NAIROBI, July 6 (Xinhua) -- The Kenya shilling on Thursday was weighed down by increased U.S. dollar demand from importers, losing more ground against the currency.
The shilling traded at a new low of 104 to the dollar as it continued with a downward trend started last week.
The Central Bank of Kenya on Thursday placed the value of the shilling at 103.81, about the same level the local unit traded in the previous session. On Wednesday, the shilling weakened 0.09 percent.
Commercial banks in the East African nation, however, quoted the currency at between 103.80 and 104.00, with traders noting there was a surge in dollar demand from oil and other retail importers.
While the Kenya shilling has been largely stable, it depreciated 1.1 percent against the dollar in the first half of 2017 to close at 103.7 at the end of June from 102.5 at the end of 2016.
The drop was attributed to high dollar demand from oil importers amid rising global oil prices, with the situation being worsened by Kenya being a net importer.
The Central Bank has sold dollars worth about 200 million, which are part of its foreign exchange reserves, in the last few days to stem the fall of the shilling.
Kenya's forex reserves currently stand at 7.96 billion dollars or 5.26 months of import cover from reserves falling from 8.11 billion dollars. Enditem
