NAIROBI, Aug 24 (Reuters) - The Kenyan shilling weakened against the dollar on Friday as banks covered short positions, traders said, with further mopping up of liquidity by the central bank expected to offer support to the local currency in coming days. At 0659 GMT, commercial banks quoted the shilling at 84.00/20 per dollar, slightly weaker on Thursday's close of 83.90/84.10. "There was a bit of interbank short covering early today, but we expect the shilling to be steady since most clients have already covered forwards," said a trader at a commercial bank in Nairobi. The central bank is still running tight monetary policy to support the currency, making frequent interventions to absorb liquidity via repurchase agreements (repos). "The shilling has managed to maintain a great degree of stability and should end month (dollar) demand fail to materialise we expect the shilling to make some slight gains," Bank of Africa wrote to clients in a daily report on Friday.

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