Kenya Shilling Gains Third Day as Central Bank Removes Money

Kenya’s shilling gained for the third day, the longest winning streak in three months, on subdued dollar demand and as the central bank continued to remove money from the market.

The currency of East Africa’s biggest economy gained as much as 0.3 percent to 87.15 per dollar and was trading less than 0.1 percent stronger at 87.32 by 12:50 p.m. in Nairobi, the capital.

“The shilling has recovered over the dollar on reduced activity in the market and the continued support its getting from the central bank,” Jeremiah Kendagor, head of trading at Nairobi-based Kenya Commercial Bank Ltd., said today.

The Central Bank of Kenya offered 4 billion shillings ($46 million) of seven-day repurchase agreements, an official, who asked not to be identified in line with policy, said by phone from Nairobi. The bank which uses the repos to reduce total money supply and support the shilling, has removed a total of 110 billion shillings this year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Uganda’s currency was unchanged at 2,650 per dollar, while the Tanzanian shilling was also unchanged, trading at 1,616 per dollar.

To contact the reporter on this story: Johnstone Ole Turana in Nairobi at jturana@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Antony Sguazzin at asguazzin@bloomberg.net