YEREVAN, April 8. / ARKA /. Last week, the cost of US Dollar at NASDAQ OMX Armenia stock exchange rose 0.34% to 418.75 drams. The weekly trading in greenback totaled $11.20 million, a decline of 27.97% from the previous week. The average exchange rate of USD increased by 0.31% on April 6 to 420.06 drams. The growth of the greenback’s value was primarily driven by continued demand of the businesses and individuals for foreign currency, as well as by a moderate devaluation sentiment in the market.

Besides, the moderate increase in money transfers from abroad in March is another factor not allowing market participants to relax. The strong position of the U.S. currency in international currency markets also enhance its attractiveness.

This week the U.S. dollar is likely to consolidate or decline slightly in the background of the fact that some market participants may continue to fix their positions due to the inability of the U.S. dollar to rise above the psychological resistance level of 420.0 drams. This may be contributed also by Central Bank’s intervention in the foreign exchange market.

According to a survey of the press service of the Central Bank of Armenia, the net sales of foreign currency by commercial banks last week amounted to $19.077. According to our estimates, the average selling rate of cash dollar in Armenia this week is likely to be between 418.0 - 421.0 drams.
Last week the cost of euro was determined by developments at the global currency markets, where EUR / USD rose by 1.36% to 1.2993, and the dynamics of the Armenian dram in relation to the U.S. currency.

The single European currency got a strong push on Friday after the release of disappointing economic data from the US labor market. Thus, the number of new jobs in non-agricultural sector in March increased by 88,000 thousand against the predicted 190,000.  As a result, the average selling rate of cash euro in Armenia rose by 1.71% to 546.97 drams.

The average selling rate of the Russian ruble in Armenia last week declined by 1.67% to 13.40 drams, which was due to a decrease in the value of the Russian ruble against the U.S. dollar at international currency markets.

By Mikael Verdian, an analyst of FOREX CLUB, specially for ARKA.
Views expressed in this analysis may not necessarily represent those of the news agency.