According to the Central Bank of Kenya’s weekly report the interbank rate, the cost at which commercial banks borrow from one another, increased to 16.35 percent during the week ending May 9, 2012 from 15.74 percent in the previous week. The average number of borrowing and lending deals between the banks decreased to 64 from 65 the week before. This is attributed to the aggressive mopping up of excess liquidity as carried out by the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK). During the week the CBK mopped up KES 11.2 billion.

The Kenya Shilling depicted mixed performance against major International currencies in the week ending May 10, 2012. It depreciated marginally against the US dollar and the Japanese Yen by 0.02% and 0.64%, respectively, to trade at an average of KES 83.31 per US dollar and KES 104.28 per 100 Japanese Yen compared to KES 83.29 per US dollar and KES 103.62 per 100 Japanese Yen in the week ending May 3, 2012. Against the Sterling Pound and the Euro, the Kenya Shilling gained by 0.38% and 1.36%, respectively, to trade at an average of KES 134.57 per Sterling Pound and KES 108.47 per Euro compared to KES 135.09 per Sterling Pound and KES 109.97 per Euro in the previous week. In the region, the Kenya Shilling depreciated against all the East African Currencies in the week ending May 10, 2012. On average, the Kenya Shilling exchanged at Ushs 29.70, Tshs 18.98, RWF 7.24 and BIF 16.43 compared with Ushs 30.01, Tshs 19.05, RWF 7.28 and BIF 16.60 the previous week.

During the week ended 10^th May 2012 the CBK auctioned KES 2.0 billion each in 91-day, 182-day and 364-day Treasury bills. Demand for all the papers was high with the 91 day bill attracting a subscription of 302.1%, the 182 day bill had a subscription rate of 231.7% while the 364 day onne had a subscription of 413.2%. percent. The CBK received bids worth KES 18.9 billion but accepted KES 2.6 billion, KES 1.9 billion and KES 2.0 billion in the 91-day, 182-day and 364-day Treasury bills, respectively, during the week. The weighted average yield on the 91 day bill fell to 11.381%, 2% lower than it was at the previous auction. The yield on the 182 day bill was observed to be 13.076%, this is 1.699% lower than the yield observed at the previous auction. For the 364, the yield stood at 12.431% 4.484% lower than it was at the last auction. To read more on this see: Results of Yesterday’s CBK Auction.

The Stock performance was much improved from the previous week. The NSE 20 Share Index rose to 3,589.43 points on May 10, 2012 from 3,585.12 points on May 3, 2012, while NSE All Share Index was 78.36 points, up from 77.93 points. The market capitalization of shareholder’s wealth at the NSE surpassed the KES 1 trillion mark to stand at KES 1.0033 trillion and the number of shares traded during the week rose to 120.03 million up from 88.46 million the week before.