NAIROBI (Reuters) - The Kenyan shilling was steady against the dollar on Friday in thin pre-holiday volumes and was tipped to trade in a narrow range in coming days. At 0716 GMT, commercial banks quoted the shilling at 83.60/80 against the dollar, barely changed from Thursday's close of 83.65/85. "We expect slight (shilling) weakness (today) as importers come to cover forwards before they close for the holidays," said Sameer Lagadia, head of trading at Diamond Trust Bank. Traders said the shilling could trade in the 83.00-84.00 range in coming days. Traders said rising interest rates on the interbank market after the central bank hoovered up shillings in the last two weeks had made it expensive for banks to hold long dollars positions and that could support the local currency. On Thursday, the average daily interbank lending rate rose to 27.6 percent from 25.6 percent on Wednesday, as scarce shilling liquidity pushed banks to borrow at higher rates at the overnight window. "Liquidity is very tight at the moment. That may hold the shilling in the 83-84 range per dollar. Liquidity may came back in the market in January due to some bond maturities," said Bhavin Chandaria, a trader at Imperial Bank.

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