Kenyan Shilling Fails to Capitalize on Economic Data

The Kenyan Shilling (KES) failed to capitalise on a plethora of injurious economic data against its basket of currencies, closing the week on marginal losses against international and regional peers. On the international front the local currency was initially buoyed by major Eastern economies increasing their appetite for riskier assets that saw an increase in uptake of securities in selected emerging markets.

The South African Rand significantly benefited from this and registered significant gains against the Kenyan shilling. The Sterling Pound and the Euro recorded slight gains against the shilling – 70% and8.5% (respectively) – despite Bank of England comments hinting at further monetary easing and Germany’s six-month outlook (for the Euro) rating a -14%.

The USDKES remained relatively stable, registering an annualized volatility of 0.93%, as mixed data emanated from the economy- further suppressing the greenback that saw invest turn to safe havens. Mid-week markets remained subdued, following the International Monetary Fund downwardly revised its projections for global economic growth (in 2016) by one basis point to 3.2%.