Kenyan Shilling Weakens Further; Are Politics to Blame?

The Kenyan shilling has maintained its weakened trend even as the political temperatures in the country continue to rise. Against the US Dollar, the shilling weakened by 0.84 percent on a year-to-date basis. The same trend was replicated against the Sterling Pound where the local currency weakened by 10.39 percent while weakening further against the Euro by 13.22 percent.

The Kenyan Stock Market experienced a drop during Thursday’s session. The market turnover dropped by 53.5 percent to USD 2.30 million or an equivalent of 237.35 million shillings. The NSE 20 and NASI declined by 0.35 percent and 0.99 percent respectively to close the day at 3,716.72 and 163.38 respectively. Foreign investors, on the other hand, assumed a net buying position by accounting for 73.0 percent of total market purchases and 34.9 percent of total market sales.

Across the pond on the East African Community Markets, in Uganda, the USE ALSI dropped by 0.10 percent to close at 1,721.96 while USE LCI held constant at 377.17 and in Rwanda, the RSE RSI and RASI remained at 122.90 and 131.71 respectively.