NAIROBI (Reuters) - The Kenyan shilling was steady against the dollar on Friday, supported by rising interbank rates as investors focus on a presidential election in early March.
East Africa's biggest economy holds elections on March 4, the first since a ballot in 2007 that unleashed weeks of tribal fighting that killed more than 1,200 people.
At 0803 GMT, commercial banks quoted the shilling at 87.30/50 per dollar, barely changed from Thursday's close of 87.40/50.
"Businesses have taken a wait-and-see attitude. Election jitters are still in the market though," said Duncan Kinuthia, head of trading at Commercial Bank of Africa.
Since the beginning of the year, the shilling has lost around 1.4 percent against the dollar as importers dumped the local currency to stock up on dollars ahead of the vote.
The Kenyan central bank has intervened to support the shilling by mopping up excess supply and selling dollars intermittently this year to tighten liquidity by lifting short-term interest rates.
On the money market, the weighted average interbank rate rose to 9.9 percent on Thursday, from 9.7 percent on Wednesday. The rate has risen for 22 straight sessions from a low of 5.43 percent on January 15.
"With the continuing tightening by the central bank and increasing rates on the interbank market, the shilling is still expected to remain well supported in the lead-up to the elections," said Bank of Africa in a daily note.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/kenyan-shilling-steady-underpinned-tight-money-market-093640431--finance.html
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