Foreign Exchange Market  

(May 2007) 

During the first days of May, the decrease was noted in the US dollar exchange rate at the foreign exchange market in the context on increased balance of currency in commercial banks. In order to smooth market conditions, the National Bank conducted transactions on purchase of the US dollars, at the same time, the main volume of transactions was made in the first half of the month. As a result, a weighted average rate of the US dollar remained stable at the foreign exchange bids up to the middle of May. In the second half of the month, a short-term increase of the rate was noted under the influence of the increased demand for currency on the part of certain commercial banks, and also strengthening of the US dollar rate relative to the major world currencies at the external markets. However, during the last week of May, the rate began dropping again and this trend remained till the end of the month.  

In May, a weighted average rate of the US dollar at the interbank foreign exchange bids reduced by 0.3 percent and totaled Som 37.95 per US dollar at the end of the month. The official exchange rate of dollar for the reporting month reduced by 0.1 percent and amounted to Som 38.0121 per US dollar at the end of May.  

The total volume of transactions at the foreign exchange bids increased by 11.5 percent up to US$ 46.3 million in the reporting month. The increase occurred due to the increase practically by 2 times in the volume of transactions among commercial banks.  

The movement of the dollar rate in the exchange offices somewhat differed from its movement at the foreign exchange bids: despite some fluctuations, it, mainly, increased during the month. The selling rate of the US dollar increased by 0.34 percent up to Som 37.9497 per US dollar in the exchange offices during the month,. At the same time, it was, on average, lower by Som 0.09 than the weighted average rate at the interbank foreign exchange bids during the month.  

The average daily deviation of the dollar selling rate in the exchange offices reduced from 0.05 percent to 0.03 percent, and the average margin on purchase/sale of dollars remained at 0.30 percent. 

The euro rate in the exchange offices similar to its changes at the external markets, mainly, decreased during the month. The selling rate of euro in the exchange offices reduced by 1.2 percent and totaled Som 51.1749 per euro during the month. The average daily deviation of the euro selling rate reduced from 0.8 percent to 0.6 percent, and the average margin on purchase/sale transactions decreased from 0.44 percent to 0.36 percent.  

The selling rate of the Russian ruble in the exchange offices fluctuated in the narrow range during the reporting month. It reduced by 0.6 percent to Som 1.47 per Ruble during the month. The average daily deviation in the selling rate of the Russian ruble reduced from 0.10 percent to 0.09 percent as compared with the prior month, and the average margin decreased from 0.82 percent to 0.66 percent.  

The selling rate of Kazakh tenge in the exchange offices fluctuated in the narrow range during May, and it reduced only during the last week of the month. The selling rate of tenge in the exchange offices reduced by 0.67 percent and amounted to Som 0.311 per tenge at the end of the month. At the same time, the average daily deviation of the tenge rate increased from 0.13 percent to 0.21 percent, and the average margin increased from 0.68 percent to 0.71 percent during the month.  

In May, the total volume of transactions on purchase and sale of currency in the exchange offices increased by 14.2 percent and totaled Som 1993.5 million as compared with the prior month. The increase in the volume of transactions was noted on all major currencies. At the same time, the shares of transactions with dollars reduced to 67.5 percent, while the shares of transactions with remaining major currencies increased up to 10.3 percent with euro, up to 11.1 percent with Russian rubles and up to 12.6 percent with Kazakh tenge. The share of transactions with other currencies also increased up to 0.8 percent in the structure of foreign exchange transactions.