NAIROBI, June 28 (Xinhua) -- The Kenyan shilling remained firm against the U.S. dollar on Wednesday amid rising demand for dollars by oil importers.
The local currency closed the day at an average of 103.70, the same level it was the previous day.
The Central Bank of Kenya put the value of the shilling at 103.67, with the apex bank said to have sold unknown amount of dollars to cushion the currency.
Commercial banks, on the other hand, placed the shilling at between 103.70 and 103.80 as traders noted there were low inflows coming into the East African nation.
On the contrary, dollar demand from retail importers making end-month purchases continued to swell.
Last week, Kenya's forex reserves dropped from 8.18 billion dollars or 5.41 months of import cover to 8.11 billion dollars or 5.36 months of import cover, according to the apex bank.
The about 70 million dollars drop is an indication that the Central Bank sold the amount of reserves to prop up the shilling.
Whenever the local currency is facing turbulence, the regulator usually sells dollars to buttress the shilling to save it from falling to a level that will disrupt the market.
The apex bank has used some 154 million dollars to support the shilling since the start of June. Enditem
