Money Market
In the Treasury bill auction held on Sunday, bid for BDT 8,095.00 million was accepted, compared with total of BDT 1,270.00 million in the previous week's bid.

Overnight money market was steady throughout the week. The call money rate remained unchanged throughout the week and ranged between 6.50-7.00 percent.

International FX Market
At the beginning of the week, the dollar rallied to two-month highs against the euro and the yen on Friday and posted its third straight week of gains against the basket of major currencies, boosted by firming expectations that the Federal Reserve will boost interest rates. The euro rallied by half a percent against the dollar in early European trade on Monday, in jittery markets ahead of an expected US rate rise. There is a growing expectations the Federal Reserve will raise rates again in August. A sell-off in emerging markets also helped the liquid US dollar last week. The euro got a fresh boost after the central bank governor of the United Arab Emirates told Reuters that it plans to convert 10 percent its currency reserves into euros although a timetable has not been put in place.

In the middle of the week, the euro briefly hit a fresh record high against the yen and edged up versus the dollar on Tuesday after strong German data and hawkish comments from ECB officials raised the prospect of faster rate hikes in the euro zone. But the single currency soon gave up the gains, with investors unwilling to commit to big positions ahead of the key Federal Reserve meeting later this week. The ECB has raised rates three times since last December to 2.75 percent and had been expected to hike twice more this year. The dollar fell to intra-day lows against the yen after the deputy governor of China's central bank was cited by the official Financial News as saying countries around the world should gradually rely less on the dollar for trade and their foreign exchange reserves. The dollar was stronger across the board on Wednesday ahead of the Federal Reserve meeting. The euro was down 0.17 percent against the dollar and lost 0.8 percent versus the yen. The euro climbed to its highest against the yen on Tuesday -- its strongest since it was first launched in 1999. Investors are betting that the ECB will step up the pace of monetary tightening after hawkish comments from policymakers and surprisingly strong confidence data.

At the end of the week, the dollar hovered near a 2-month high against the yen and held steady versus the euro on Thursday as investors awaited the Federal Reserve meeting. Because of the Fed vigil, the euro has been unable to benefit from hawkish rhetoric from European Central Bank policymakers. In Japan, dealers said the furor over Bank of Japan Governor Toshihiko Fukui's investment scandal on insider trading continued to weigh on the yen. Analysts believe that the BOJ will raise rates from near zero -- possibly as early as next month -- regardless of Fukui's fate.

- Standard Chartered Bank