Shilling steady, shilling liquidity may exert pressure

12:34 - 08 January 2016

A currency dealer counts Kenya shillings at a money exchange counter in Nairobi October 23, 2008. REUTERS/Antony Njuguna

At 0730 GMT, commercial banks quoted the shilling at 102.15/25 to the dollar, unchanged from Thursday's close.

Kenya's shilling was steady but could face pressure from extra shilling liquidity that has been pushing down overnight lending rates, traders said.

"We continue to see that market liquidity is high, which now makes the cost of funding lower. If you look at the overnight rates, they have continued to dip," said one trader.

The trader said investors were looking ahead to the central bank's Monetary Policy Committee meeting on Jan. 20 to see what would happen to the main lending rate, now set at 11.50 percent.