France and Italy’s Industrial Output Lift Up the Euro this Week

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 $38.56B by the end of March 2019.

The dollarization ratio of private sector deposits remained stable at 70.62% in Dec. 2018 to 70.60% in February 2019.

The Euro appreciated against the dollar-pegged LP, ending the week at €/LBP 1,703.92, compared to last week’s €/LBP 1,689.32.

In its turn, the Nominal Effective Exchange Rate (NEER) of the LBP retreated by a weekly 0.23% to 118.24 points.

International Forex Market

The Euro appreciated by 0.86% against the US dollar over the week ending Apr. 12th, with the currency pair going from last week’s €/USD 1.120 to €/USD 1.130. The Eurozone’s statistical office actually dissipated positive signs for the eurozone’s industrial output, which lifted the Euro this week. In fact, the monthly industrial production figures of France and Italy (two of the Eurozone’s largest economies) rose in February 2019. In details, France’s output recorded a 0.4% month-on-month (m-o-m) increase, thereby beating market expectations of a 0.5% decline. Similarly, Italian industrial output surpassed market forecasts, registering a 0.8% m-o-m uptick in February compared to a market expectation of a 0.8% down tick.

Commodities

Accordingly, gold prices fell over the week to $1,290.51/ounce by April 12th, compared to last week’s $1,298.99/ounce.

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