950822

Kenya shilling

unchanged

against dollar

NAIROBI: The Kenyan shilling traded unchanged versus dollar but weakened against the pound on Tuesday, commercial bank traders said.

The shilling was posted at a commercial bank mean rate of 55.25 against the dollar, the same mid-rate at close on Monday.

Compared to the pound, it opened at a commercial bank mean rate of 85.13 from 85.08 at close the previous day.

Economic analysts forecast a weaker shilling by the week's end when some 12 billion shillings will be expected to enter the market by Thursday from maturing treasury bills.

The Central Bank (CBK) raised interest rates on short-term treasury bills, a barometer for inflationary levels, one August 3 to try to half volatile swings in the local currency.

But financial sources said despite the high rates offered by the central bank, investors had sanpped up only one billion shillings in treasury bills from a weekly five billion shillings in bills the CBR offered.

It was not immediately clear why demand for high-yielding bills was lower than forecasts.-Reuter