US-China Trade War Hit the US Dollar  

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 stood at $37.97B by end-April 2019.

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

The Euro appreciated against the dollar-pegged LP, ending the week at €/LBP 1,684.24, compared to last week’s €/LBP 1,681.94. In its turn, the Nominal Effective Exchange Rate (NEER) of the LBP fell by 0.16% to 119.64 points by the week ending May 24.

 

International Forex Market

In the week ending May 24 2019, the dollar weakened as investors are concerned that the trade conflict with China may hurt the world’s largest economy, especially after the US posted weak manufacturing activity data. As such, the Euro rose by a weekly 0.14% against the US Dollar, as the currency pair went from last week’s €/USD 1.1157 to €/USD 1.1172.

Commodities

Accordingly, gold prices fell over the week to $1,283.25/ounce by May 24, compared to last week’s $1,281.63/ounce.

 

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