At midday on Thursday, foreign currency was pouring into dealers coffers faster than they could dispose of it, with total US$15.39 million purchased by dealers at an average rate of J$125.49, while they could only sell US$7.72 million, at an average of J$126.05.
By the close of trading on Thursday, dealers average rate was down to just $125 to buy the US dollar, a clear indication that they were staving off the selling pressure.
Interestingly, last week, purchases by dealers for the first 4 days for the US dollar, was $145 million and jumped to $161 million to Thursday this week, while the dealers sold just US$167 million in US currency this week, up from $150 from the prior week. The fall in the exchange rate with more selling of US dollars by dealers, suggest that the general public are offloading US dollars into the system. The selloff comes at an interesting time with the very popular Initial Public Offering of shares in Wisynco Group.
Thursdays’ mid-day trading pattern was similar to Wednesday’s with the purchase of US$13.57 million at J$125.72 and selling of US$7.37 million at J$126.16 by mid-day.
On Thursday, the rate of exchange to buy the US dollar by the public, declined for the third time for the week to $126.08, as dealers sold US$38.51 million in US dollars, compared to US$41.03 million at an average rate of $126.20 on Wednesday.
Wata produced by Wisynco
Dealers’ purchased US$42.48 million, versus US$53.74 million on Wednesday in all currencies, in Jamaica’s Forex market and sold US$46.15 million compared with US$44.63 million sold, previously.
The selling rate for the Canadian dollar dropped to J$95.16 from J$98.39 at the close on Wednesday. The selling rate for the British Pound climbed to J$169.72 versus J$169.34 previously and the euro lost value against the Jamaican dollar, recovering to J$148.55 to buy the European common currency, versus prior selling rate of J$146.91.
