand for dollars from importers and excess shilling liquidity in the market, which prompted the central bank to mop up 24.6 billion shillings in repurchase agreements over four straight sessions.
At 09:30 SA time, commercial banks quoted the shilling at 83.30/50 per dollar, barely changed from Thursday's close of 83.40/50.
Sameer Lagadia, head of trading at Diamond Trust Bank, said exporters' converting of dollar earnings was expected to strengthen the shilling.
Traders expected the central bank to soak up more liquidity in a bid to stabilise overnight lending rates in the interbank market, lending further support to the shilling.
The average interbank rate rose to 13.4 percent on Thursday from 12.5 percent a day earlier, after falling to as low as 10.3 on April 5 due to a sudden surge in liquidity caused by the government paying its bills and investors redeeming debt. - Reuters