Indications of US Slowdown Put Pressure on the Dollar
Lebanese Forex Market
The Lebanese Pound (LP) steadied during the past 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 were further replenished to reach $38.51B by September 2019.
The dollarization ratio of private sector deposits increased slightly from 70.62% in Dec. 2018 to 72.01% in August 2019.
It’s worthy to note that the average interbank rate stood at 59% by October 3 2019, compared to last week’s 19.56%.
The Euro appreciated against the dollar-pegged LP from €/LBP 1,647.77 last week to €/LBP 1,653.11. As for the Nominal Effective Exchange Rate (NEER) of the LBP, it decreased by 0.08% to stand at 119.25 points.
International Forex Market
The Euro/USD currency pair stood at €/USD 1.0966 by October 4, up from last week’s €/USD 1.0930. The U.S. dollar fell against the Euro amid persistent concerns over fresh indications of a slowdown in the U.S. economy and a broadening of global trade frictions.
Commodities
In turn, international gold prices increased from last week’s $1,496.6/ounce to $1,506.6/ounce to this week.
