Lebanese Forex Market
Demand for the Lebanese Pound steadied over the past week on the Lebanese forex market with the value of the Lebanese Pound trading within the range of $/LP 1,513.75-1,514.25 with a mid-price of $/LP 1,514.
Foreign assets (excluding gold) recorded a year to date (y-t-d) upturn of 3.68% to $44.03B by September 2017.
The dollarization ratio of private sector deposits rose from 65.82% in December 2016 to 66.92% by the end of September 2017.
By Friday November 3, the euro appreciated against the dollar-pegged LP going from €/LBP 1,754.27 on the 27th of October to €/LBP 1,759.26, this week.
As for the Nominal Effective Exchange Rate (NEER) of the LBP, it dropped by 0.12% over the past week to stand at 112.81 points.
International Forex Market:
The dollar weakened this week amid expectations that President Trump will nominate Mr Jay Powell, over more hawkish rivals, as the next chair for The Fed. The Euro/Dollar rate stood at 1.1670 this week compared to 1.1637 last week.
Commodities:
Gold prices dropped from $1,282.60/ounce last week to $1,274.40/ounce this week.