Kenyan shilling banknotes and coins sit arranged at a market stall in Mombasa, Kenya, on Thursday, Nov. 23, 2017. The country’s Treasury has already cut this year’s growth target to 5 percent from 5.9 percent as the protracted election furor damped investment and a drought curbed farm output. Photographer: Luis Tato/Bloomberg

NAIROBI, Aug 26 (Reuters) – The Kenyan shilling was stable on Monday, with traders saying market activity was muted despite S&P Global downgrading the country’s sovereign credit rating late on Friday.

At 0813 GMT, LSEG data showed the shilling at 128.50/129.50 to the U.S. dollar, the same level it closed on Friday.

The shilling has traded relatively evenly in recent weeks, shrugging off major protests that started in June and forced the government to abandon tax hikes contained in the government’s annual finance bill.

S&P downgraded Kenya’s rating deeper into “junk” territory, to ‘B-‘ from ‘B,’ citing the repeal of the latest year’s finance bill, which it said will slow fiscal consolidation.

“The market’s dead. Everyone is just holding off. Nobody is keen on buying, they’re just covering some small positions,” one trader said.

(Reporting by Hereward Holland; Editing by Alexander Winning)

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