Dollar Pulled Down After Plunge in Home Sales Data

Lebanese Forex Market

Demand for the dollar on the Lebanese forex market stabilized at $/LP 1,514.25 within the range $/LP 1,514 – 1,514.5.

Foreign assets (excluding gold) at the Central Bank reached $40.04B at the end of January 2017 compared to $37.02B in the same period last year.

The dollarization ratio of private sector deposits rose from 64.67% in January 2016 to 65.84% in January 2017.

By Friday March 24, 2017, the euro appreciated against the dollar-pegged LP going from €/LBP 1,624.03 on March 17 to €/LBP 1,629.31, this week.

As for the Nominal Effective Exchange Rate (NEER) of the LBP, it dropped by 0.30% over the past week to stand at 116.38 points.

International Forex Market:

The euro/dollar rose by 0.33% to €/$ 1.0808 over the past week as US home sales data showed a surprisingly large slump of 3.7% on the month, suggesting that domestic sentiment has started to deteriorate.

Commodities:

Over the week, gold prices rose from $1,229.60 on March 17 to $1,245.73 this week.