By Elias Biryabarema KAMPALA (Reuters) - The Ugandan shilling hit a six-month high against the dollar on Wednesday, buoyed by dollar selling by offshore investors taking part in a Treasury bill sale and sluggish demand for the greenback from manufacturers ahead of the festive period. The local currency is up more than 6 percent against the dollar so far this month. At 0915 GMT commercial banks quoted the shilling at 2,385/2,395, a level last touched on June 7, and stronger than Tuesday's close of 2,413/2,423. "It's mainly the inflows from offshore traders participating in the Treasury bill auction that are fuelling the shilling rally today," said Dickson Musoni, head of Treasury at Kenya Commercial Bank Uganda. "But of course we also have dollars coming in from Ugandans abroad arriving for end of year holidays and a slump in demand by manufacturers," he said. Uganda's central bank scheduled to auction 95 billion shillings worth of 91-day, 182-day and 364-day Treasury bills on Wednesday. "If the auction is heavily oversubscribed then we could see a rush by the same offshore guys buying back their dollars which could see the shilling reverse its gains tomorrow," said another trader who declined to be named.

Source