Kenya shilling steady vs dlr, market eyes IPO

NAIROBI, April 22 (Reuters) - The Kenyan shilling <KES=> held steady against the dollar in quiet trade on Tuesday with dealers predicting it will find direction when an initial public offering in mobile phone operator Safaricom [SCOM.NR] ends.

At 1005 GMT commercial banks posted the unit at 61.50/60 against the greenback compared with Monday's close of 61.45/65.

"There is quite a a lot of support for the shilling at the 61.50 level. It is a psychological level," said Jackie Maina, a dealer at Equity Bank.

She said the market was waiting for Safaricom IPO to close on Wednesday.

The government is offloading a 25 percent stake in the country's most profitable company and expects at least 50 billion shillings from the sale.

It has said the IPO is the region's biggest, and it expects high interest from foreign investors and Kenyans living abroad.

"The market will then look to see how much demand is out there. That is what will provide direction for the shilling," Maina said.

Mark Orubia, a corporate dealer at Chase Bank, said the trading was dominated by interbank activity.

"I see the shilling strengthening slightly due to corporate demand," he said.