Lebanese Forex Market
The Lebanese Pound (LP) continues to steady within the range of $/LP 1,514 – 1,514.5 against the dollar, with a mid-price of $/LP 1,514.25 this week.
The peg continues to be supported by the Central Bank’s solid foreign assets, which were further replenished to reach $38.1B by November 2019.
The dollarization ratio of private sector deposits increased from 70.62% in Dec. 2018 to 73.43% in October 2019.
The Euro appreciated against the dollar-pegged LP, going from last week’s €/LBP 1,655.67 to €/LBP 1,670.2 this week. As for the Nominal Effective Exchange Rate (NEER) of the LBP, it slipped by a weekly 0.44% to 118.19 points.
International Forex Market
The Euro/USD currency pair stood at €/USD 1.1079 by December 06th, up from last week’s €/USD 1.0983. Over the week, the USD was subdued owing it to two major news: a) tensions over a potential slapping of new tariffs by the US against the Chinese loomed alongside mixed signs of the two giants signing a phase 1 trade deal, and b) worries loomed over a weaker US economy, namely on the back of the ISM releasing its Purchasing Managers’ Index for the USA’s manufacturing sector, which fell short of expectations at 48.3 in October- below the 50-point threshold that separates expansion from contraction.
Commodities
International gold prices climbed from last week’s $1,464/ounce to $1,476/ounce by the week ending December 06th 2019.