Lebanese Forex Market:
Demand for the dollar in the Lebanese Forex market strengthened during the week as the Lebanese pound depreciated against the dollar from $/LP 1,503–1,507 with a mid-price of $/LP 1,505 to $/LP 1,505–1,509 with a mid-price of $/LP 1,507. Foreign assets (excluding gold) at the Central Bank dropped by a monthly 0.12% to reach $38.81B at the end of July. As for the dollarization rate of private sector deposits, it slid from 65.71% in December 2014 to 65.08% by June.
By Friday 28th of August, 2015, 11:30 pm Beirut time, the dollar-pegged LP depreciated against the euro going from €/LP 1,697.14 to €/LP 1,702.42. The Nominal effective exchange Rate (NEER) slightly up ticked by a weekly 0.04% to 166.54 points, bringing its year-to-date gains to 13.05%.
International Forex Market:
The euro pursued its gains against the dollar for the third-week running, rising by 0.31% to €/$ 1.1293. In fact, the market seems to have seen “safe-haven” qualities in the euro amidst the recent turmoil on global markets, notably the Chinese economy.
Commodities:
Surprisingly, the price of gold declined from last week’s $1,153.86/ounce to $1,126.86/ounce, breaking the rule of rush to gold amidst global turmoil and equities sell-off. It has been reported that investors were somehow compelled to even sell the “safe-haven” gold in order to raise money to cover losses elsewhere in their portfolios.