Weekly Currency Roundup
July 27-July 31, 2008
Local FX Market
This week, there was ample liquidity in the local market, and US dollar remained almost unchanged against the Bangladesh Taka. The demand for dollar was steady.
Money Market
Overnight money market was a little tight near the end of the week, with the rates moving to 10.00-20.00 percent compared to only 7.00-8.00 percent at the beginning of the week.
In the Treasury bill auction held on Sunday, bid for BDT 9,000.00 was accepted compared to BDT 9,000.00 last week. Weighted average yield was almost unchanged for all categories auctioned on the day.
International Markets
This week the dollar regained ground against the euro and yen after being supported by a rally in share prices and a drop in oil. US stocks rose by more than 2 percent on Tuesday after Merrill Lynch's latest write-down and share sale suggested a possible turning point in the credit crisis sending the dollar to a one-month high against a basket of currencies. Highlighting the ongoing fallout from the year-old credit crisis, Merrill Lynch said it would take a $5.7 billion third-quarter write-down and raise $8.5 billion by selling shares. This takes the bank's losses in the past year to almost $20 billion and write-downs of more than $40 billion. Lehman Brothers may post a loss in the third quarter and take an additional $2.5 billion write-down, and late last week US regulators seized two small US banks. The dollar's gains were checked as oil prices snapped a losing streak, which has bolstered the US currency on hopes that the 10 percent slide in crude prices this month would take some of the pressure off the struggling economy. Investors will watch the ADP national employment survey due later in the day to help reassess forecasts for US jobs numbers that the government will release on Friday. But worries about grim financial conditions aren't confined to the dollar or US assets. European shares fell sharply at the open on Tuesday and are underperforming US equities this year. A survey is expected to show a steep fall in July UK retail sales and analysts say the euro zone economy is increasingly vulnerable to slowing growth and rising price pressures. Concerns about a slowing euro zone economy will keep the euro from rising towards a record high of $1.6040 reached earlier this month, analysts said.
Commodities
Crude oil fell, approaching a 12-week low, before an energy department report that's forecast to show fuel supplies increased. The department may say that gasoline supplies rose for a fifth week, according to a Bloomberg News survey of analysts. Gold rose in London as the dollar weakened against the euro, buoying demand for the precious metal as an alternative investment to the US currency. Silver and platinum also advanced. The dollar declined as data showed inflation in the euro zone quickened the most is more than 16 years in July, increasing pressure on the European Central Bank to raise interest rates.
-- Standard Chartered Bank
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