KAMPALA (Reuters) - The Ugandan shilling touched a new all-time low against the dollar on Thursday after a large order from an oil retailer and traders said they expected the central bank to step in. At 1118 GMT, commercial banks traded the local currency at 2,350/55 from 2,343/48 at Wednesday's close. "One player in the energy sector, Shell Uganda, came in to the market with huge dollar demand and that piled more pressure on the shilling," said Lucas Ochieng, a trader at Orient Bank. "As long as demand keeps up, the depreciation trend for the shilling will continue. But the levels we're at now are certainly unprecedented and we strongly expect the central bank to come any time to calm the market." The shilling has depreciated 19.36 percent since December 31, 2009. Although a surge in dollar inflows from Ugandans living abroad stabilised the shilling around Christmas, the depreciation trend has accelerated since the start of 2011, fuelled by soaring dollar demand. East Africa's second largest economy expects to start pumping newly-discovered oil in 2012 and analysts expect its currency to receive a boost from related foreign direct investment inflows.

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