Lebanese Forex Market
The Lebanese Pound steadied within the range of $/LP 1,514 – 1,514.5 against the dollar with a mid-price of $/LP 1,514.25.
The peg continues to be supported by the Central Bank’s solid foreign assets, which reached $43.52 billion (B) in September 2018.
The dollarization ratio of private sector deposits rose marginally, from 68.72% in December 2017 to 68.80% by August 2018.
Over the past week, the Euro strengthened against the dollar-pegged LP, as it went from €/LBP 1,712.79 last week to €/LBP 1,724.13 this week.
As for the Nominal Effective Exchange Rate (NEER) of the LBP, it fell by a weekly 0.77% to stand at 118.04 points.
International Forex Market
Awaiting the U.S. jobs data, the dollar retreated during the week amid expectations of an intensified U.S.-China trade tension. As such, the €/$ exchange rate rose by a weekly 0.66% to €/$ 1.1437 this week.
Commodities
Gold prices fell over the week from $1,236.39 per ounce last week to $1,233.76/ounce this week.