CBK digs deeper into dollar reserves to bailout a weakening shilling

By Amina Faki

The Kenya Shilling depreciated against the US Dollar on Thursday to close at 103.0 shillings from Wednesday’s close of 103.65/85 on account of increased demand from oil importers and retail segments.

This lead to the Central bank opting to sell dollars to support the weakening shilling.

The shilling weakened against major global currencies by 1.43 percent, 8.02 percent, and 11.96 percent against the dollar, the pound and the euro respectively.

Read: CBK assures there is adequate FOREX  reserves to bolster the Shilling

The equities market at the bourse recorded a 13.3 percent decline to close at 5.6 million US Dollars approximately 589.4 million shillings from Wednesday’s trading which closed at 6.4 million US Dollars.

The NSE 20 and the NASI indices gained 0.23 percent and 0.08 percent to close at 3,683.24 percent and 154.31 percent respectively.

Local investor’s activities increased at the market while simultaneously foreign investor’s activities dipped assuming a net selling position accounting for 57 percent of the total market sales and 53.2 percent of the total market purchases.