Speculators are trying to raise the dollar exchange rate on the interbank market

After a week of gradual decline, the dollar exchange rate against the hryvnia last week began to grow against the background of the activation of importers and on the expectations of market participants of a new psychological level – 27 UAH/..

Since Monday, the dollar has risen in price from 26.72/26.74 UAH/. to 26.96/26.98 UAH/., although analysts predicted a further fall in the exchange rate. Only the active intervention of the National Bank reduced the speculative pressure of individual bidders.

Last week, for the first time since June 2021, the National Bank entered the interbank market with the sale of foreign currency to meet speculative demand caused by the containment of sales by the main sellers of foreign currency in anticipation of an increase in the exchange rate.

During August 28-29, the regulator sold 2 20.5 million, which was enough to remove the hype. Recall that in the period of August 16-20, the National Bank bought викуп 118 million on the interbank market to slow down the strengthening of the hryvnia.

This week, the foreign exchange market will remain under the influence of the auction for the sale of government bonds, which will be held on August 31. It is expected that the volume of bond sales on it will grow, since at the last auction on August 17, the Ministry of Finance attracted only UAH 788.4 million to the budget by placing government bonds, and in September it needs to pay off the debt of UAH 110 billion.

Curbing sales of grain and oilseeds by producers somewhat reduces the pressure on the foreign exchange market, but the approach of harvesting a record harvest of corn and sunflower, which will require a lot of Hryvnia to purchase, will increase the supply of foreign currency on the interbank market.