NAIROBI (Reuters) - The Kenyan shilling was steady against the dollar on Wednesday, hampered by concern over a constitutional challenge to the result of this month's presidential elections.
A ruling in favour of defeated candidate and outgoing prime minister Raila Odinga could lead to a re-run of the tightly contested vote, won by Uhuru Kenyatta.
The election avoided the sort of widespread violence seen after the last polls in 2007 but players said the possiblity of a re-run was causing some anxiety in the market.
At 0644 GMT, commercial banks quoted the shilling at 85.65/85 to the dollar, the same level it closed at on Tuesday.
"Some guys are on the sidelines waiting to see how the petition will go," said Duncan Kinuthia, head of trading at Commercial Bank of Africa.
"The shilling will be range bound until new information comes into the market."
The shilling has been stuck in a range between 85 and 86 to the dollar since the election on March 4.
So far this year, the shilling is up 0.6 percent against the dollar, helped by a rally just before the vote as investors bet the ballot would pass off peacefully and avoid a repeat of violence which followed a disputed vote in 2007.
"Until this petition is out of the way the election cloud will still shadow the market," said a trader at another commercial bank.