Saturday, December 20 2014 18:25
Banks buy $1.7 million out of $4 million offered by Central Bank on 20 December
ArmInfo. In the inter-bank foreign exchange market of Armenia, $1.7mn out of $4mn offer of the Central Bank was in demand today on 20 December. The Central Bank of Armenia (CB) told ArmInfo, the average (indicative) rate totaled 446.76 AMD/1 USD, with the cutoff rate being 445AMD/1USD.
On December 18-19, the $4 million daily interventions were not demanded by the banks. Nevertheless, the banks carried out forex deals with each other on 18-19 December ($4 million and $5.6 million, respectively). This reduced the interbank rate from 480.12 to 458.01 AMD/1USD. The CB announced on 8 December that it launches daily interventions to restore the balance in the exchange market and soften currency fluctuations. The interventions will last till the end of 2014. On Dec 8-20, the CB sold $44.7mn: $6mn a day Dec 8-12 and $4mn a day Dec 15-17m and $1.7mn on Dec 20. The average (indicative) exchange rate for the given period rose fro 456.63AMD/1USD to 570.58 AMD/1USD and then fell to 446.76 AMD/1USD, the cutting off rate rose from 455 AMD/1USD to 567.65 AMD/1USD and fell to 445 AMD/1USD.
In the retail foreign exchange market of Armenia on 20 December as of 5:00pm, the exchange rates at the swap points were as follows: 455 AMD/1 USD, 555 AMD/1 EUR, 7.8 AMD/1 RUR. The highest rates at banks on 20 December were as follows: 454/458 AMD/1 USD, 544/565 AMD/1 EUR, and 7.62/7.86 AMD/1 RUR.
On 1-5 December, the foreign exchange interbank market showed an unprecedented maximum - $59.3 million. Forex transactions on NASDAQ OMX Armenia from June up to 19 December totaled $397.150 million with the exchange rate rising from 407.14 AMD/1 USD to 560 AMD/1 USD and then falling to 442.44 AMD/1 USD. Nearly $117 million of total transactions were made in November. In the retail foreign exchange market of Armenia on 20 December the exchange rates (purchase/sale) at the swap points were as follows: 435/465 AMD/1 USD, 525/570 AMD/1 EUR, 7/8.15 AMD/1 RUR.