YEREVAN, April 15. / ARKA /. The value of USD at last week trading at NASDAQ OMX Armenia stock exchange fell by 0.42% to 417.0 drams as the total weekly trading amounted to $10.93 million, an increase of 2.41% compared to the previous week.  On April 14 the greenback traded on average at 418.9 drams, depreciating by 0.44%.

We believe that this behavior of the U.S. dollar was due to the intervention of the Central Bank of Armenia to maintain the exchange rate of the national currency. The Central Bank continues to support the Armenian national currency, evidenced by its declining reserves. According to preliminary data, in March they decreased by 7.91% to $1631.4 billion from the previous month.

This week, the greenback is expected to continue the decline versus Armenian currency, as market participants may be wary of another intervention by the Central Bank. However, considering the continued demand for currency on part of importers and relatively low volumes of remittances, the average selling rate of cash dollar in Armenia this week will be between 415.0 - 420.0 drams.

The drop in the cost of the U.S. currency will also be contributed by falling purchases of the U.S. currency by the public and businesses. According to the Central Bank of Armenia, net sales of cash currency by commercial banks last week dropped to $5.722 million, down 70.01% from the previous week.

The cost of euro last week in Armenia was defined by developments at the global currency markets, where the euro rose by 0.92% against USD to 1.3110. The single European currency traded last week upward against the backdrop of disappointing economic data from the U.S. As a result, the average selling rate of cash euro in Armenia last week rose by 0.68% to 550.67 drams.

The average selling rate of Russian ruble last week rose by 1.27% to 13.57 drams, prompted by ruble’s rising cost against the U.S. dollar at global forex markets.

By Mikael Verdyan, an analyst for  FOREX CLUB, specially for ARKA.
Views of the author may not necessarily represent those of the news agency.