Kenyan shilling breaches key level to hover at new 3-year lows

NAIROBI, March 16 (Reuters) - Kenya's shilling 
weakened to a new three-year low on Monday, hurt by dollar
demand from the energy sector and panic buying as the local
currency breached the psychologically important 92 level.
    At 0715 GMT, the shilling fell to 92.25/35 against the
dollar, its lowest level since Nov. 2011, having closed at
92.25/35 on Friday.
   Traders said the central bank may intervene to support the
local currency by selling dollars. The central bank has in the
past intervened when the shilling weakened near the 92 level.
    A trader at one Nairobi-based commercial bank said dollar
demand from the energy sector forced the shilling through the 92
level in early trade before panic buying set in.
    "We attribute (the sharp weakening) to some panic buying,"
said the trader, who added that the central bank was calling
currency dealers to inquire about how the shilling is trading,
showing that they may intervene to support the shilling.    
    "If its driven by fundamentals, they might leave it a day or
two (before intervening)," added a trader at another commercial
bank.
    Other regional currencies have lost ground to the dollar in
recent weeks due to the strength of the dollar, which has
rallied against most major global currencies on expectation the
U.S. Federal Reserve would hike rates faster than expected.
    Traders said the shilling was receiving some support from
tighter money market liquidity, which usually helps the local
currency.
    Technical analysis of the 14-day and 50-day weighted moving
averages shows the shilling was expected to maintain a weakening
trend in the near term.

               ...........................Shilling spot rates 
                  .....................Shilling forward rates 
                           .......................Cross rates 
         ..................................Local contributors 
           .......................Central Bank of Kenya Index 
          .....................Kenyan Bonds contributor pages 
                          ...............Treasury bill yields 
        ..................Central bank open market operations 
        .........................Horizontal repo transactions 
         ,       ................Daily interbank lending rate 
              .............................Kenya Bond pricing 
             ..................Real time Africa economic data 
 <ECI & AFR> ...........................African economic news
          .................................NSE-20 Share Index
         .................................NSE All Share Index
             ...........................FT NSE Kenya 15 Index
             .......................... FT NSE Kenya 25 Index
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 (Reporting by Drazen Jorgic and George Obulutsa; Editing by
James Macharia)
SOURCE: http://www.reuters.com/