Sarwar Zahan

US dollar remained mostly steady against Bangladesh taka (BDT) in the inter-bank foreign exchange market last week mainly due to adequate supply of the greenback, fund managers said.

The market experienced higher demand for the greenback. The central bank also bought $ 15 million from the market without putting any pressure on the liquidity, as the flow of inward remittances and export receipts were adequate to nourish the supply line, they said.

The exchange rate of the dollar mainly varied between Tk 68.98 and Tk 69.06 in the inter-bank market against previous week's range of between Tk 68.98 and Tk 69.05.

The commercial banks avoided cross-currency transactions complying with the instruction of the central bank. They were cautious about making swap deals. The use of swap deals is usually considered as a discouraging market behaviour, fund manager sources said.

The average transaction of the greenback stood at around $ 23.90 million per day against that of previous week's daily average at $ 19.95 million.

Dollar, however, appeared stronger in public deals and it was mostly exchanged at rates varying between Tk 67.85 and Tk 70.85 against previous week's range of between Tk 67.76 and Tk 70.85, funds managers said.

In the informal market, the greenback was mostly steady and it was traded at rates varying between Tk 68.20 and Tk 68.60 maintaining the previous week's range. The brokers bought dollar mainly at rates between Tk 68.20 and Tk 68.30 and sold it between Tk 68.40 and Tk 68.60, money dealers said.

The central bank monitored and supervised the activities of the dealer banks actively for checking unnecessary transactions in dollar to impart effective management in the foreign exchange market, fund managers said.

The commercial banks encouraged Bangladeshi expatriates by offering high exchange rates to transfer their money through the banking channel, said money dealers.

In the regional market, most currencies were steady.

The exchange rate of Indian rupee against Bangladesh taka varied between Tk 1.2928 and Tk 1.3709 against previous week's range of between Tk 1.2702 and Tk 1.3512.

The exchange rate of dollar against Indian rupee moved between Rs 50.7550 and Rs 53.1950 against previous week's range of between Rs 50.93 and Rs 53.59 and Pakistani rupee between Rs 79.75 and Rs 80.75 against previous week's Rs 79.80 and Rs 80.75.

Besides, the exchange rate of dollar against Malaysian ringgit varied between 3.6126 ringgit and 3.6646 ringgit, and that against the Thai currency between 34.81 and Rs 35.89.

In the international market, dollar was traded between 95.4050 yen and 98.5830 yen against the previous week's range between 95.6790 yen and 99.9980 yen. Euro was traded between 1.3431 dollar and 1.3737 dollar against the previous week's range between 1.2908 dollar and 1.3501 dollar.