Tuesday, 11th June 2013 | A total of US$31.1 million of foreign was purchased in today’s foreign exchange trading and US$26.7 million sold, but $24.26 million in US dollars were purchased and $21.3 million were sold at an average rate of J$100.30, 16 cents more than on Monday. Buying took place 3 cents lower than on Monday at $99.41. Buying of the Canadian and the Pound were once more greater than the amounts sold.

The Canadian was purchased for 38 cents less and the Pound for $1.76 more than on Monday. Selling took place at 6 cents less for the Canadian and 70 cents more for the pound.

The highest buying rate for the US dollar actually fell marginally but the selling rates moved up to 21 cents for the highest sell rate and 26 cent for the highest sell rate. All the rates for the Canadian dollar rose noticeably while those for the Pound were mixed with the lowest selling rate rising $3 and the highest sell rate shedding $1.70.

Monday, 10th June 2013 | The selling of US dollars to purchase BOJ bond instruments seems to have come to a halt in Monday’s trading as the buying of foreign exchange exceeded selling for the first time since the week ending May 31. Authorized dealers purchased US$32.78 million and sold US $30.16 million. C$1.2 million was purchased and C$933,500 was sold. GBP1.9 million was purchased and GBP985,000 was sold.

All the rates moved up marginally except the buying rate of pound sterling which moved up quite a bit. The movements in rates were more moderate than on Friday.

The US dollar put on 19 cents on the buying side while just barely inching up 6 cents on the sell side. For the Canadian dollar it took 10 cents more to buy the dollar while selling cost 49 cents more and for pound sterling the buying rate rose by $1.57 to $153.18 and selling rose to $155.64, some 20 cents more.

On Friday the US$ buying rate increased by 22 cents and the selling rate was up 15 cents, while the Canadian dollar buying rate was up $1.60, and the selling rate gained  81 cents. Buying rate down $2.30, selling rates up $0.56.

Friday, 7th June 2013 | The Jamaican dollar hit the dreaded $100 mark to the US dollar on Friday but Bank of Jamaica seems to have been the major buyer of the foreign funds as opposed to serious speculation of the local dollar. The central bank, in response to an ICInsider query, stated, “please note that Jamaica Dollar liquidity conditions were constrained during last week (3-7 June), given fairly strong subscriptions to the longer tenors of BOJ instruments on offer. In that context, several institutions sold USD to BOJ to shore up their Jamaica Dollar positions.”

Trading patterns seemed odd for the past two weeks as the dealers bought US$17 million more in the week ending May 31 but sold substantially more than they bought in the week ending on Friday, in a scenario that did not appear to be buying pressure even as the average selling rate slipped to hit J$100 to the US dollar on Friday.

In a market where demand was greater that supply, dealers would most likely be selling what they purchased and not much more as occurred during the current week. This suggested that they were switching from foreign currency holdings to local currency and this was supported by the presence of the two bonds that were on the market with that objective in mind. The bonds that were put out by Bank of Jamaica was to tighten Jamaican dollar liquidity and pump more foreign currencies into the central bank coffers closed on Friday.

Dealers bought US$24.65 million on Friday and sold $37.97 million, they bought GBP2.35 million and sold GBP800,986 and sold C$866,000 while buying C$1.25 million.

Wednesday & Thursday, 6th & 7th June 2013

USD | Trading on the foreign exchange market has seen heavy buying of the US dollars by end users compared with much less buying by authorised dealers for the past four trading days. Thursday trades were no exception as $18.4 million US dollars were purchased while $33.8 million were sold. The rates moved up to an average of $99.04 on the buying side and $99.93 on the sell side up 21 cents for the day.

In Wednesdays trading, US$23.6 million were purchased and US$38.5 million were sold while the buying rate went up 27 cents to $98.99 and the sell rate climbed 12 cents to $99.72.

CND | The Canadian dollar climbed on the buying side by 24 cent to $95 but fell for selling by 15 cents to $97.09 with C$780,908 bought and C$516,282 sold.

On Wednesday C$685.658 was bought and C$451,935 sold with the buying rate falling by 88 cents to $94.76 and the selling rate rising to $97.24 up 35 cents.

GBP  | The Pound Sterling traded £3.18 million at a buying rate of $153.91 up $3.14 from Wednesday’s buying rate and £2.48 million was sold at an average rate of $154.88 up $2.10 on the day. On Wednesday £1.76 were purchased at an average arte of $150.77 up 70 cents from Tuesday and selling amounted to £501,000 at a rate of $152.77 up 35 cents.