YEREVAN, August 5. /ARKA/. The U.S. dollar surged 1.17 percentage points at NASDAQ OMX Armenia Stock Exchange on Thursday and traded at 367.50 drams.

Some 29 dollar/dram exchange transactions worth over $3.7 million or AMD 1.4 billion were effected here on Thursday.

The dollar started growing one week ago. On July 29 it traded at 363 drams, while on August 4 its value rose to AMD 367.5 drams.

It means the dollar strengthened by 4.5 percentage points over a period between July 29 and August 4 at the stock exchange.

Experts interviewed by ARKA News Agency view this revaluation of the dollar as reaction to the United States’ recent decision to raise foreign debt ceiling.

Mikael Verdyan, analyst at FOREX Club, told ARKA News Agency that the devaluation of the U.S. currency that was seen in Armenia before this revaluation had been triggered by the United States’ foreign debt problems.

“After the foreign debt ceiling was raised to $2.1 trillion in the United States and the plan of narrowing the budget deficit by the mentioned amount within 10 year was approved, the dollar started strengthening at the Armenian forex,” he said.

The expert also said that demand for the dollar is always high at Armenia’s foreign exchange, and the settlement of the debt-related problems gave an impetus to the dollar to regain momentum.

Artak Dashyan, chief specialist at Armenian Development bank, commenting on Thursday’s revaluation of the U.S. currency, said that the United States’ debt problems laid grounds for adverse outlooks for the dollar at Armenian market.

He said a certain number of depositors withdrew their dollars from banks and deposited their money in drams.

But after the debt problems were settled in the United States, depositors’ fears melted away.

Dashyan also said that the dollar will continue its upward motion in Armenia for some period of time.

Average exchange rates on Thursday: $1 = AMD 365.7 and €1 = AMD 521.56. -0-