National Bank of Ukraine cuts net forex interventions 21.2% WoW

MOSCOW. Aug 4 (Interfax) - The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) almost did not buy foreign currency on the interbank market last week, while reducing its sales by $171.9 million, or 21.2% week-on-week, to $639.6 million, Ukraine media reported citing statistics published on the NBU's website.

The forex market saw a trade deficit almost for the whole of last week except for Monday, when there was a surplus of $10.0 million, which reversed to a deficit of $9.5 million on Tuesday, $13.2 million on Wednesday, and $22.4 million on Thursday.

The official exchange rate of the Ukrainian national currency, the hryvnia, against the U.S. dollar rose from 41.7824/$1 at the start of the week to UAH 41.7644/$1 at its end.

On the cash forex market, the hryvnia's exchange rate strengthened by more than UAH 0.05, the buying rate rising to around UAH 41.55/$1 and the selling rate to around UAH 41.65/$1.