The shilling traded relatively flat versus the greenback in what was a dull start to the week.
The home unit was little changed against the dollar in a session that saw both demand and supply equally matched.
Dollar demand from corporate and interbank players tipped the scale slightly in the afternoon and helped the USDUGX currency pair gain about 5 shillings on the day. Yesterday’s trading range will likely be preserved as market searches for fresh economic rudiments to give price direction.
Greenback edges up
The dollar edged up on Monday, hovering at a three-week high, as it held on to gains after news of a stronger-than-expected increase in U.S. jobs in June scaled back traders’ expectations of a sharp Federal Reserve rate cut at the end of July.
Investor attention shifts to Powell as he delivers his semi-annual monetary report before Congress to gauge how far the U.S. central bank will lower interest rates.
The Euro was marginally lower at 1.1215 levels with the shared currency struggling to find demand. Data published by the Sentix showed that investor confidence continued to deteriorate in July with the economic index dropping to its lowest level since November 2014.
Sterling failed to capitalize on its early uptick yesterday and retreated from an intraday high of 1.2540, dragged down by uncertainty surrounding Brexit. While the candidates for the British Prime Minister (PM) post, Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt, have been crossing wires through various appearances, both of them seem firm on the UK’s departure from the EU on October 31.
