Forex market remains calm after Brexit referendum

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Economic Reporter :
Foreign exchange markets were largely calm on Sunday amidst speculation about probable volatility in currency exchange rate following Brexit referendum result that allowed the United Kingdom’s (UK) departure from the European Union (EU).
Ahead of the Brexit, the global currency market experienced moderate turbulence in the last week’s close on Thursday, with currencies from the Yen to the Euro showing volatility. The pound sterling, however, soared against dollar on speculative buying.
The financial-services companies in Britain were suggested stopping foreign-exchange transactions during Thursday’s EU referendum, and yet to get back to business due to weekends.
Analysts here, however, were not apprehending similar volatility in the local forex market in the coming weeks when the foreign exchange dealers will start exchange rate adjustment with the global market.
“The market would not face any big volatility as it was feared initially,” said Bangladesh Bank’s (BB) chief economist Biru Paksha Paul, explaining that the country’s foreign trade involves a small amount of sterling as major portion of such transactions is done in US dollars.
He said the central bank would, however, remain vigilance about any imminent negative impact of the Brexit referendum result and would take necessary steps to maintain normalcy in the foreign market.
The economist also noted that the measures would rather be indirect ones as BB doses not regulate the exchange market, which is operated independently where exchange rates are determined by demand and supply.
Meanwhile, there was no sign of any volatility on Sunday when the foreign exchange market started operation.
“We could not see any changes to the foreign exchange rate, particularly the rate of pound sterling against US dollar or Taka,” an official of foreign exchange division of Uttara Bank said.
The official said the demand of sterling was also not high at this time of the year, leaving the exchange rate of this currency at a stable situation.
According to BB, the sterling was traded for Taka 107.23 and the Euro for Taka 87.14 on Thursday. The exchange rate remained unchanged on Sunday, with the sterling was being traded at Taka 107.30 and the Euro at 87.30.
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