KENYA Kenya's shilling is expected to extend its losses in the coming week as it remains under intense pressure from dollar demand from fuel importers. Commercial banks quoted the shilling at 130.00/20 per dollar, compared with last Thursday's close of 128.55/75. During Thursday's session the shilling touched a new all-time low against the dollar, with year-to-date losses standing at more than 5%, Refinitiv data showed. "Demand from importers in the energy sector is continuing to outstrip supply from the usual sources," a trader at a commercial bank said.
GHANA Ghana's cedi is expected to be broadly steady in the coming week despite an increase in corporate demand for dollars that made it weaken slightly over the past week. Refinitiv data showed the cedi trading at 12.2000 to the dollar on Thursday, compared to 12.0000 at last Thursday's close. "The cedi gave up some of its gains the prior week as dollar supply eased amid some pick-up in corporate demand. We expect the pair to remain relatively stable within the current range this month," said Chris Nettey, a trader at Stanbic Bank.
UGANDA Uganda's shilling is seen trading on a weaker footing as commercial banks show strong demand for hard currency to build buffers amid turmoil in global markets.
At 0858 GMT, commercial banks quoted the shilling at
3,745/3,755 to the dollar, compared to last Thursday's close of
3,705/3,715.
"There's ongoing volatility and uncertainty in the global
markets, and typically in such situations we tend to see a rush
to build buffers on the dollar side," one trader said.
TANZANIA
Tanzania's shilling is expected to hold steady next
week as rising demand for dollars across the economy will be
cushioned by inflows from agricultural exports.
Commercial banks quoted the shilling at 2,335/2,345 to the
dollar on Thursday, unchanged from last week's close.
"Demand for U.S. dollars is still high in the market from
nearly all sectors including energy and manufacturing and
this is a global phenomenon for now. However, based on the
current trend we do not expect any changes next week, the
shilling will follow the same trajectory," a trader said.
ZAMBIA Zambia's kwacha is likely to remain under pressure against the dollar next week as hard-currency demand outpaces limited supply. On Thursday, commercial banks quoted the currency of Africa's second-largest copper producer at 20.6700 per dollar from 20.4000 a week ago. "The local currency is anticipated to continue declining in value in the short run due to the persistent trade-off between increasing demand for hard currency and low dollar supply," Access Bank said in a note. Finance Minister Situmbeko Musokotwane said on Wednesday that delays in the country's debt restructuring process were putting pressure on the local currency as foreign investors were scared investments in Zambian bonds would be subject to restructuring.
NIGERIA Nigeria's naira is seen broadly stable on the parallel market after the central bank this week said it would extend its deadline to swap old banknotes to the end of the year, in line with a court order. The naira was quoted at 753 to the dollar on the parallel market on Thursday, the same level as last week.
It traded in a range of 460 to 462 on the official market . "Given the additional clarity on the official acceptance of old naira notes, we expect to see the currency weaken against the dollar," AZA Finance said in a note. "However, this is likely to happen only gradually, given that the central bank has already mopped up a sizeable portion of the old notes in preparation for replacement with new ones."
(Reporting by Chris Mfula, Hereward Holland, Elias Biryabarema, Nuzulack Dausen, Christian Akorlie and Chijioke Ohuocha; Compiled by Hereward Holland and Bhargav Acharya; Editing by Alexander Winning)
