National Bank of Ukraine decreases net forex interventions 18.1% over past week

MOSCOW. May 26 (Interfax) - The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) almost did not buy foreign currency on the interbank market last week, while also reducing its sales by $136.7 million, or 18.1%, to $618.4 million, Ukraine media reported citing statistics published on the NBU's website.

Data that the regulator published over this time show that the situation on the cash forex market was similar to last week's, with a slight surplus of $2.8 million between the amount of forex sold and bought from Saturday to Monday, which then switched to a deficit of $7.55 million on Tuesday, $11.0 million on Wednesday, and $11.9 million on Thursday.

The official exchange rate of the Ukrainian national currency, the hryvnia, strengthened to UAH 41.43/$1 from UAH 41.49/$1 over the first half of the week but then returned to UAH 41.51/$1 by the end of the week.

On the cash market, the hryvnia's exchange rate almost did not change over the week, and this stability even somewhat narrowed the margin, with the U.S. dollar bought at around UAH 41.40 and sold at UAH 41.45.