Lebanese Forex Market
The Lebanese Pound steadied this week within the range of $/LP 1,514 – 1,514.5 against the dollar with a mid-price of $/LP 1,514.25.
The peg continues to be supported by the Central Bank’s solid foreign assets, which reached $39.27B by the end of January 2019.
The dollarization ratio of private sector deposits rose from 68.72% in December 2017 to 69.89% in December 2018.
Over the week, the Euro rose against the dollar-pegged LP, ending the week at €/LBP 1729.71 compared to €/LBP 1,709.66 last week.
In turn, the Nominal Effective Exchange Rate (NEER) of the LBP fell by 0.76% over the week to 116.89 points on February 1, 2019.
International Forex Market
In the United States, the Fed’s policy statement revealed a dovish position this week, which took the market by surprise even though the Fed has been signaling balance sheet flexibility for some time. Moreover, jobless claims exceeded market expectations of 215,000 to stand at 253,000, which can be mainly attributed to the weaker dollar. Hence, the currency pair went from last week’s €/USD 1.1341 to €/USD 1.1474.
Commodities
Gold prices rose over the week, going from $ 1,284.36/ounce last week to $1,318.39 /ounce by the week ending February 2, 2019.