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The US dollar slightly weakened against the Bangladesh Taka (BDT) last week in the inter-bank foreign exchange market despite higher demand for the greenback. The exchange rate of the greenback varied between Tk 69.49 and Tk 69.79 in the interbank foreign exchange market against the previous week's range between Tk 69.49 and Tk 69.82, funds manager sources said.
The supply of dollar was sufficient in the market due to higher inward remittance and export proceeds, they said.
The dealer banks made cautious transactions in dollar that facilitated the BDT to gain, at least nominally, against the greenback. The speculations were less effective in the market. The dollar, however, was steady in public deals and also in the local informal transactions, funds manager sources said.
The rates fluctuated between Tk 70.60 and Tk 71.10 in the local informal market maintaining the previous week's range. The brokers purchased dollar predominantly at rates between Tk 70.60 and Tk 70.80 and sold it between Tk 71.00 and Tk 71.10, money dealers said.
The cash dollar remained unchanged at its high level in public deals and it was traded between Tk 67.65 and Tk 70.85 maintaining the previous week's range.
Dealer banks showed moderate interest in making swap deals against customer requirements to fund their import payment obligations instantly. The spot direct transactions in dollar were higher indicating the dealer banks' lower dependence on swap deals, they added.
The total spot transactions in greenback during the week stood at around 100.35 million dollars against the previous week's about 80 million dollars.
The greenback registered nominal fluctuations over the days in the week, indicating prevalence of stability in the foreign exchange market. The total liquid holding of the banking system was sufficient to match the supply with the demand, they added.
The central bank maintained strong monitoring and supervision on dealer banks to improve discipline in the foreign exchange market. It was cautious of checking unnecessary transactions in dollar through import letters of credit, sources said.
The commercial banks encouraged the Bangladeshi expatriates to send their money through banking channel offering high exchange rates. This successfully nourished the supply of dollar in the market, fund managers said.
The central bank held reverse repurchase agreement (repo) auction regularly to withdraw large amounts of cash from the market to maintain the inter-bank call money rate at a high level. Its priority was to discourage excess buying of dollar by maintaining high costs for the local currency, they said.
Some dealer banks were eager to sell their excess greenback. This lowered some pressure on the inter-bank foreign exchange market, they said.
In the regional market, most of the currencies were steady against dollar. The exchange rate of the Indian rupee against the taka ranged between Tk 1.50 and Tk 1.61. The exchange rate of the dollar against the Indian rupee varied between Rs 46.40 and Rs 46.49. The Pakistani rupee ranged between Rs 60.22 and Rs 60.32.
The exchange rate of dollar against Malaysian ringgit varied between 3.6655 ringgit and 3.6810 ringgit and against Thai baht between 37.65 bahts and 37.77 bahts.
In the international market, dollar was traded between 114.90 yen and 115.65 yen against the previous week's range between 114.20 yen and 115.20 yen. The euro was traded between 1.2775 dollar and 1.2880 dollar against the previous week's range between 1.2745 dollar and 1.2807 dollar.
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