Kenyan shilling steady versus dollar, seen in range

Kenya's shilling barely moved against the dollar in a slow session on Monday that was marked by little importer demand for the U.S. currency.

At 1114 GMT commercial banks quoted the shilling at Sh76.60/70 against the dollar from Friday's close of Sh76.65/75.

Traders said they expect the shilling to trade in the Sh76.50 to Sh77.00 range in coming days.

They said the shilling had firmed in the early hours of the session to Sh76.50/60 per greenback, helped by a generally weaker dollar on world markets, prompting a slight sell-off.

"This morning the sale was a bit on the reaction to the international market where the dollar was a bit weaker," said Steve Lagat, a trader at CFC Stanbic Bank.

But the gains were reversed by demand from the manufacturing and energy sectors.

"Demand is just minimal, no specific areas, just some from the oil sector and a bit of manufacturing," said Friday Mwafuga, head of trading at Co-operative Bank.