ArmInfo. NASDAQ OMX Armenia and intebank forex market stand their ground, and AMD keeps weakening. On September 7-11, the forex transactions on NASDAQ OMX Armenia dropped almost 2-fold and were slightly more than the transactions on the interbank forex market, which dropped more than 2-fold. As a result, the AMD, which depreciated from 474 to 478.3 against USD in July and reached 485.5 by August 24, slightly appreciated to 484 by late August (due to the CBA's August 28 large-scale intervention). But in September it started depreciating again and was fixed at 485.5 AMD against USD by September 11.
The press office of the Central Bank of Armenia has told ArmInfo that on September 7-11 the transactions on NASDAQ OMX Armenia totaled $4.8 mln, forming an average exchange rate of 485.78 AMD/$1. The transactions were registered on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday, with the biggest amount fixed on September 9 - $2.7 mln. The interbank forex market registered transactions worth $4.2 mln at the average exchange rate of 485.34 AMD/$1.
The source says that in the intrabank currency market (transactions with customers) the banks bought $54.4 mln on September 7-11 at the average exchange rate of 484.30 AMD/$1, and sold $63.1 mln (down 24% versus the previous week) at the average exchange rate of 486.26 AMD/$1. In the meantime, the banks bought 7.9 mln EUR (up 43%) at the average exchange rate of 539.84 AMD/1EUR, and sold 12.3 mln EUR (up 9%) at the exchange rate of 544.22 AMD/1EUR. The banks also bought 836.3 mln RUR (6% rise) at the average exchange rate of 7.07 AMD/1RUR and sold 256.2 mln RUR (49% decline) at the exchange rate of 7.19 AMD/1RUR.
On 31 August - 6 September 2015, Armenian banks provided AMD loans worth 37.1 bln AMD and USD loans worth $40.6 mln. As compared with the previous week (24-30 August), AMD loans dropped by 5.1% amid 94.3% growth in USD loans.
To recall, during the last months of 2014 the forex market of Armenia registered a sharp rise of the AMD/USD exchange rate - over 570 AMD/1USD. From October through December 17, 2014, AMD depreciated by almost 45% in the retail forex market of Armenia, then it appreciated by 25% on Dec 18-20, staring depreciating against on Dec 22. On Dec 27, the average AMD/USD exchange rate was 470 AMD/$1, the AMD/EUR exchange rate was 574 AMD/1EUR, the AMD/RUR exchange rate was 8.7 AMD/1RUR. Over 2014, NASDAQ OMX Armenia registered transactions worth a total of $744.5 mln, with the biggest amount falling on November ($117 mln). Over the year the exchange rate on NASDAQ OMX Armenia rose from 407.14 to 560 AMD/$1 (on Dec 17 the exchange rate rose by 22%), dropping to 470 AMD/$1 by Dec 27. In 2014, in the retail forex market of Armenia, the AMD depreciated against USD by 40%, with the maximum indicator (570 AMD) fixed on Dec 17 and the minimum (406 AMD) registered in July. In the first half of 2015, in the retail forex market AMD appreciated from 477 to 473 against USD; from 571.5 to 528 against EUR, at the same time depreciating from 8.2 to 8.6 against RUR. However, in July AMD started depreciating and by 31 July 2015 the average AMD/USD exchange rate was 478.3 AMD/$1, with the AMD/EUR exchange rate being 524 AMD/1EUR and the AMD/RUR exchange rate being 8 AMD/1RUR. By August 31, AMD depreciated to 484 AMD against USD and 544.3 against EUR, at the same time appreciating to 7.4 against RUR. In September, the upward trend continued and formed an exchange rate of 485.5 AMD/$1 and 548 AMD/1EUR by September 11. In the meantime, the average AMD/RUR exchange rate made up 7.3 AMD/1RUR.