* Investors continue to punish EABL after profit decline
* Shilling seen weak from importers' demand
(Recasts FX close, stocks)
By Beatrice Gachenge
NAIROBI, Feb 19 (Reuters) - Kenyan shares fell for the
fourth straight session on Tuesday, as local investors persisted
in selling off East African Breweries after posting
lower-than-expected profits, while the shilling ended flat
against the dollar.
The benchmark NSE 20-Share index fell half a
percentage point to 4,551.06 points, hovering at a two-weeks
low.
Shares in EABL, the biggest stock on the bourse by market
capitalisation, extended their losses on weak results to a
six-week low, shedding 3.5 percent to close at 277 shillings
($3.16), after hitting an intra-day low of 271 shillings.
On Friday the brewer announced a 221 percent leap in
financing costs on a loan from its parent, Britain's Diageo Plc (LSE: DGE.L - news)
, used to buy 20 percent of its subsidiary Kenya
Breweries which was owned by SABMiller (LSE: SAB.L - news) 's Tanzania
Breweries.
"The decline in first half profits attributed to the
financing costs have had a negative effect on the share price,"
Virginia Wairimu, an analyst at Suntra Investment Bank said.
Kenya Power, the country's sole power distributor,
ended 3.6 percent lower at 18 shillings, eroding a steady rise
in the bourse, Wairimu said.
On the foreign exchange market, commercial banks posted the
shilling at 87.65/75 per dollar at market close at 1300 GMT,
unchanged from the previous day, after the central bank stepped
in to tighten liquidity.
During the session, the bank received bids worth 5.95
billion shillings for the 10 billion it wanted to absorb via a
repurchase agreement.
It accepted all bids. On Monday, central bank drained 13
billion shillings,
"It (the shilling) is still under pressure from importers,"
Julius Kiriinya, a trader at African Banking Corporation said.
The Central Bank has persistently come into the markets to
support the local currency in the run-up to general elections
next month, draining liquidity from the money market and
occasionally, selling dollars.
The presidential and parliamentary elections are the first
since President Mwai Kibaki won a second term in late 2007.
His disputed win plunged east Africa's biggest economy into
weeks of violence and political turmoil, sending the economy and
the shilling into a tailspin.
There are fears of renewed unrest this time around.
"There is a bit of jitteriness surrounding the elections ...
At 88 or above 88, we might see the central bank intervene by
selling dollars," Kiriinya said.
The shilling has lost 1.7 percent against to the dollar so
far this year as importers hoard the U.S. currency.
On the debt market, bonds worth 419.3 million shillings were
traded, a third of Monday's 1.15 billion shillings.
...........................Shilling spot rates
.....................Shilling forward rates
.......................Cross rates
..................................Local contributors
.......................Central Bank of Kenya Index
.....................Kenyan Bonds contributor pages
...............Treasury bill yields
..................Central bank open market operations
.........................Horizontal repo transactions
, ................Daily interbank lending rate
.............................Kenya Bond pricing
..................Real time Africa economic data
.................................NSE-20 Share Index
.................................NSE All Share Index
...........................FT NSE Kenya 15 Index
.......................... FT NSE Kenya 25 Index
SPEED GUIDES:
($1 = 87.6000 Kenyan shillings)
(Editing by George Obulutsa and Keiron Henderson)
