U.S. dollar market of Kazakhstan: day results

/IRBIS, March 17, 00/ - Following is the table of major indicators of Kazakhstani market for U.S. dollar (more than 98% of country's all currency market). ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- US dollar trades at the Kazakhstan stock exchange (KASE) -------------------------- -------------- ------------- ----------- ----------- Instrument USD TOM USD TOM USD TOM USD SPOT Session Main Additional. Evening Evening Time of trades (ALM) 10:15-11:00 11:30-15:30 14:00-18:00 14:00-18:00 Weighted average rate 141.67(+0.19) Not indicated 141.65 - Volume of the session(mln) 12.510(+6.415) 1.300 0.500 0 Ask 141.67 141.52 141.66 141.68 Bid 141.68 141.57 141.70 - Number of participants 22 5 5 5 -------------------------- -------------- ------------- ----------- ----------- Indicative US dollar quotations in the interbank market in the information system REUTERS at KASE sessions closing (disregarding settlement dates) -------------------------- -------------- -------------- ---------- ----------- Ask 141.70 141.53 141.61 Bid 141.74 141.63 141.69 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Notes: Best bid and ask prices at closing of the trades are shown as the Exchange quotations. By indicative interbank quotations of the dollar in REUTERS information system, tenge lost 10 points in comparison with previous day closing on demand and 11 points on supply of the American currency. Today two distinctive moments could be emphasized in the development of currency market. The first was a gradual decrease in the exchange rate of the American currency both on interbank and on additional day trades till about 4:00PM Almaty time. The rest of the day was characterized by a backward growth in the quotations of the dollar which was mostly observed in the evenings session, and to a lesser degree out of the Exchange. Based on the number of concluded deals in the evening trades, the behaviors of the dealers can be considered active (relative to previous day). Interbank quotations of the dollar with their spreads completely overlapped the prices of the main session of KASE. By the lunch spreads got narrower and were considered by the dealers normal. Placement of the next issue of notes by the National Bank today was not so successful. The emitter was not able to raise planned amount of money. Demand of the investors did not exceed even half of announced issue volume. The emitter of MEKKAM-6 has cancelled the auction at all. Investors did not demonstrate their interests in its papers, taking into account their low yield and relatively long circulation term. It seems as if the banks prefer to invest their free funds into USD. Forecasted devaluation trend of tenge seems to be attractive with respect to the potential of return, and it also requires some measures of keeping some assets in tenges. Therefore, the banks are stretching their currency positions. As the dealers say, the market is "looking up" again. By the results of current situation analysis it can be assumed that firming trend of the dollar will be unchanged at least at the beginning of the next week.