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The value of US dollar made a record single-day surge by Tk 1.40 in a volatile interbank foreign exchange market Monday.
Banks quoted the dollar rate at Tk 69.10 Monday against Tk 67.70 of the previous day, sources in the banking sector said.
The deals, however, ranged between Tk 67.75 and Tk 69.10 Monday.
However, a fund manager told the FE Monday night that state-owned Sonali Bank, which pumped around 1.7 million dollar into the market on the day, struck several deals at Tk 69.10 during trading hour, reportedly changed the rate to Tk 67.75 per dollar after the trading session.
The reason for the downward revision of the rate could not be known.
Besides, the US dollar gained further against the local currency and reached Tk 71.40 Monday from Sunday's high at Tk 71.25 in deals for opening letters of credit (LCs) against imports.
The Sonali Bank resumed selling of the greenback Monday in the interbank foreign exchange market after keeping itself on the sideline for five months.
The bank turned into a buyer from a leading seller of US dollar as it was struggling to mobilise foreign exchange to settle LCs payments for gasoline imports.
"We have come back again in the market after settling our liabilities that were created by the opening of LCs against imports of petroleum products," a senior official of the Sonali Bank told the FE Monday.
He also said: "The Sonali Bank sold around US$1.7 million at Tk 69.10 per unit in the inter-bank market to meet the growing demand of some dollar-hungry commercial banks."
Two nationalised commercial banks (NCBs) mainly sell the greenback in the interbank market while most other banks make deals in Euro or Pound Sterling instead of the US dollar.
Sources, however, said the NCBs collected remittances at Tk 69.02 per US dollar from exchange houses aboard and sold at Tk 67.75-69.10 in the interbank market.
But some private commercial banks (PCBs) are now buying the greenback at around Tk 70 from the exchange houses aboard and sold the dollar in third currency deals to earn more profit, the sources noted.
"We are selling the greenback in the interbank market at a reduce rate of Tk 1.32 per US dollar to maintain the existing market trend," a senior official of a NCB told the FE.
"How long the NCBs will suffer losses in deals on foreign exchange in the interbank market," a fund manager wondered.
For opening LCs against imports, the NCBs quoted the dollar at Tk 69.97, while the foreign commercial banks (FCBs) and private commercial banks (PCBs) sold the greenback at Tk 71.40-71.35 Monday.
Currently, some commercial banks are facing problem in settling their LC payments due to short supply of the greenback in the inter-bank market.
Meanwhile, the call rate rose to 22.50 per cent Monday from 18 per cent of the previous day, while most of the deals were settled between 10 per cent and 11 per cent.
The two NCBs -- Janata and Agrani -- mostly quoted the call rates between 12 per cent and 12.50 per cent Monday. However, the PCBs and the FCBs lent funds at 9.25-22.50 per cent on the day against 9.50-18.00 per cent of the previous day.
Meanwhile, the unusual behaviour of the dollar on the day was under review until the filing of this report. The dollar gained slightly in the informal market, fund managers said. The greenback was traded Monday between Tk 67.20 and Tk 67.70 against previous day's range between Tk 67.20 and Tk 67.50. The informal market experienced higher demand for the dollar, money dealers said.
The exchange rate of the Indian rupee against Bangladesh Taka (BDT) ranged between Tk 1.48 and Tk 1.53.
In the regional market, the exchange rate of the dollar against the Indian rupee varied between Rs 44.22 and Rs 44.32 and the Pakistani rupee between Rs 59.84 and Rs 59.86.
Besides, the exchange rate of the dollar against the Malaysian ringgit varied between 3.7122 ringgit and 3.7236 ringgit, and against the Thai currency between 39.38 baht and 39.41 baht.
In the international market, the exchange rate of the dollar against the Japanese yen varied mostly between 118.26 yen and 118.45 yen. The euro's rate against the greenback moved between 1.1905 dollar and 1.1915 dollar.
As on February 27, the London Inter-bank Offered Rates (LIBOR) against the US dollar were 4.60500 per cent for one month, 4.81000 per cent for three months and 4.98000 per cent for six months.
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