NAIROBI, May 21 (Reuters) - The Tanzania and Uganda shillings firmed against the dollar in the week to Wednesday, while the Kenyan currency was slightly weaker, dealers said.
KENYA
The Kenya shilling <KES=> was slightly weaker against the dollar in the week to Wednesday, touching a low of 62.45/55 on a pick-up in corporate demand, before recouping, dealers said.
At 1200 GMT commercial banks quoted the local unit at 61.95/62.05 compared with last Wednesday's close of 61.75/85.
"There was a pick-up in demand particularly from the corporate side to a low of 62.50, at those levels supply came in and subsequently we have seen it retrace towards 62.00," said Duncan Kimani a senior dealer at the Bank of Africa.
Dealers said the market was eyeing expected dollar inflows from foreign investors in the initial public offering of mobile phone firm Safaricom [SCOM.NR], east Africa's largest issue ever.
Traders expect the local currency to remain within the 61.50-62.50 range in coming days.
"We can say it will be volatile but range bound," another dealer said.
UGANDA
The Uganda shilling <UGX=> firmed against the dollar supported by inflows of the greenback against weak corporate demand, dealers said.
Leading commercial banks in Kampala posted the shilling at 1,628/1,633 to the dollar compared to 1,646/1,651 quoted a week ago.
Dealers said the market had been slow since the beginning of the week.
"The market is sluggish, and we are not seeing much demand. We anticipate offshore inflows for today's central bank auction, which will support the strong shilling," said Denis Mushabe Mashanyu, a dealer at Standard Chartered Bank Uganda.
The central bank will today auction 75 billion shillings worth of treasury bills.
Market sentiment is for a strong local unit in the absence of any central bank intervention as corporate players stay on the side lines, dealers said.
"Corporate demand is flat. Most of them have covered dividend payments. In the coming days most corporate players will be looking for shillings to meet their tax obligations," said a dealer with a commercial bank.
Dealers said they expected the shilling to trade between 1,620 and 1,640 in the coming days.
TANZANIA
The Tanzania shilling <TZS=> was firmer against the dollar during the week in the absence of demand for the U.S. currency, and agricultural inflows, dealers said.
The local unit traded at 1,190/1,200 to the dollar compared with 1,210/1,220 at last Wednesday's close.
"We have seen appreciation over the past week specifically because of low demand and inflows, generally from the agriculture sector," said Stephen Rocky, a dealer at the Kenya Commercial Bank in Tanzania.
The shilling is expected to strengthen to 1,185/1,195 levels in the coming week, driven by inflows from the tobacco industry and intervention from the Bank of Tanzania (BOT), another dealer said.
"BOT has indicated that it will be selling forex to mop up excess liquidity," said James Rutta a dealer at Citibank Tanzania. (Reporting by Susan Nabadda in Kampala; writing by Wangui Kanina; editing by David Christian-Edwards)
