By Kevin Mwanza

NAIROBI, Feb 5 (Reuters) - Kenyan shares rose for the fifth

straight session on Tuesday as investors bet on strong results

when the company earnings season kicks off next week, while the

shilling slipped.

The benchmark share index ticked up 0.7 percent to

4,483.62 points. The index is up 7.7 percent so far this year,

extending last year's 29 percent gain.

'Last year was a good year for most firms as the shilling

stabilised, inflation fell and interest rates came down.

Investors expect good results,' said Faith Atiti, an analyst at

NIC Securities.

Shares in Kenya's second-biggest cement maker ARM

jumped 5.7 percent to 55.50 shillings each, as it recovered from

a slide after a share split in December. The five-for-one split

was aimed at making its shares affordable for retail investors.

In the foreign exchange market, the shilling closed

at 87.55/75 against the dollar, slightly weaker than Monday's

close of 87.55/65.

'There are weak dollar inflows, with demand for dollars from

importers outweighing it. Exporters are also not willing to sell

(dollars),' said a trader at one commercial bank.

The shilling has fallen 1.6 percent against the dollar so

far this year as importers stockpile the greenback ahead of

presidential and parliamentary elections in March. Commercial

bank have also built up long dollar positions in anticipation of

further shilling weakness, traders said.

The general election is 'still a factor in the market and

everyone is playing safe,' the trader said.

The ballot is the first since a hotly contested poll in 2007

unleashed a wave of ethnic violence that sent east Africa's

biggest economy into a tailspin.

Traders said they expected the central bank would keep

draining shillings from the market to tighten liquidity and

support the shilling. Tight money market liquidity has seen the

average interbank lending rate rise for 14 consecutive sessions.

It hit 7.7 percent on Monday.

'I don't think they (the central bank) will let it fall

beyond 88 (to the dollar),' said Christopher Muiga, a senior

trader at Kenya Commercial Bank.

In the debt market, government and corporate bonds worth 2.2

billion shillings ($25.2 million) were traded, up from 850.5

million shillings on Monday.

...........................Shilling spot rates

.....................Shilling forward rates

.......................Cross rates

..................................Local contributors

.......................Central Bank of Kenya Index

.....................Kenyan Bonds contributor pages

...............Treasury bill yields

..................Central bank open market operations

.........................Horizontal repo transactions

,................Daily interbank lending rate

.............................Kenya Bond pricing

..................Real time Africa economic data

...........................African economic news

.................................NSE-20 Share Index

.................................NSE All Share Index

...........................FT NSE Kenya 15 Index

.......................... FT NSE Kenya 25 Index

SPEED GUIDES:

($1 = 87.4000 Kenyan shillings)

(Editing by Richard Lough and Patrick Graham)

Keywords: KENYA MARKETS/

(kevin.mwanza@thomsonreuters.com)(Tel: +254 20 2224717)(Reuters Messaging: kevin.mwanza.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net)

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