The Kenyan shilling seen firming on diminished dollar demand. Photo/FILE
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At close of trade at 1300 GMT, commercial banks quoted the shilling at 86.80/90 to the dollar, the same as Wednesday's close.
Traders said dollar demand from importers had subsided, and this was expected to lend some support to the shilling.
The Kenyan shilling was steady on Friday, and traders said they expected it to firm next week as demand for dollars by importers eases and hard-currency inflows from agriculture picks up.
At close of trade at 1300 GMT, commercial banks quoted the shilling at 86.80/90 to the dollar, the same as Wednesday's close.
The shilling is expected to trade in a range of 86.70 to 87.30 in the days ahead, traders said.
Kenyan markets were closed for Labour Day on Thursday.
"Some of the demand is being taken away, so going forward you expect pressure to ease on the shilling," a senior trader at one commercial bank said.
Traders said dollar demand from importers had subsided, and this was expected to lend some support to the shilling.
"It's the beginning of the month. Let's see how demand plays out. But it (the shilling) is expected to strengthen a bit," African Banking Corporation trader Julius Kiriinya said.
He said dollar inflows from agricultural exports tend to arrive early in the week.
Other traders said they expected the shilling to remain steady, as it has for most of 2014.
The currency has lost 0.2 percent versus the dollar so far this year.
On the Nairobi Securities Exchange, the main NSE-20 Share Index closed up 10.95 points, at 4,959.91 points.
Among the shares leading the gains were Equity Bank and Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB), which reported a 31 percent rise in first quarter 2014 pretax profit, closing 2 percent higher at Sh50.
Equity Bank, which plans to open a telecoms services arm this month in a bid to increase its share of the market for mobile-phone-based financial services, rose 0.7 percent to close at Sh38.50 a share.
"On KCB, its (rise is) mainly because of the release of the results which came in on Wednesday," Augustine Misoka, trader at Sterling Investment Bank, said.
"On Equity Bank, it's really been driven by the news that they will enter the telecom space."
On the secondary market, government bonds valued at Sh2.36 billion ($27.16 million) were traded, compared with Wednesday's Sh2.90 billion.
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