Kenyan shilling steady; KenGen drags shares lower again

A stockbroker transacts shares during a trading session at the Nairobi Securities Exchange in Kenya's capital Nairobi January 11, 2012. REUTERS/Thomas Mukoya·Reuters· (Reuters)

By George Obulutsa NAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenya's biggest power producer Kenya Electricity Generating Company (KenGen) dragged shares lower for a second straight session, while the shilling was stable, traders said. The Nairobi Securities Exchange's main NSE-20 Share Index fell 23.27 points or 0.45 percent to 5,174.41 points. KenGen, which last week reported a 46 percent drop in after-tax earnings and slashed its dividend, closed 4.8 percent lower at 10.95 shillings a share. On the foreign exchange market, the shilling closed trade at 89.35/45 to the dollar, from Friday's close of 89.40/50. Traders said companies that usually seek dollars to meet end-of-month commitments were holding back to see if the central bank would again sell dollars to help the shilling. "We probably expect to see demand coming in from tomorrow," said Nahashon Mungai, trader at Kenya Commercial Bank, said. The shilling has been under pressure in part because of a sharp downturn in tourist arrivals, a major source of foreign currency, in the wake of Islamist attacks. In September, the central bank sold dollars when the shilling hit 89.45/55. The central bank has previously said that it has enough foreign exchange reserves to cope with any shocks to the economy. Traders say the bank would only intervene to shore up the shilling if the local currency depreciates rapidly in speculative trade, rather than demand and supply fundamentals. The central bank said it had mopped up a total 4.63 billion shillings ($52 million) in excess liquidity. The action makes it costlier to hold long dollar positions and therefore helps bolster the shilling. On the secondary market, government bonds worth 1.38 billion shillings were traded, up from 920.1 million shillings on Friday. ...........................Shilling spot rates .....................Shilling forward rates .......................Cross rates ..................................Local contributors .......................Central Bank of Kenya Index .....................Kenyan Bonds contributor pages ...............Treasury bill yields ..................Central bank open market operations .........................Horizontal repo transactions ,................Daily interbank lending rate .............................Kenya Bond pricing ..................Real time Africa economic data ...........................African economic news .................................NSE-20 Share Index .................................NSE All Share Index ...........................FT NSE Kenya 15 Index .......................... FT NSE Kenya 25 Index SPEED GUIDES: (1 US dollar = 89.4000 Kenyan shilling)

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