The Uganda shilling posted some marginal gains against the US currency in the week ending July 19, trading 2575/85 from 2590/2600 a week earlier.

A tram from Standard Chartered Bank and Stephen Kaboyo, a director at Alpha Capital Partners said earlier on Friday that the market activity remained muted with matched interest on the corporate front.

In the debt market, the team and Kaboyo said the 3 year paper was well received with a 2.38% bid to cover ratio signalling high appetite for Uganda risk at the moment.

The bond issue came out at 14.64% from 14.66% in the previous auction in May. "We expect the shilling to remain range bound in the 2575-2600," the team said, adding yields are expected to firm as Central bank issues treasury bills midweek as investors rush to place the excess liquidity as seen in the bond auction.

At regional level, the Kenya shilling got some relief from the central bank which intervened selling dollars after it had dropped to 87.70 with a surge in demand from the energy sector and importers.

The central bank intervention lifted the shilling to below the 87.00 level though for a short while. The team expect the shilling to remain biased towards depreciating with 87.70 capping the top side and 86.50 as the initial support on the downside.

In Tanzania, the unit was stable in the 1620-30 range. It is expected to hold in the coming week with no violations on both fronts.