In 11 months of 2001 volume of foreign currency transactions at KASE reached $1.712bn, a 14.1% increase to similar period of last year

/IRBIS, Dec 3, 01/ - During the first 11 months of 2001 total volume of transactions made in foreign currency at the Kazakhstan Stock Exchange (KASE) reached an equivalent of $1,712,445.6 th. and increased by $211,317.7 th., or 14.1% relative to similar period of last year. During the whole 2000 foreign currency transaction volume at KASE was estimated by equivalent $1,743.4m. Following is the table with the volumes of foreign currency transactions at KASE in 2001 which is grouped by months. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Total volume of trades, th. unit. Volume --------------------------- Volume, of equivalent, Month USD DEM EUR RUR m KZT th. USD ----------------------------------------------------------------- January 125,730 0 0 12,400 18,338.9 126,166.7 February 132,955 0 0 10,300 19,373.8 133,314.1 March 144,895 10 0 8,000 21,120.8 145,178.9 April 129,320 0 0 11,200 18,878.8 129,707.7 May 160,730 35 80 2,900 23,514.7 160,916.6 June 142,315 0 0 3,600 20,879.7 142,438.8 July 165,025 0 25 200 24,224.2 165,053.2 August 121,670 0 0 900 17,911.0 121,700.7 September 155,295 0 35 25,000 23,067.6 156,176.2 October 227,605 0 10 3,600 33,711.0 227,735.8 203,550 0 60 13,500 30,317.9 204,056.9 ----------------------------------------------------------------- Total 1,709,090 45 210 91,600 251,338.3 1,712,445.6 ----------------------------------------------------------------- Weighted average market value of tenge to U.S. dollar in 2001, calculated based on the deals of the main session of the KASE, equaled by IRBIS estimates KZT146.76 per dollar. Again, based on the last corrections of the country's budget, this figure is expected at KZT147.10 at the end of the year. Devaluation rate of tenge to dollar is estimated in late November at 2.68% APR based on the rate of the Exchange. The head of the National Bank states that devaluation of tenge should not exceed 3.0% in this year. In 2000 tenge devalued against dollar by 5.17%.