The dollar's decline continues in Kazakhstan: on the Kazakhstan Stock Exchange (KASE), the US currency has fallen below 445 tenge, while the euro has dropped below 500 tenge, infohub.kz reports.
Late last week, the dollar fell below 450 tenge. Modest fluctuations were seen this week, but today it crossed another threshold, declining further.
According to the results of today's foreign currency trading on the Kazakhstan Stock Exchange (KASE), the weighted average value of the US currency stood at 444.76 tenge, a drop of more than 2 tenge over the day.
Exchange offices in the country's major cities set the following cash dollar buy and sell rates at 15:30 today, according to data from the Kurs.kz portal: Astana: buy — 443 tenge, sell — 450 tenge; Almaty: buy — 440.5 to 446.6 tenge, sell — 446.9 to 448.5 tenge; Shymkent: buy — 443 to 445.7 tenge, sell — 446 to 448.5 tenge.
The euro also fell below 500 tenge on the exchange, dropping almost 6 tenge over the day. Its weighted average value stood at 495.82 tenge as of 15:30 today.
Meanwhile, exchange offices across the country set the following cash euro buy and sell rates: Astana: buy — 495 tenge, sell — 505 tenge; Almaty: buy — 490 to 498 tenge, sell — 499 to 505 tenge; Shymkent: buy — 495 to 497 tenge, sell — 499 to 504 tenge.
"The strengthening of the national currency, despite lower oil prices and a rising dollar index during trading, may have been driven by domestic factors. The tenge may have been supported by foreign currency sales as part of National Bank operations, conversion of foreign exchange earnings by exporters and quasi-public sector entities, and profit-taking by some market participants," the Association of Financiers of Kazakhstan said.