Forex news

[Stanislav Bernuhov]

Naira: Naira under pressure

Naira declined yesterday as it depreciated by 17 kobo against the dollar in spite 50 per cent drop in foreign exchange demand.

At the close of foreign exchange auction held yesterday by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the official exchange rate rose to N149 per dollar from N148.83.

Demand for foreign exchange dropped to $280 million from over $400 million in the last auction held last week Wednesday.

Similarly, the interbank foreign exchange rate rose to N151.56 from N150.79, indicating a 20 kobo depre-ciation.

Foreign exchange operators told Vanguard that the depreciation of the naira is a fallout of the over $200 million excess demand in the market last week.

It would be recalled that, last week, the foreign exchange demand unexpectedly doubled to more than $700 million while the CBN sold $500 million.

The resulting demand deficit of more than $200 million triggered a 70 kobo depreciation of the naira in the official market and 45 kobo depreciation in the interbank market.

From N148.13 per dollar the precious week, the official exchange rate rose to N148.83 on Wednesday while the interbank exchange rate rose to N150.95 from N150.5 per dollar.

The surge in foreign exchange demand which indicate increasing economic activities as businesses resumed fully for the new year, is expected to continue this week.

On the international scene, the euro advanced from the lowest level in almost seven months versus the dollar on increased demand for risk as U.S. stocks advanced and investors bet the global economic recovery is gaining momentum.

The common currency also strengthened versus the yen after a report showed manufacturing in Europe accelerated more than forecast.

The dollar rose versus the yen as the Institute for Supply Management's U.S. factory index increased in January for a sixth straight month.

"For now, investors and markets are optimistic that the global economic recovery is gaining traction," said Omer Esiner, a senior foreign-exchange analyst in Washington at Travelex Global Business Payments, a currency exchange network. "That has prompted some profit taking on the euro's steep decline from last week."

The euro increased 0.4 percent to $1.3914 at 11:30 a.m. in New York, from $1.3863 on Jan. 29.

The currency gained 1.3 per cent to 126.44 yen, from 125.13. The dollar gained 0.7 percent to 90.89 yen, compared with 90.27.

The 14-day relative strength index of the euro versus the dollar was at 29.04 today, staying below 30 for a third straight day, according to data compiled by Bloomberg, a sign the currency may be poised to rebound.

The euro fell 2 percent against the dollar last week, the biggest weekly loss since April 2009. The rand and krone rose today on speculation the economic recovery will boost currencies where interest rates are higher.

The rand strengthened 1.2 percent against the dollar to 7.5363, and the krone gained 0.9 percent to 5.8723.

South Africa's benchmark rate is 7 percent, while Norway's is 1.75 percent.

by allafrica.com

[Stanislav Bernuhov]

G7 will discuss forex

Forex will be addressed as part of a broader economic discussion at this weekend's meeting of finance ministers from the Group of Seven industrial countries, a senior French official said on Tuesday.

"We will not talk about exchange rates explicitly, it will be part of the (economic) framework (discussions)," said the official, who spoke to reporters on condition of anonymity.

Finance ministers and central bank heads from the G7 countries are due to meet on Saturday in Canada.

The spirit of this weekend's G7 gathering would shift from that seen in the past given that the Group of 20 nations was now considered the leading forum for the discussion of global economic issues, he said.

The G7 countries would not get bogged down in negotiating a traditional, all-embracing communique traditionally issued at the close of such meetings, he said, although it was possible that statements on specific issues could be made.


"The idea...is to have deep discussions in a tight group...and which allows us, to a certain extent, not to be hostage to what would be said publicly," he said.

The framework for sustainable world growth, financial reform initiatives and development issues are expected to be discussed.

Canadian Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said last week that bank reforms by the United States, Britain and other nations would also be a key focus of the G7 talks.

Japan's finance minister, Naoto Kan, said on Tuesday that G7 finance ministers may discuss the Chinese yuan, seen by many nations as a major source of global economic imbalances.

by Reuters

[Stanislav Bernuhov]

G7 about Foreign exchange levels

Ministers of Finance from the G7 group of industrialized nations are sticking to comments on foreign exchange levels that they made last October, the chairman of the Eurogroup countries said on Saturday.

"We have agreed that there is no reason to change what we said recently. We stick to what we said in Istanbul," Jean-Claude Juncker said after a two-day G7 meeting concluded in Canada's remote north.

The G7 was not expected to issue a communique on Saturday.
When the group met in Istanbul in October, it said in a communique that too much volatility in foreign exchange markets could hurt the global economy and the financial system, and it welcomed China's pledge to move toward greater currency flexibility.

The United States, Canada, France and other countries have recently called on China to allow its currency to strengthen.

by guardian.co.uk

[Stanislav Bernuhov]

Owais says gemstones may add value for foreing exchange.

Owais Ahmed Ghani (NWFP Governor) has said that vast potential existed for earning foreign exchange through exploration of precious stones on scientific lines and ensuring their value addition, which require institutionalised initiatives on fast-track basis.

Speaking at diploma awarding ceremony of the graduates of Gemology Training Course at the Governor’s House, Monday, he said: “We need to establish a centre of excellence in this sector under the aegis of the University of Engineering & Technology and develop skilled manpower.”

The six-month course, which was fourth of its nature, was meant for students from Fata and was arranged by the NWFP University of Engineering & Technology through the sponsorship of USAID. All 15 graduates from Fata were awarded diplomas on the occasion.

The governor, who is also the Chancellor of the NWFP University of Engineering & Technology, said attracting

international buyers was a sensitive matter and to attain recognition there was a dire need to establish a gems certification and evaluation laboratory in the provincial metropolitan.

Owais Ghani also lauded the USAID for sponsoring the training saying that it would go a long way towards generating job opportunities for youth and encouraging export of value-added precious stones instead of rough material.

“We need to move from practices of exporting precious stones in rough forms to an internationally recognised level of quality material,” he said.

In fact, he said, huge deposits of different kinds of minerals exist in the NWFP and Fata and we also need support and sponsorship for their development and exploitation. He appreciated the enthusiastic approach of the NWFP University of Engineering & Technology for promoting skilled manpower and assured every possible help and support in its efforts for further up-grading the educational facilities.

Vice Chancellor of the university Syed Imtiaz Hussain Gilani said the university had been promoting knowledge in the gemstones sector for quite some time and three batches of the series had already passed out.

Sheheryar Khan, director, Fata Development and Livelihood Development Project, highlighted importance of the course and said that community participation was the focal point of the programme.

Later, the governor awarded certificates to the graduates. US Consul General in Peshawar, Ms Candace Putnam, attended the ceremony the officials of Fata Secretariat and USAID besides the senior members of the faculties of the NWFP University of Engineering & Technology.

by thenews.com.pk

[Stanislav Bernuhov]

Vietnam's Central Bank intervenes in market

The State Bank of Vietnam weakens Vietnamese dong against the U.S. dollar in an apparent move to stabilize the foreign exchange market.

Vị trí đặt quảng cáoThe inter-bank exchange rate between the dong and the dollar will be VND18,544 to the dollar today compared to the previous VND17,941, or an adjustment of 3.3%.

Commercial banks today can revise up their buying and selling prices of the greenback to the maximum of VND19,100 to the dollar, or 3% higher than the inter-bank rate. This also equals to the dollar price on the unofficial market, which has been hovering around VND19,150 on buying and VND19,250 on selling.

Central bank governor Nguyen Van Giau also released a circular on Wednesday fixing the ceiling interest rate for deposits in the U.S. dollar applicable to corporate clients at 1% per year.

At this time, dollar borrowing rates at State-owned banks range from 2.3% to 4% per year at the moment and from 3.3% to 4.5% at joint-stock banks. This is aimed at coping with the situation where enterprises having U.S. dollar earnings hold on to the dollar on their accounts, causing severe dollar shortages for lender banks.

According to the central bank, by late November last year, dollar deposits placed by State-owned corporations at banks had amounted to US$1.2 billion and their call dollar deposits had totaled US$700 million. Total foreign funds held by enterprises in the banking system are estimated at US$10.3 billion.

The latest moves by the central bank are expected to stabilize the U.S. dollar price, and narrow the gap between official and unofficial dollar prices.

by english.thesaigontimes.vn

[Stanislav Bernuhov]

Taipei Forex cuts trading update

The central bank governor said that the change was still in line with world practices and did not represent a step backwards for Taiwan.

Taipei Forex Inc said yesterday it had changed its practice of updating trading volume from every 15 minutes to twice a day — a move that was supported by central bank Governor Perng Fai-nan.

Starting yesterday, the forex company only disclosed the trading volume during the midday break and when the market closed at 4pm, it said in a statement.

PARTIAL DATA

Taipei Forex said it decided to stop the more than two-decade practice of disclosing the transaction volume every 15 minutes because its data only accounted for “a part of the total forex market turnover” in the country.

The total trading volume should also include those conducted at the smaller Cosmos Forex Inc and trading between banks, the company said in the statement.

Perng said the change did not represent “a step backwards” as Taipei Forex discloses more information than its counterparts in other countries.

“In other countries, their forex exchanges disclose only one item, but we disclose up to six items,” Perng said, referring to categories of exchange rate information.

According to Taipei Forex, only real time bid-ask price information is provided to market traders in Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan and the major financial markets in the US and Europe.

INFORMATION

In Taiwan, however, Taipei Forex offers information such as the real time bid-ask price; highs and lows for the day and the previous day; open and closing prices for the day and the previous day; and trading volume, it said.

Perng said that Taipei Forex’s move was in line with the international practice and that there were historical reasons why it used to disclose more exchange rate information.

“In the past, we needed to calculate the weighted average price to decide the fixed exchange rate based on the gold price, but since this system has been abolished, there is no need to disclose the trading volume every 15 minutes,” Perng said.

by taipeitimes.com

[Stanislav Bernuhov]

Nigeria's fores reserves rose

Nigeria's forex reserves rose to $42.34 billion (R326 billion) by February 15 from $42.04 billion at the end of January, the central bank said on Tuesday.

Africa's top energy producer depends on earnings from oil exports to fund its largely import-dependent economy. Its forex reserves stood at $42.41 billion at the end of last year.

Finance Minister Mansur Muhtar told Reuters this month that the current level of reserves was sufficient to meet all domestic and external obligations.

by busrep.co.za

[Stanislav Bernuhov]

China's forex reserves hit 2,4 trillion (30% of world total)

China's foreign exchange reserves account for 30.7 percent of the world's forex reserves, according to foreign media.

It's said that with the recovery of the global economy in 2009, the national foreign exchange reserves will also see a significant rise. According to statistics, China's foreign reserve occupied 30.7 percent of total global reserves. BRIC countries (China, Russia, Brazil and India) are very much at the forefront, with $3.31 trillion reserves, accounting for 42.3 percent; while the G7 have only account $1.24 trillion.

It's also understood that China's foreign reserve in 2009 increased by more than 23 percent, equaling nearly 2 times the forex reserves of the G7. As a G7 member, Japan's reserves are about $1 trillion, ranking the second largest country in forex reserves.

According to the survey, among the world's ten largest reserves countries, there are seven countries from Asia. As for the United States, with its $45.4 billion foreign exchange reserves, it is only $2.4 billion more than Nigeria ($43 billion).

by chinadaily.com.cn

[Stanislav Bernuhov]

Yen reacts after Tokyo toughens forex stance

The yen fell after Japan's new finance minister hinted at possible intervention to sell the currency if it shoots higher.

Naoto Kan said that as finance minister, it was his duty "to take action on foreign exchange when necessary."

He added, however, that currency rates should in general be decided by markets.

Kan's remarks came a day after he rattled markets with a call for a weaker yen, prompting a thinly veiled rebuke from Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, who warned him not to publicly comment on currency levels.

"The government basically should not discuss foreign exchange," Hatoyama told reporters. "Regarding foreign exchange, stability is desirable."

The dollar rose to 93.35 yen in Tokyo afternoon trade, up from 93.25 in New York late on Thursday, when the Japanese currency had fallen sharply in response to Kan's remarks.

The euro was little changed at $1.4310 (R10.47) after $1.4318 and at 133.58 against 133.50.

Kan's comment Thursday that he wanted to see the yen weaken further was widely seen as a signal that Tokyo was toughening its stance against the currency's strength, which is bad for exporters.

"The market confirmed the new finance minister's stance of favouring a weaker yen, so the dollar is staying higher," said Hideaki Inoue, chief foreign exchange manager at Mitsubishi UFJ Trust and Banking.

Kan's remarks were in sharp contrast to his predecessor Hirohisa Fujii, who was widely seen as tolerant of the yen's recent strength.

"The image of Mr. Kan as a weak-yen person will probably stick," said Inoue. "The test for the government will come if the yen rises sharply again. The market will become cautious about possible intervention."

In November the dollar fell to around 85 yen, its lowest level since the mid-1990s, raising fears for the country's export-led economy.

Against Asian currencies, the dollar rose to 1.3990 Singapore dollars from 1.3943 a day earlier, to 9 237.50 Indonesian rupiah from 9 225.00, to 33.16 Thai baht from 33.12 and to 31.84 Taiwan dollars from 31.83.

At the same time it dropped to 1 130.75 South Korean won from 1 134.30, while holding steady at 45.86 Philippine pesos

by busrep.co.za

[Stanislav Bernuhov]

India's forex reserves decline

Forex reserves of India fell by USD 528 million for the week ended February 19 to USD 278.672 billion compared to USD 279.2 billion in the previous week.

Foreign Currency Assets (FCA), during the week, declined to USD 254.203 billion from USD 254.7 billion a week ago, the RBI said in its weekly report.

Foreign currency assets expressed in US dollar terms include the effect of appreciation or depreciation of non-US currencies such as Euro, Sterling and Yen held in the reserves, the RBI said.

Country's gold reserves, during the week, stood almost unchanged at USD 18.05 billion while the special drawing rights (SDR) slightly declined to USD 5.027 billion, the apex bank said.

During the week, India's reserve position in the international monetary fund dropped to USD 1.386 billion from USD 1.393 billion a week ago, the central bank said.

by indianexpress.com