Weekly Currency Roundup
August 27-August 31, 2006 Local FX Market Demand for US dollar was stable in throughout the week and USD fell slightly against Bangladeshi taka.Money Market In the Treasury bill auction held on Sunday, bid for BDT 14,305.00 million was accepted, compared with total of BDT 10,425.00 million in the previous week's bid. Weighted average yield remained unchanged for all 28D T-bills, but rose for all other categories of T-bills sold on the day. Overnight money market was steady throughout the week. The call money rate remained unchanged throughout the week and ranged between 6.50 and 7.00 percent. International FX Market The yen tumbled to a record low against the euro on Friday, and lost ground to other major currencies after a report of tame Japanese inflation, while the dollar was little changed against its European rivals. Sterling hit its highest level against the Japanese currency since October 1998. The week began as the euro hit a record peak close to 150 yen and rose nearly half a percent against the dollar on Monday, as markets positioned ahead of U.S. data that could confirm the Federal Reserve's moderating growth outlook. The Japanese currency was also undermined against the euro and dollar by expectations the Bank of Japan will take its time raising interest rates. In the middle of the week, the dollar pulled back from last week's one-month highs against the yen and weakened against the euro on Tuesday, as investors squared positions ahead of the release of Federal Reserve minutes from its last meeting. The euro briefly spiked up to the key 150 yen level, with yield differentials remaining a strong negative for the Japanese currency. The dollar was down 0.4 percent against the euro. Against the yen, the dollar lost more than a third of a percent on the day, retreating from last week's one-month high. One of the biggest movers among the major currencies was the Swiss franc, which hit one-week highs against the euro and the dollar. The euro hit a record high against the yen above the psychologically significant 150 yen barrier on Wednesday as investors favoured a more bullish interest rate outlook in the euro zone over Japan. The European Central Bank, when it meets on Thursday, is widely expected to signal that it will next raise from the current 3 percent in October. The euro at one point hit its highest since the single currency's launch in 1999. The Swiss franc rose to its highest since October 1998. At the end of the week, the yen hit a record low against the euro on Thursday after weak Japanese industrial output data cemented expectations the Bank of Japan would only raise slowly in contrast to expectations of an October hike in the euro zone. The yen also hit eight-year lows against sterling and the Swiss franc after data showed output fell 0.9 percent in July from a month earlier. The euro edged up to a one-week high against the dollar, with investors poised for the European Central Bank's rate decision. The dollar climbed to a one-month high against the yen, while the euro was 0.1 percent up on the day against the dollar. - Standard Chartered Bank
|
|