NAIROBI (Reuters) – Kenya’s shilling is forecast to weaken against the dollar in the next week to Thursday, while Zambia’s kwacha and Uganda’s shilling are expected to be broadly stable, Nigeria’s naira could be mixed and Ghana’s cedi may strengthen, traders said.
KENYA
Kenya’s shilling is expected to fall, undermined by low dollar inflows and increased demand from the energy sector.
Commercial banks quoted the shilling at 154.00/20 per U.S. dollar, compared with last Thursday’s closing rate of 153.40/60.
“We see the shilling continue to weaken and the demand is still high compared to the flows that we are getting. At the moment (the demand would be from general goods) importers and the energy sector,” one trader said.
NIGERIA
Nigeria’s naira is likely to be mixed on the official market, trading within a wide band, as importers try to settle trade obligations ahead of the Christmas break.
The naira was quoted at 851 to the dollar on the official market on Thursday, weaker than the unofficial parallel market rate of 1,223 naira.
“There is a lot of (dollar) demand with tight supply. It is a supplier’s market. People are desperate, they keep pushing (exchange) rates lower,” one trader said.
GHANA
Ghana’s cedi is expected to strengthen next week due to expected dollar inflows from a syndicated loan to the country’s cocoa marketing board.
LSEG data showed the cedi trading at 11.9800 to the dollar on Thursday, the same as at last Thursday’s close.
“We expect to see marginal gains in the cedi in the coming week, especially given recent news that the $600 million first tranche of COCOBOD’s syndicated loan is set to be received,” said Sedem Dornoo, a senior trader at Absa Bank Ghana.
Ghana’s cocoa board on Tuesday said it had signed a $800 million syndicated loan with banks and expected to draw down the first $600 million this week.
UGANDA
Uganda’s shilling is seen trading in a stable range in the coming days as muted foreign-currency demand and a short trading week prop up the local unit.
Commercial banks quoted the shilling at 3,755/3,765 to the dollar, compared to last Thursday’s close of 3,770/3,780.
One trader said market activity was likely to be extremely limited.
“And also demand will be pretty thin for the fact that most businesses will be closed, … I anticipate the unit to maintain an overall stable tone or marginally strengthen,” he said.
ZAMBIA
Zambia’s kwacha could hold steady next week or fall slightly as hard-currency supply remains subdued.
On Thursday the kwacha was trading at 25.20 per dollar from 24.55 a week ago.
“The local unit is expected to continue trading relatively stable with a bias towards a bearish trend amid poor dollar inflows,” Zambia National Commercial Bank said in a note.
(Reporting by George Obulutsa, Chris Mfula, Christian Akorlie, Chijioke Ohuocha and Elias Biryabarema; Editing by Alexander Winning)
