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The US dollar maintained its strength against the Bangladesh taka last week in the inter-bank foreign exchange market. The strong demand for the greenback influenced by import obligations combined with high speculations determined the course of the market. The stakeholders remained active in making transactions in dollar putting pressure on greenback. The dollar was firm in public deals as well as local informal transactions, funds manager sources said.
The exchange rate of the greenback varied between Tk 69.15 and Tk 71.85 in the interbank foreign exchange market against previous week's range between Tk 69.05 and Tk 72.00. The main trend in the interbank dollar rate was, however, between Tk 69.15 and Tk 71.72, they said.
The rates varied between Tk 70.40 and Tk 70.90 in the local informal market against the previous week's range between Tk 68.80 and Tk 70.50. The brokers purchased dollar mainly at rates between Tk 70.40 and Tk 70.50 and sold it between Tk 70.70 and Tk 70.90, money dealers said.
The cash dollar was firmer in public deals and it was traded between Tk 68.80 and Tk 72.42 against the previous week's range between Tk 68.80 and Tk 72.24.
The spot direct transactions in the dollar were significantly high as around 20.45 million dollar changed hands in the week against around 11.25 million dollar of the previous week, reflecting a significant rise in demand for the greenback. Besides, the dealer banks showed interest in small swap deals against customer requirements to fund their import payment obligations instantly, they added.
The increased import obligations caused higher demand for the dollar. The supply was mainly maintained through inward remittance and export proceeds. The total liquid holding of the banking system helped maintain balance between supply and demand. The growing demand, however, was more pressing than supply, that resulted in a stronger dollar, they added.
The central bank with policies of squeezing credit outflow and checking unnecessary imports tried to reduce the pressure on foreign exchange market. The high exchange rates of the dollar offered by the commercial banks also encouraged Bangladeshi expatriates to send their money through the banking channel, which was seen as a positive contribution of strong dollar, fund managers said.
The central bank strengthened its monitoring and supervision activities to prevent the foreign exchange market from further instability. It conducted reverse repurchase agreement (repo) auction to maintain high interbank call money rate to discourage stakeholders from buying excess dollar, they said.
Some nationalised and private sector commercial banks increased the sale volumes of the greenback sellers in the inter-bank market. This softened the dollar, they said.
In the regional market, most of the currencies were steady against the dollar. The exchange rate of the Indian rupee against the taka ranged between Tk 1.48 and Tk 1.61. The exchange rate of the dollar against the Indian rupee varied between Rs 44.21 and Rs 44.48. The Pakistani rupee ranged between Rs 60.05 and Rs 60.30.
The exchange rate of the dollar against the Malaysian ringgit varied between 3.6910 ringgit and 3.7055 ringgit and against the Thai baht between 38.79 baths and 38.98 baths.
In the international market, the dollar was traded between 115.70 yen and 117.24 yen against the previous week's range between 117.40 yen and 119.15 yen. The euro was traded between 1.2066 dollar and 1.2208 dollar against previous week's range between 1.1861 dollar and 1.2094 dollar.
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