Friday, 31 May 2013 | The local foreign currency market seems odd at best. There is more buying by financial institutions than they are selling, to the extent that they are picking up the currency for less than the did yesterday but buyers form these institutions are buying at higher and higher rates. The amount of currency bought on Friday amounted to US$30.46 million and the equivalent of US$28.1 million were sold. For the entire week the authorized dealers bought $16.8 million more than they sold with only Monday being a day of sales exceeding purchases. The signals are at best conflicting.

Oblivious to some traders is the fact that the country’s central bank is using open market methods to mop up excess liquidity from the system. Additionally, although the IMF or some executive may say the Jamaican dollar is still overvalued and adjustments are needed is not to say that the currency needs to move in nominal terms. There are other methods that can get greater level of competitiveness in the system. One such is tax reform that can lower the cost of production if properly applied, another is to allow the recent tax package and the effect of government reducing their spending to have moderating effect on inflation and therefore improve the competitiveness of the currency.

Regardless the selling rate for the US dollar climbed today by 11 cents to close at J$99.45, the pound sterling climbed 97 cents to close at J$151.29 and the Canadian closed at $96.48 up just 6 cents. But while Jamaican were paying more for funds from the institutions that trade in foreign currencies the finance houses were paying the public less for the funds. In the case of the US dollar it was 3 cents less , 55 cents less for the Canadian and 34 cents less for the pound sterling. Is the public more knowledgeable than the banks and cambios?

Wednesday 29 May, 2013 | The level of buying of foreign currency climbed as Wednesday trades topped the high level of Tuesday’s trading. Although the amount bought out-paced the amounts sold, the selling rate for the US dollar inched up for the third day in a row. Buying ($40 million) exceeded selling for the second day in a row and selling was in the mid $30 million range. The US dollar selling rate went up by 8 cents and the pound sterling gained 26 cents while the Canadian dollar fell by 97 cents.

At the same time the central bank launched two new variable rate instruments to manage liquidity effective Friday May 29.

A 184-day Certificate of Deposit, for an unlimited amount. The instrument re-prices quarterly at 0.15 percentage point above the 3-month GOJ Treasury Bill rate existing at the start of each re-pricing period. The initial coupon for the first three months is 6.77 per cent per annum. This offer is extended to all Primary Dealers and commercial banks from 29 May 2013 to 07 June 2013.

An 18-month Certificate of Deposit, for an unlimited amount. The instrument re-prices quarterly at 0.25 percentage point above the 3-month GOJ Treasury Bill rate existing at the start of each re-pricing period. The initial coupon for the first three months is 6.87 per cent per annum. This offer is extended to all Primary Dealers and commercial banks from 29 May 2013 to 07 June 2013.

The move suggests that the central bank is more than comfortable with the existing rate of the Jamaica dollar versus the main intervention currency the US dollar.

Tuesday, 28th May 2013 | The decline in the level of trading was clearly not a sign of things to come. At least that is what Tuesday’s data in the foreign currency market is saying.

Trading picked up markedly from yesterday’s poor showing with US$42 million bought for all currencies and selling of US$37.1 million. Rates inched up a bit today with the US dollar purchased for 80 cents more and sold 2 cents more than on Monday. In the case of the Canadian dollar it was 59 cents more on the buy side and $1.32 on the selling side while the Pound Sterling was fetching 53 cents more on the buy and just 19 cents more on the sell side than on Monday.

The amount of US dollar sold was over US$4 million more than that purchased, while the Canadian sold Can$1.66 million compared to only Can$900,000 bought. Sterling was heavily in favour of buying as nearly a million pounds less was sold than bought.

The highs and lowest rates saw marked moves in Canadian on the buy side climbing $1.17 for the highest rates and down $12.09 on the lowest rate sold. The pound was sold for $1.41 less at the lowest rate.

Monday, 27th May 2013 | The foreign market flashed a surprise on Monday with moderate trading levels as a mere US$16.4 million in all forms of currencies were purchased while selling was a little more, at US$$19.4 million. Surprisingly as well, the buying rates fell compared to those on Friday and on the sell side, the US dollar just barely moved up by 7 cents while the other two currencies fell.

The highest buying rates for all three currencies fell today compared to a rise for all three on Friday. Noticeably, the US dollar moved down by 65 cents, the Canadian 80 cents and the Pound $1.30. The lowest buying rates were flat to virtually flat. The highest selling rates hardly changed with the exception of the Pound which gained 76 cents, the other lowest sell rates fell marginally.

USD | The foreign exchange market was in balance today as a total of US$24.2 million were purchased and US$23.3 million sold. The rate paid on average for buying the dollar was J$98.472, slightly lower than Tuesday’s buying rate and they sold it to the public for an average of J$99.11, slightly up on yesterday’s rate.  The highest buying rate was J$99.35, up 18 cents on Tuesday’s rate and the lowest was J$81.16 17 cents lower than on Tuesday. Sales took place at J$104.11, some 11 cents more than Tuesday on the high end and J$96.20 on the low end, 15 cents more than Tuesday’s lowest rate.

CAD | Purchasing of Canadian dollars amounted to CAN$522,435 at an average rate of J$94.1682 which was just 2 cents less than the rate on Tuesday. CAN$990,719.46 were sold at an average of J$97.3652 but buyers had to pay 7.5 cents more than the Tuesday average price to get the currency. The highest buy rate for the Canadian dollar was J$96.50 which was 30 cent less than Tuesday and the lowest buy rate was 17 cents less at J$77.27. On the sell side, the highest selling rate was J$99.62, which was lower than Tuesday by 21 cents and the lowest sell rate was J$1.40  more than Tuesday at J$93.80.

GBP | GBP 1,478,798.92 were purchased at a rate of J$148.0187, down 49 cents on Tuesday and GBP 1,112,854.53 were sold at J$149.662, down $1.08. The highest buy rate for the Pound was J$150.50 which was 50 cent less than Tuesday and the lowest buy rate was 62 cents less at J$121.1. On the sell side, the highest selling rate for the Pound was J$153.02 which was lower than Tuesday by J$3.90 cents and the lowest sell rate was $0.55 cents less than Tuesday, at J$145.90.

Overall the market traded the equivalent of US$26,983,184.49 and sold the equivalent of US$26,358,984.87.

Buying exceeds selling | Trading in the foreign exchange market saw the equivalent of US$33.2 million being purchased and US$30.05 million were sold.

USD | The selling rate for the US dollar, however, slipped from Monday’s close to end at J$99.036 as US$28.5 million were sold and US$30.4 million were bought at J$98.4952, slightly lower than Monday’s buying rate of J$98.428. The highest selling rate for the US dollar remains over J$104 while the lowest is at $81.16 and the highest buying rates ended at J$99.17 and the lowest JS$81.33.

GBP | Sale to authorized dealers of pound sterling amounted £1.34 million at an average of J$148.51 (Monday was J$147.63) while dealers sold £0.64 million at an average of J$150.74 compared to Monday when it was sold at J$151.36.  The Pound was sold at a high of $156.92 and a low of $146.45, the highest buying price was J$151 and the lowest buying was at J$121.72.

CAD $ | Can$0.673 million were bought at an average of J$94.54 lower that the J$94 it averaged out on Monday. The amount sold was Can$0.337 million at an average rate of J$97.07 lower than Monday’s rate of J$96.3. The Canadian dollar was bought at a high of J$96.80 and a low of $77.44 and was sold at a high of J$99.83 and a low of J$92.40.

Robust FX trading | The foreign exchange market enjoyed high levels of trade on Monday with the equivalent of US$39.9 million being purchased and US$31.7 million sold. This contrast with last week’s Monday’s trade in which US$47.3 million were purchased and US$50.4 million were sold.

USD | The selling rate for the US dollar slipped from Friday’s close to end at J$99.9592 (Friday J$98.9885) as US$29.64 were sold and US$37.1 million were bought at J$98.428, slightly higher than Friday’s buying rate of J$98.4244.

GBP | £1.24 million were sold to authorized dealers by the public, at an average of J$147.63 while dealers sold £0.71 million, at an average of J$151.3622.  On Friday last, the selling rate was J$150.29, $1.06 less.

CAD | Can$0.84 million were bought at an average of J$94, $1.34 less decline from Friday’s rate of J$95.34. Can$0.46 million were sold on Monday at an average rate of J$96.3, slightly lower than Friday’s trades which took place at J$97.15.

International FX market | On the foreign exchange market the Japanese yen broke through the 103 barrier this morning as the US dollar was in great demand as economy data out on better than expected. The US dollar rose against all major currencies.