FX: Rate changes mixed

Thursday, 4th July 2013 | The US dollar selling rate rose by 18 cents in Forex trading with the rate closing at 101.68 as buying took place at 12 cents less than on Wednesday at 100.63. US$15.66 million was purchased and selling took place for US$16.86 million.

There was more buying of pound and Canadian dollars than the amounts sold. Overall the equivalent of $19.05 million were purchased and US$19.6 million was sold on a day when buying rate for the Canadian dollar moved up 38 cents to $94.85 but the selling rates slipped by 17 cents to close at $96.59. The pound dropped by $1.38 buying and $1.07 selling.

The highest a lowest buying and selling rates also showed a mixed picture with the highest buying rates moving up 1 cent for the US dollar, $1.25 for the Canadian dollar and down $1.75 for the pound. There was no change for the lowest selling rates for the US and the Canadian dollars but the Pound put on $1.83. The highest selling rates were 53 cents up for the US dollar, no change for Canadian and $2.67 up for the Pound. The lowest selling rates were $15.25 down for the US dollar and 65 cents up for the Canadian dollar and 30 cents off for the Pound.

FX_TRADE+Currency+Jul4

FX_TRADE+HighLow+Jul4

FX: Buying, selling equal

Wednesday, 4th July 2013 | Buying and selling in the forex market was almost equally divided on Wednesday with US$30.5 million purchased versus US$31 million sold as the US dollar buying rate climbed 14 cents and the selling rate inched up 6 cents. The Canadian dollar buying rate moved up 3 cents and selling rate fell 3 cents. The buying rate for the Pound sterling closed up $2.22 while the selling rate declined by 39 cents.

The highest buying rates fell for the US and Canadian dollars by 51 cents and $1.05 respectively, while that for the Pound climbed $2.35. There was no change for the lowest buying rate for the US dollar. The buying rates for Canadian dollar and Pound fell by 45 cents and 63 cents respectively. There was no change for the highest buying rate for the US dollar while the lowest rate climbed $14.84. The Canadian dollar moved up 28 cents for the highest selling rate and the lowest rate moved down by 55 cents, the Pound suffered a decline of $1.12 cent and a 75 cents decline for the lowest selling rate.

FX_TRADE+Currency+Jul3

FX_TRADE+HighLow+Jul3

FX: Rates holding, more or less

Tuesday, 2nd July 2013 | The foreign exchange market saw almost equal buying and selling with the selling rate for the US dollar inching up 10 cents for the day to close at $101.44 while the buying rate fell by a cent. Trading in US dollar currency brought in $23.2 million with selling amounting to $22.95 million.

Canadian dollars buying amounted to $805,000 with $760,000 being sold and the buying rate moving up by 32 cents to close at $94.44 and the selling rate ending the day at $96.80, down by just 4 cents. The Pound sterling edged down 7 cents on the buying of £1.26 million and selling took place at an average of £155, up 93 cents on the day,

Highest lowest | There was quite a bit of movement in the highest and lowest traded rates with the US dollar moving up 65 cents for the highest buying rate and 42 cents on the lowest selling rate. The highest buying remained unchanged from Monday but the lowest selling moved up by 41 cents. The Canadian dollar moved up 80 cents for the highest buying rate and 25 cent on the lowest selling rate, while the highest buying slipped 38 cents from Monday and the lowest selling moved up by just 10 cents. The Pound moved down 30 cents for the highest buying rate and up 67 cents on the lowest selling rate while the highest buying rate gained 43 cents from Monday and the lowest selling moved up by 90 cents.

Volume | Total US dollar equivalent bought was $26.6 million with $25.96 being sold.

FX_TRADE+Currency+Jul2

FX_TRADE+HighLow+Jul2

FX: More buying than selling again

Add your HTML code here...

Monday, 1st July 2013 | As was the case on Friday, authorised dealers bought much more foreign exchange than they sold. Unlike Friday, when the excess buying over sales is an unusual occurrence, today’s trades are in line with the long term market trend where Mondays are usually the highest day for inflows as week-end flows are sold into the financial system.

The total amount of purchases on Monday amounted to US$41.6 million, more than $9 million over Friday’s purchases of US$32.2 million and the amount sold amounted to US$33 million, $8.6 million more than Friday’s US$24.5 million. While the actual selling of US currency was $7.4 million less than purchases of $38.26 million.

The selling rate for the US dollar inched down by just 4 cents and the buying rate went up by 7 cents. There was also more buying of Pound Sterling and the Canadian dollars than the amounts sold to end users.

The average selling rate for the Canadian dollar gained 14 cents while the buying rate fell $1.43.  The rate for buying the Pound, which fell $1.18 on Friday, declined further by $1.21 to close at $151.54 and was down only 40 cents on the selling rate which ended at $154.07.

There were no changes for the minimum buying rates for any of the currencies, while the highest buying rates moved up by 10 cents for the Canadian dollar and also went up for the selling rates with the highest climbing 70 cents and the lowest by 20 cents.  The highest buying rate for the US dollar moved down by 15 cents as the highest selling rate moved up 53 cents with no change for the lowest selling rate. The Pound declined for the highest buying rate which fell by $1.50 and the highest selling rate moved down by $1.12 and 10 cents for the lowest selling rate.

FX_TRADE+Currency+Jul1

FX_TRADE+HighLow+Jul1

What’s BOJ up to in FX & money market?

In Friday’s foreign exchange trading, authorised dealers bought much more foreign exchange than they sold and in a late after hours release, Jamaica’s central bank again decided to mop up more local funds from the financial system.

The timing of the release isn’t isolated from the developments in the foreign exchange market. It seems that the CD issue is linked to what the central bank may consider to be holding of a long position in US dollar by financial institutions. According to the release from the bank, the issues are “to augment its liquidity management operations, the Bank of Jamaica will be offering two variable rate instruments commencing Monday, 01 July 2013 to Thursday, 04 July 2013. The release comes against the back drop of the day’s trading when authorised dealers bought more than US$32 million and sold only US$24.5 million with the rate for the US dollar hardly trading.

The instruments being offered are:

  1. Variable Rate Certificate of Deposit 2013(D) which was originally issued on 12 June 2013 and is now being re-opened for a limited nominal amount of $2.0 billion. The tenor for the re-opened instrument is 164-days. This instrument maintains the original issue terms, viz, the initial coupon is 6.77 per cent per annum up to the first interest payment date on 12 September 2013 and re-prices quarterly at 0.15 percentage point above the three month GOJ Treasury Bill rate for the next interest payment date up to the maturity date on 12 December 2013.
  2. A 365-day Certificate of Deposit, for an unlimited amount. The instrument re-prices quarterly at 0.23 percentage point above the three month GOJ Treasury Bill rate existing at the start of each re-pricing period. The initial coupon for the first three months is 6.99 per cent per annum.

These offers are extended to all Primary Dealers and commercial banks, from 01 July 2013 to 04 July 2013. The term sheets for these Certificates of Deposit will be circulated via electronic mail to all Primary Dealers and commercial banks.

The Bank says they will continue to offer its regular 30-day Certificate of Deposit at the current interest rate of 5.75 per cent per annum.

This is the third CD offering within a month and is in conflict with the view that the government wants the rate of the Jamaican dollar to fall as well as utterances from government’s spokesmen that the continuing devaluation is to ensure that the country has a competitive exchange rate. The measures are meant to tighten liquidity which means that there will be less Jamaican dollars  available to purchase foreign exchange thus resulting in either stability in the exchange rate or a revaluation of the currency.

Read more about the BOJ’s intervention in the FX market, Market demand is not driving J$, BOJ is click here.

FX: More buying than selling

Friday, 28th June 2013 | In today’s foreign exchange trading, authorised dealers bought much more foreign exchange than they sold, an unusual occurrence for a Friday. This seems to have signalled to Bank of Jamaica that speculation could be re-entering the market. As such, the BOJ initiated a pre-emptive strike in an after hours move in which they announced two Certificates of Deposit instruments to mop up Jamaican dollar liquidity and pry foreign currency into the NIR in the coming week.

The total amount of currency purchased on Friday amounted to US$32.2 million and selling US$24.5 million. While the actual selling of US dollars was nearly $6 million less than purchases, the selling rate inched down by just 1 cent and the buying rate by 11 cents. There was more buying of Pound Sterling and the Canadian dollars than the amounts sold to end users.

The average selling rate for Canadian dollar gained 4 cents and for the buying rate, 9 cents. The rate for the Pound fell all of $1.18 for the buying rate to close at $152.75 and was down only 6 cents on the selling rate.

Traders dropped the minimum selling rate for three currencies between 5 cent and $1.94, while the highest selling rate hardly changed. The highest buying rate for the US dollar moved up 20 cents but for the Canadian dollar it fell by 20 cents and the pound was also off 50 cents.

FX_TRADE+Currency+Jun28

FX_TRADE+HighLow+Jun28

FX: Moderate change to buying & selling rates

Thursday, 27th June 2013 | There was more selling of US dollar than on Wednesday and less buying by dealers but the actual purchases of US currency exceeded the sales of the US currency by US$7.6 million. There was more buying of the Pound Sterling and the Canadian dollars than the amounts sold to end users. Total buying amounted to the equivalent of US$25.767 million and selling was US$32.72 million.

The average rates for the US dollar inched down by 10 cents on the buy side and moved up 7 cents for sales with the selling rate closing at $101.38. That for the Canadian dollar gained 64 cents for the buying rate but was down 32 cents for the average sell rate, which moved to $96.66.  The rate for the Pound fell 5 cents for the buying rate to close at $153.93 and was down 95 cents on the selling rate to end at $154.54.

Traders drop back the minimum selling rate for the US dollar by $14.31 to $84.19. On Thursday the rate moved by $16.17 to a $98.50 on the day when they bought at 20 cents less or at $101.80 at the highest price from the public than they did on Wednesday. The Canadian dollar traded again today at $96.80 at the high, no change for both the buying at the highs and lows. The lowest rate went up by 45 cents to $92.85 and the highest was down by 27 cents to $99.35. The Pound sterling buying was 30 cents more for the highest rate of $157 and $6.48 less for the lowest buying rate while the selling rates moved up by $1.48 on the highest of $160.71 and the lowest which was $150.2 was greater by $4 than on Wednesday.

FX_TRADE+Currency+Jun27

FX_TRADE+HighLow+Jun27

FX: Sharp changes in highest lowest rates

Wednesday, 26th June 2013 | The foreign exchange market was characterised mainly by sharp changes in the highest and lowest buying and selling rates than for changes in the average rates for buying and selling of foreign currencies on Wednesday.

Traders hiked the minimum selling rate for the US dollar by $16.17 to $98.50 on the day when they bought at 50 cents more or at $102 from the public than they did on Tuesday. The Canadian dollar was traded at $1.40 less at $96.80 at the high end and 50 cents less on the lowest rates when they bought and sold for 12 cents more or at $99.62 and $1.10 more on at the lowest rate which came in at $92.40. For the Pound sterling buying was 30 cents less for the highest rate of $156.70 and $6.11 more at the lowest buying rate while the selling rates slipped by $2.08 on the highest of $159.22 and the lowest which was $146.20 was lower by $4.55 than on Tuesday.

Total buying amounted to the equivalent of US$26.85 million and selling the equivalent of US$30.57 million.

The average rates for the US dollar inched down by 9 cents on the buy side and moved up two cent for sales with the selling rate closing at $101.31. That for the Canadian dollar fell 29 cents for the buying rate and was up 33 cents for the average sell rate which moved to $96.74.  The rate for the Pound fell 56 for the buying rate to close at $153.98 and was down 12 cents on the selling rate, to end at $155.49.

FX_TRADE+Currency+Jun26

FX_TRADE+HighLow+Jun26

Remittance inflows dip

Total remittance inflows for the March 2013 quarter were US$492.5 million, a decrease of US$12.3 million or 2.4 per cent compared to the corresponding quarter of the previous year. The inflows for the quarter were above the average for the previous five corresponding periods with the flows for January 2013 being the highest since 2010 with US$154 million, February inflows at $160 million was slightly under the US$167 received in 2012 and March was the worse month relative to 2012 as inflows fell by US$9.5 million to reach $178.4 million.

For the first quarter of 2013, net remittances were US$431.5 million, a decline of US$5.1 million or 1.2 per cent relative to the corresponding quarter of the previous year. The outturn for the quarter reflects the decrease in gross inflows, which was partially offset by a decline in outflows.

USD_Clock150x150The decrease in total remittance inflows reflected a US$14.2 million or 3.3 per cent deterioration in inflows through Remittance Companies. The decrease in inflows was partly offset by a US$1.9 million or 2.6 per cent increase in flows via Other Remittances sub-category.

Last year Jamaica received the highest amount of remittances in its history with $2,037 billion up from $2,019 billion in 2011. Prior to this period remittances peaked in 2008 at US$2,021 billion just after the global recent started to take hold.

The fall in remittances in the first quarter of this year may be linked to the fall in the value for the Jamaican dollar and the scarcity of foreign exchange during the period. Examination of past behaviour show a strong co-relationship between inflows and exchange instability. When there is instability in the foreign exchange market some of the funds that would normally flow into the formal financial system are diverted to end users and therefore never get reported.

RemittanceFlows

FX: Big trade Tuesday

Tuesday, 25 June 2013 | Today was a big trading day in the foreign exchange market as buying amounted to the equivalent of US$39.8 million, a little less than the amount US$40.65 million purchased on  Monday. Selling was the equivalent of US$39.5 million up from yesterday’s $32.7 million sold.

The average rates for the US dollar inched up 4 cents on the buy side and one cent for sales with the selling rate closing at $101.29. The Canadian dollar climbed $1.28 for the buying rate and was off 23 cents for the selling rate, taking the average sell rate to $96.65.  The rate for the Pound rose $1.68 for the buying rate to close at $154.55 and was up 48 cents on the selling rate to end at $155.61.

The highest buying and selling rates fell for the US dollar while the buying rates for the Canadian climbed moderately, but the highest and lowest were down by $1 and $1.55 respectively. The highest buy rate for the pound dropped $2.10. There was no change for the lowest buying rate but the selling rates were up moderately.

FX_TRADE+Currency+Jun25

FX_TRADE+HighLow+Jun25