Sarwar Zahan

US dollar appeared soft against Bangladesh taka (BDT) in the inter-bank foreign exchange market last week due to decline in demand for the greenback, fund managers said.

The demand for the greenback fell because of lower import payment obligations. Increased inward remittance adequately nourished the supply line. The blended effect of decreased import payments and the increased supply slightly softened the value of the greenback, they said.

The exchange rate of the dollar mainly varied between Tk 69.02 and Tk 69.03 in the inter-bank market against previous week's range of between Tk 69.0 and Tk 69.05.

The commercial banks avoided cross-currency transactions responding to the instruction of the central bank. They were almost reluctant to make swap deals. The use of swap deals is usually considered a discouraging market behaviour, fund manager sources said.

The average transaction of the greenback stood at around $ 18 million per day against that of previous week's daily average of $ 26 million.

Dollar, however, gained in public deals and it was mostly exchanged at rates varying between Tk 67.85 and Tk 70.05 against previous week's range of between Tk 67.85 and Tk 69.64, funds managers said.

In the informal market, the greenback also gained and it was traded at rates varying between Tk 69.40 and Tk 69.70 against the previous week's range of between Tk 69.10 and Tk 69.60. The brokers bought dollar mainly at rates between Tk 69.40 and Tk 69.50 and sold it between Tk 69.60 and Tk 68.70, money dealers said.

The central bank carried out stern monitoring and supervision of the activities performed by the dealer banks 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 encourage Bangladeshi expatriates to transfer their money through the banking channel, said money dealers.

Most banks were interested in holding the foreign currency in their reserves for meeting future demands against import payments.

In the regional market, most currencies were steady.

The exchange rate of Indian rupee against Bangladesh taka varied between Tk 1.3401 and Tk 1.4221 against previous week's range of between Tk 1.3295 and Tk 1.4186.

The exchange rate of dollar against Indian rupee moved between Rs 49.17 and Rs 50.59 against previous week's range of between Rs 49.4550 and Rs 51.0450 and Pakistani rupee between Rs 79.35 and Rs 80.50 against previous week's Rs 79.80 and Rs 80.75.

Besides, the exchange rate of dollar against Malaysian ringgit varied between 3.4851 ringgit and 3.6240 ringgit, and that against the Thai currency between 34.79 baht and 3.8350 baht.

In the international market, dollar was traded between 97.92 yen and 99.6070 yen against the previous week's range between 95.63 yen and 97.9990 yen. Euro was traded between 1.3212 dollar and 1.3440 dollar against the previous week's range between 1.2964 dollar and 1.3348 dollar.