Foreign interest in bond sale boosts Kenyan shilling

NAIROBI (Reuters) - The Kenyan shilling firmed on Friday and traders expect foreign investors to strengthen it further, attracted by a government bond sale next week. At 0813 GMT, commercial banks quoted the shilling at 87.25/45 to the dollar, compared with Thursday's close of 87.35/45, helped by commercial banks cutting long dollar positions. Traders said that after the shilling strengthened past the 87.50 level, the next key level was 87.00. They expect foreign investors to buy into a 12-year infrastructure bond worth 20 billion shillings that will be auctioned next week. "Guys are quite long on dollars, so they are trying to shed it. I do see inflows coming in a lot, for the IFB (infrastructure bond)," said Sheikh Mehran, senior trader at Kenya Commercial Bank. The shilling is 1.4 percent weaker against the dollar in the year to date.