Strong French PMI Boosted the Euro

Lebanese Forex Market

The Lebanese Pound (LP) steadied this week 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 $39.27B by the end of January 2019.

The dollarization ratio of private sector deposits rose from 68.72% in December 2017 to 70.62% in December 2018.

Over the week, the Euro appreciated against the dollar-pegged LP, ending the week at €/LBP 1,709.96 compared to last week’s €/LBP 1,693.12.          

As for the Nominal Effective Exchange Rate (NEER) of the LBP, it slid by 0.29% over the week to 117.70 points.

International Forex Market

The euro outpaced the dollar this week rising by 0.99% to end the week at €/USD 1.1343 on account of strong business activity indicators in the euro zone. In particular, the preliminary French PMI rose to a three-month high of 49.9 in February up from 48.2 in January.

Commodities

Gold prices slid going from last week’s $1,328.45/ounce to $1,325.8/ounce this week.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *