* Stocks end three-day losing streak * Shilling seen under pressure (Adds markets close, stocks) By Drazen Jorgic and George Obulutsa NAIROBI, May 22 (Reuters) - The Kenyan shilling hovered close to a 2-1/2 year low against the dollar on Thursday, with traders expecting it to weaken further as a spate of bombings deters tourists and investors. However, on the Nairobi Securities Exchange the main NSE-20 Share Index.NSE20 closed 0.25 percent higher, breaking a three-day losing streak. The shilling has retreated about 0.8 percent in May, hurt by bombings in the capital Nairobi and along Kenya's Indian Ocean coastline. Tourists have fled after travel warnings by Britain and the United States. On Tuesday, the shilling touched 87.95, its weakest since October 2011 according to Thomson Reuters data. At close of trade at 1300 GMT, the shillingKES= was at 87.80/90 to the dollar, the same as Wednesday's close. "The market is in a consolidating phase. We see a weakening bias," Commercial Bank of Africa trader Joshua Anene said. Traders say the shilling has also come under pressure in recent days due to the start of the dividend payment season, with Kenyan companies buying dollars to pay dividends to foreign investors. Anene said the market is watching to see if there is enough momentum against the shilling for it to fall through 88, a technical resistance level that is offering support to the local currency. The shilling has also been aided by persistent liquidity mop ups by the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK). By draining excess liquidity the bank makes it more expensive for banks to hold onto long dollar positions. "The CBK is helping the shilling but I don't think it will be strong enough to stop us crossing 88," Anene added. The NSE-20 Share Index closed up 12.44 points at 4,915.06 points. Equity BankEQTY.NR , which posted a 21 percent rise in first quarter pretax profit to 5.4 billion shillings, was up 2 percent to close at 38.75 shillings a share. "Equity was a big mover. It's dominated by foreign investors. I think it's mostly on first quarter performance. There hasn't been any significant news to drive it up," Kuria Kamau, research analyst at Kestrel Capital, said. On the secondary market, government bonds valued at 652 million shillings were traded, compared with Wednesday's 886.9 million shillings.KES= KES1= ...........................Shilling spot ratesKESF= 0#KESF= .....................Shilling forward ratesEURKES= KESX= KESX1= .......................Cross ratesKES=KE ..................................Local contributorsCBKINDEX .......................Central Bank of Kenya IndexKE/DEBT .....................Kenyan Bonds contributor pagesCBK03 CBK06 KE3MTB= ...............Treasury bill yieldsCBK04 ..................Central bank open market operationsCBK07 .........................Horizontal repo transactionsKEIBR= ,CBK02 ................Daily interbank lending rate0#KETSYSTR= .............................Kenya Bond pricingECONAFRICA ..................Real time Africa economic data <ECI & AFR> ...........................African economic news.NSE20 .................................NSE-20 Share Index.NASI .................................NSE All Share Index.FTFNKEN1 ...........................FT NSE Kenya 15 Index.FTFNKEN2 .......................... FT NSE Kenya 25 Index SPEED GUIDES:REUTERS KES/1 KE/DEBT MONEY KE/EQUITY ($1 = 87.8500 Kenyan Shillings) (Editing by Ruth Pitchford) ((james.macharia@thomsonreuters.com)(Tel: +254 20 221 4608)(Reuters Messaging: james.macharia.thomsonreuters@reuters.net)) Keywords: KENYA MARKETS/
UPDATE 1-Kenyan shilling close to 2-1/2 year low; stocks up
* Stocks end three-day losing streak * Shilling seen under pressure (Adds markets close, stocks) By Drazen Jorgic and George Obulutsa NAIROBI, May 22 (Reuters) - The Kenyan shilling hovered close to a 2-1/2 year low against the dollar on Thursday, with traders expecting it to weaken further as a spate of bombings deters tourists and investors. However, on the Nairobi
May 22, 2014
