Ukraine's NBU net forex interventions fall 16.1% over past week

MOSCOW. May 12 (Interfax) - The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU), almost in the absence of currency purchases, reduced its sales on the interbank market last week by $118.5 million, or 16.0%, to $624.1 million, Ukrainian media reported, citing statistics published on the NBU's website.

The statistics, which the regulator has managed to make public during this time, indicate a change in the situation on the cash currency market: while over the weekend and Monday sales exceeded purchases by $3.9 million, in the following days the balance was negative and fluctuated from $11.3 million on Tuesday to $20.8 million and $32.8 million on Thursday and Wednesday, respectively.

The official hryvnia exchange rate gained from 41.70 UAH/$1 to 41.4388 UAH/$1 for the first half of the week, but weakened to 41.5470 UAH/$1 by the end of the week.

The hryvnia exchange rate remained almost unchanged, with 41.42 UAH/$1 for buying and 41.50 UAH/$1 for selling on the cash market.