Lebanese Forex Market:
Demand for the Dollar in the Lebanese Forex Market remained unchanged over the past week as the value of the dollar steadied at $/LP 1,513.75-1,514.25 with a mid-price of $/LP 1,514.
Foreign assets (excluding gold) of the Central Bank decreased 1.56% by the end of March, to $36.59B. The dollarization ratio of private sector deposits fell from 64.88% in December 2015 to 64.69% in February 2016.
By Friday 27th of May, 2016, 3:00 pm Beirut time, the euro depreciated against the dollar-pegged LP as the exchange rate lost 0.36%, over the last week, decreasing from €/LP 1,691.57 to €/LP 1,685.54. As for the Nominal Effective Exchange Rate (NEER), it lost also a weekly 0.06% to 167.01 points, registering a 0.82% year-to-date decrease.
International Forex Market:
The euro lost momentum against the dollar as the exchange rate went down from last week’s €/$ 1.1221 to €/$ 1.1181 this week. The dollar witnessed a positive performance over this week mainly impactd by a statement made by a Federal Reserve official on Monday indicating that one or two interest rate hikes could take place by 2017. Investors were also awaiting for Janet Yellen’s speech on Friday to get clues on the timing of the upcoming rate rise.
Commodities:
The stronger dollar led gold prices to fall from $1,256.60/ounce last week to $1,217.37/ounce at 3:30 Beirut time this Friday.