Positive Employment Data in the US Strengthen the Dollar

Lebanese Forex Market

Demand for the dollar remained stable on the Lebanese Forex market with the value of the Lebanese Pound trading within the range of $/LP 1,514 – 1,514.5 with a mid-price of $/LP 1,514.25 since last week.

Foreign assets (excluding gold) at the Central Bank reached $38.78B in May 2017 compared to $40.71B in December 2016.

The dollarization ratio of private sector deposits rose from 65.82% in December 2016 to 66.13% by the end of March 2017.

By Friday June 2, the euro depreciated against the dollar-pegged LP going from €/LBP 1,692.02 on May 26th to €/LBP 1,691.26, this week.

As for the Nominal Effective Exchange Rate (NEER) of the LBP, it dropped by 0.38% over the past week to stand at 114.20 points.

International Forex Market:

The dollar strengthened against the euro this week rising by a mere 0.04% to €/$ 1.1219. The dollar rose after the positive employment data of May, where unemployment rate fell to 4.3% and private payroll jobs reached 253,000 in May 2017 compared to an estimated 181,000. This has revived hopes of an expected interest rate hike in June this year.

Commodities:

Gold prices slightly fell this week from $1,265.51/ounce to $1,262.83/ounce.

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