Sarwar Zahan

The US dollar was mostly steady against Bangladesh taka (BDT) in the inter-bank foreign exchange market last week despite higher demand for the greenback, fund managers said.

The market experienced sufficient flow that helped the dollar maintain its strength despite increased demand. The supply line was adequately maintained with inward remittances and export proceeds, they said.

The exchange rate of the dollar mainly varied between Tk 69.0 and Tk 69.02 in the inter-bank market against previous week's range of between Tk 69.01 and Tk 69.02.

The commercial banks avoided cross-currency transactions responding to the instruction of the central bank. They were, however, active in making swap deals. The use of swap deals is usually considered as discouraging market behaviour, fund manager sources said.

The average transaction of the greenback stood at around $ 39 million per day against that of previous week's daily average at $ 29 million.

Dollar was also stable in public deals and it was mostly exchanged at rates varying between Tk 67.85 and Tk 70.64 maintaining previous week's range, funds managers said.

In the informal market, the greenback remained steady and it was traded at rates varying between Tk 69.10 and Tk 69.60 repeating the previous week's range. The brokers bought dollar mainly at rates between Tk 69.10 and Tk 69.30 and sold it between Tk 69.50 and Tk 68.60, money dealers said.

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

The commercial banks offered high exchange rates to Bangladeshi expatriates for encouraging them to transfer their money through the banking channel, said money dealers.

In the regional market, most currencies fluctuated.

The exchange rate of Indian rupee against Bangladesh taka varied between Tk 1.3278 and Tk 1.4103 against previous week's range of between Tk 1.3464 and Tk 1.432.

The exchange rate of dollar against Indian rupee moved between Rs 49.61 and Rs 51.24 against previous week's range of between Rs 49.60 and Rs 50.64 and Pakistani rupee between Rs 80.0 and Rs 80.80 against previous week's Rs 80.0 and Rs 80.90.