The shilling was a touch lower as players scoured for fresh market moving factors. The home unit wavered on the weaker side earlier in the day as buyers flooded the market to pick up the dollar while foreign currency inflows remained suppressed.
Meanwhile market players continued to digest the outcome of the MPC deliberations in which the Central Bank Rate was left unchanged at 10%.
The committee’s overall assessment of the economy was bullish. Looking ahead, USDUGX currency pair is forecast to trade within narrow ranges.
Dollar loses ground
The U.S dollar lost ground on the back of poor US data as ISM Non-Manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) disappointed, reporting a figure of 56.1 in March from 59.7. Better than expected Markit PMI Composite and services PMI indexes could not overshadow the result of the ISM report.
Additionally, the private sector added 129K new jobs in March, well below the 170K expected. The GBP/USD pair rose to 1.3195 lines as renewed hopes about a Brexit solution increased following PM May’s offer to the opposition and the UK Parliament plan to rush a bill to prevent a hard Brexit.
The pair’s gains were capped after the release of the March UK Markit Services PMI, printing at 48.9, well below the previous 51.3. The EUR/USD pair advanced in Wednesday’s session, rising to 1.1250 levels, on better-than-expected growthrelated news from China and the EU lending support to the shared currency.
The EU Composite PMI printed at 51.6, better than the 51.3 expected. European Retail Sales were also upbeat, up in February at 0.4% month on month and 2.8% year on year, surpassing the market’s forecasts.
