Kenyan shilling rallies after Reuters report

The Kenyan shilling rallied 1 percent on May 19 from an all-time low of 87.15 against the dollar after the central bank told Reuters that its hard currency purchases were purely to maintain official reserves, and the last thing it wanted to see was a weak currency. In an emailed statement to a Reuters correspondent, the central bank said of its hard currency buying, “Unfortunately, some market players erroneously tend to read these actions by CBK as an indication that it desires to see a weaker shilling. Nothing could be further from the truth.” It was the shilling`s biggest one-day gain since March 18; traders said the Reuters report prompted traders holding long dollar positions to start unwinding them.