Ukrainian National Bank's net sales of dollars reach $977.3 mln last week

MOSCOW. Dec 25 (Interfax) - Net sales of dollars by the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) rose to $977.3 million last week from $862.5 million a week earlier, and it was in the first week of the transition to managed exchange rate flexibility in early October when the NBU sold more last time.

The forex purchases by bank customers soared in the first half of the week, as reported by the NBU, reaching $475 million on Wednesday and exceeding sales by $260 million, Ukrainian media reported.

Hence, the NBU lowered the hryvnia exchange rate by 0.6%, or 23 kopecks, on Wednesday, while for the first three days of the week it dropped 1.4%, or 53 kopecks. However, the exchange rate's fall was quite insignificant on Thursday, and the NBU even raised it by 4 kopecks to 37.5525 UAH/$1 on Friday.

Overall, since November 26, when a pronounced trend towards weakening of the national currency began, the dollar has gained 4.3%, or UAH 1.54. At the same time, thanks to the stronger hryvnia in the first period after the NBU shifted to managed flexibility on October 3, the dollar went up 2.7%, or 98 kopecks, against the fixed exchange rate, which had been in effect for more than 14 months.

The dollar also edged down slightly by 11 kopecks to around UAH 38.10/$1 on the cash market on Friday.

As reported, the NBU's net sales fell to $2.46 billion in November from $3.34 billion in October and $2.69 billion in September. However, the reduction in foreign funding to $2.04 billion resulted in a decline in international reserves for the fourth consecutive month, down 0.5%, or $187.8 million, to $38,785.2 billion.