At 0733 GMT, banks quoted the shilling at 83.70/90 against the dollar, barely changed from Friday’s close of 83.80/90.   

“It’s still biased for a stronger shilling going forwards. We’re are seeing good inflows from foreign buyers into bonds because of the high yields,” said Julius Kiriinya, a trader at African Banking Corporation.   

Traders said they expected the shilling to trade in the 83.00-84.50 range this week.

The Central Bank of Kenya held its key rate at 18 percent for a second straight month in February, disregarding a marginal fall in inflation over the last two months to 18.31 percent in January.    

“With the overall aggregate demand in the economy being depressed due to the current high cost of accessing credit, the shilling could strengthen further in the days to come as supply overwhelms demand for the greenback,” said Bank of Africa in a daily report.