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WEEKLY CURRENCY ROUNDUP
November 15 -- November 20, 2003
Local FX Market
Dollar remained stable against Bangladeshi taka at the beginning of the week. It became slightly stronger in the middle of the week, but eased at the end of the week to close at the same level.
Money Market
Bangladesh Bank borrowed BDT 5,449.9 million by the treasury bill auction held on Sunday, compared with BDT 6,465 million in the previous week's bid. The weighted average yield of 28-D t-bill was up by 2 BPS from the previous rate to move to 4.15 per cent while the yield 5-Y t-bills were down by 5 BPS to 8.10 per cent.
The call money rate was volatile this week. In the beginning the week the rate was 5.00-5.50 per cent. The rate rose up to 5.00-9.00 per cent before closing the week at 4.00-4.50 per cent.
International FX Market
The dollar fell against European currencies in the beginning of the week on geopolitical concerns after fresh attacks on US troops in Iraq and apparent suicide bombings of two synagogues in Istanbul over the weekend. The euro hit a three-week high against the dollar, while the dollar fell to two and half week low against the Swiss francs. But the yen fell against the dollar and other currencies as Japanese shares fell to fresh three-month lows partly due to the report that al-Qaeda had warned of an attack on Japan. Yen-buying from foreign investors to buy Japanese shares had been a major factor behind the yen's rise this year.
In the middle of the week, dollar hit a fresh record low against the euro on the back of news on US attempt to slap quotas on Chinese Textile imports. This led the market to believe that US govt might be interested to use protectionism to protect domestic industry and jobs. Dollar remained range-bound against yen as Dollar's downside against the Japanese currency was protected with market wariness that Japanese authorities would intervene to prevent the exportdamaging rise in yen.
At the end of the week, dollar pulled out of the record lows set previously against euro and three-year lows on the yen. Dollar's fall against the yen was curbed by the suspected intervention of Japanese monetary authorities. Market believed that the dollar would be under pressure due to the protectionist attitude of the US govt. While the foreign exchange scandal had created negative sentiment, the news had very little currency impact. Meanwhile, French third quarter gross domestic product rose by 0.4 per cent on the quarter and German 3rd quarter GDP was confirmed at a rise of 0.2 per cent in the third quarter. Bomb attack in Istanbul on Thursday is expected to have some impact to move the market.
At 1620 hour on Wednesday, euro was at 1.1911/16, GBP at 1.6981/88 and yen at 109.10/15.
Standard Chartered Bank