Lebanese Forex Market:
Demand for the Dollar in the Lebanese Forex Market remained unchanged over the past week as the value of the dollar steadied at $/LP 1,513.75-1,514.25 with a mid-price of $/LP 1,514.
Foreign assets (excluding gold) of the Central Bank increased 0.59% since the beginning of the year to $37.31B by May 2016. The dollarization ratio of private sector deposits fell from 64.88% in December 2015 to 64.81% in March 2016.
By Friday 03rd of June, 2016, 3:00 pm Beirut time, the euro depreciated against the dollar-pegged LP as the exchange rate lost 0.29%, over the last week, decreasing from €/LP 1,685.54 to €/LP 1,680.71. As for the Nominal Effective Exchange Rate (NEER), it added a weekly 0.08% to 167.14 points, registering a 0.74% year-to-date decrease.
International Forex Market:
The euro lost momentum against the dollar as the exchange rate went down from last week’s €/$ 1.1181 to €/$ 1.1149 this week. The dollar witnessed a positive performance by the end of this week mainly impacted by positive forecasts for the U.S non-farm payrolls expected to be released on Friday. However, data released in the afternoon revealed a reading below expectations of only 38,000 jobs added. Also, the ECB and OPEC meetings this week failed to boost the European currency since no major policy changes were adopted.
Commodities:
The gold prices edged higher from $1,217.37/ounce last week to $1,236.52/ounce at 4:00 Beirut time this Friday.