Kenyan shilling steady versus dollar, stocks down

NAIROBI (Reuters) - The Kenyan shilling held steady against the dollar on Wednesday, and traders said they expected it to firm in coming days, while most stocks on the Nairobi Stock Exchange's main share index were down. At 0855 GMT, commercial banks quoted the shilling at 80.45/55 to the dollar, unchanged from Tuesday's close. "There's not been much movement. Demand has remained light," said a senior trader at one commercial bank. The shilling is expected to trade in the 80.30-81.00 range in the next few days, traders said. The local currency is expected to get a further boost as the year draws to a close and importers demand fewer dollars. "We could see the local unit try to test new highs as importer appetite for the dollar diminishes," said Bank of Africa in a market report. "The local unit will continue being supported by strong inflows from tourism, tea and horticulture sectors, plus remittances from the diaspora and NGO (non governmental organisation) proceeds, all of which could give the local unit impetus to chart new levels." Latest central bank statistics show that in the first eight months of the year, total remittances stood at $402.9 million, up from $398.2 million in the same period in 2009. The government said last month that first half earnings from tourism rose 85 percent on last year, to 48.53 billion shillings, and that it was targeting earnings of 100 billion shillings for 2010, up from 62.46 billion shillings last year. On the Nairobi Stock Exchange, traders said share prices of most companies on the benchmark NSE-20 were down. "Most of the arrows are pointing downwards. There's a lot of profit taking," said Wycliffe Masinde, analyst at Kestrel Capital. The index closed 11.81 points, or 0.25 percent, higher at 4,686.98 on Tuesday. 2010-11-03 11:24:27

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