At 15:30 Beirut time, the Euro was quoted at €/$ 1.0845, the equivalent of €/LBP 1,634.88, depreciating by 1.38% against the US Dollar. The euro went down against the dollar today as the European Central Bank (ECB) took several decisions in today’s meeting: lowering the banks’ overnight rate by 10 basis points to minus 0.4 percent, cutting its main refinancing rate to zero and raising its bonds’ repurchases to €80B per month. Meanwhile, jobless claims in the United States fell to their lowest level since October, registering 259,000 claims in February 2016 compared to an expected level of 275,000.
Locally, the Dollar depreciated against the Lebanese Pound to $/LP 1,513.75-1,514.25 with a mid-price of $/LP 1,514 compared to yesterday’s quote of $/LP 1,514-1,514.5 with a mid-price of $/LP 1,514.25.
Compared to the pool of currencies of Lebanon’s major trading partners, the purchasing power of the Lebanese Pound depreciated as reflected by the NEER, published by BLOMINVEST, which registered a 0.08% downtick to 168.13 points today.
Date: 10 March 2016