Kenyan shares rise on earnings bets, shilling steady

By Kevin Mwanza

NAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenyan shares rose on Thursday as bargain hunters picked up stocks cheaply after a recent falls and in anticipation of good results from listed firms, while the shilling was steady.

The main NSE-20 share index added 0.2 percent to 4,574.10 points.

Kenyan shares slumped over 8 percent in June on the back of profit-taking, concerns over the end of the U.S. stimulus programme and uncertainty over a government plan to re-introduce capital gains tax.

The index is still up 11 percent this year.

"The upcoming (interim) earning season has drawn some speculation," said Faith Atiti, an analyst at NIC Securities.

Companies whose financial year ends in June will also attract buyers ahead of their results announcements, she said.

Shares in mobile phone service provider Safaricom gained 1.6 percent to 6.45 shillings, while the Co-operative Bank climbed 1.3 percent to 15.70 shillings.

In foreign exchange, the shilling closed at 86.20/30 per dollar, barely changed from Wednesday's close of 86.10/30.

Traders said they expected the shilling to remain under pressure from dollar demand by oil importers in the absence of matching supply before next week's central bank rate setting meeting.

The shilling fell 0.3 percent on Wednesday, weighed down by oil importers buying dollars in a market short of inflows from usual sectors such as tea, Kenya's top hard currency earner.

"The besieged shilling looks open to further losses if inflows do not come through, with market punditry staking out for the 86.50 mark this week," said Commercial Bank of Africa in a daily note.

In debt, the weighted average yield on the 91-day Treasury bill rose to 5.496 percent from 5.175 percent last week.

Bonds worth 3.6 billion shilling swere traded, up from 2.1 billion shillings on Wednesday.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/kenyan-shares-rise-earnings-bets-shilling-steady-153723274.html

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