NAIROBI, Feb 17 (Reuters) - The Kenyan shilling was steady against the dollar on Friday but traders expected it to weaken as some importers made an early start on buying dollars to meet month-end demand. Downside could be limited, however, if tight shilling liquidity persisted, they said. The central bank has absorbed 40.33 billion shillings ($485.61 million) this year to prop up the local currency. The weighted average interbank lending rate rose to 16.3 percent on Thursday, as commercial banks borrowed 14.23 billion shillings, from 14.5 percent in the previous session. By 0930 GMT on Friday, commercial banks quoted the shilling at 82.90/83.10 to the dollar, barely changed from Thursday's close. "Demand and supply have evened out," said Kennedy Butiko, deputy head of Bank of Africa. "Going forward, since we are approaching the end of the month, we could see the shilling weakening as clients buy dollars to meet their end month obligations." Solomon Alubala, head of trading at Cooperative Bank said there was tightness in the money market, though it had not yet filtered into the forex market. "If the tightness continues, yes, it could affect the forex market," Alubala said.

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