U.S Dollar sees biggest weekly rise in 16 months

Demand for the dollar steadied over the prior week as reflected by the Lebanese pound’s peg against the dollar that remained at $/LP 1,510-1,514 with a mid-price of $/LP 1,512, since the 4th of September, 2014. Foreign assets (excluding gold) at the Central Bank rose by a monthly 1.15% from $38.42B by September to $38.87B by end-October. Meanwhile, the dollarization rate of private sector deposits stood at 65.89% in August compared to 66.13% in December 2013.

The Dollar journeyed on its biggest weekly rise in more than 16 months this week. A US report revealing that employers added more jobs in October than this year’s average, in addition to the European Central Bank President, Mario Draghi, intensifying his commitment to stimulus triggered the euro to decline by 1.35% against the dollar, ending the week at €/$ 1.2394.

The strong greenback drove the demand for gold on a downtrend where the price of gold went from $1,198.64/ounce last Thursday, down to its new low since 2010, at $1,140.90/ounce this week.

By Friday November the 7th, 2014, 12:30 pm Beirut time, the dollar-pegged LP appreciated against the euro going from €/LP 1,894.02, the prior week, to €/LP 1,868.40. The Nominal effective exchange Rate (NEER) gained 1.26%, weekly, to 141.85 points, widening its year-to-date gain to 9.91%.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.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