The interbank dollar maintained the downward streak of recent days this Friday (-0.7%), to $41.48 at average of Bevsa transactionsand in the week it fell back more than $1 (-2.7%). seven days ago, the exchange rate had closed andn$42.62. In total, only US$ 7.8 million were traded (a little less than half of the average transaction) in the wholesale market and there was no direct intervention by the Central Bank of Uruguay (BCU).
In the accumulated of March, the dollar depreciatedó 2.4% against the Uruguayan peso and 7.2% ($ 3.5) compared to the last operation of last year ($44.70). A) Yes, the nominal exchange rate returned to the levels of two years ago.
On the blackboard, the BROU audience, for its part, the dollar was offered at $40.30 for purchase and $42.70 for sale25 hundredths below Thursday’s close.
It also falls in Brazil and Chile
As has also been the case in recent days, This Friday is another day of sharp decline in the dollar in Brazil —Regional reference market for Uruguay—. The The real was trading at the end of this week at 4.76 units per dollar after appreciating 1.4%, in a day with a favorable trend for emerging currencies due to the strengthening of commodity prices.
The record of inflation of the first 15 days of March in Brazila preview of the official data, ssurprised analysts and exceeded the expectations of the most pessimistic, according to Bloomberg Line. In the first fortnight of this month, prices increased 0.95%something that once again puts the focus on a new upward movement of the Selic rate.
In Argentina, the Dolar blue rises (+0.5%) and stands at 199 Argentine pesos for purchase and 202 for sale. The price of the parallel advances 1 peso this Friday, but even so it is heading to close the week with a slight drop of 0.50. With this slight increase, the exchange gap widens again. The difference between the dollar that operates in the informal market and the official wholesale dollar widens to 82.9%. The gap with respect to the retail official, meanwhile, remains at 74%, according to El Cronista.
In the case of Chile, the Chilean peso took flight causing the price of the dollar to fall to a minimum of 9 months. The US currency has depreciated against the currencies of the region, while the price of copper has also fallen. The exchange rate fell 9 units, up to 779.4 Chilean pesos, its lowest price since June 9, 2021.
Leonardo Carreno
In some private exchanges, the buying tip is offered at $40.40.
“Investors are regaining their appetite for risk as some diplomatic solutions to international conflicts are being found, with Joe Biden participating in meetings with important members, both from NATO, the EU and the G7,” he told Diario Financiero on XTB Latam market analyst, Esteban Zendrini. That makes investors have better expectations of return.
“Despite the Fed’s concern about inflation, with projected rate hikes of up to 50 basis points at the next meeting, that has not been enough, compared to what is expected locally, since according to the survey of financial operators (EOF), the Central Bank of Chile would raise the monetary policy rate by 200 basis points,” added Zendrini. That would be a historic rise and much higher than the rise in rates on its US peer.
The US Treasury bond rate, meanwhile, rose to a new two-year high on Friday as investors expect the Fed to be more aggressive in its rate hikes to rein in inflation. The US Treasury rate with a maturity of 10 years, that serves as a reference for the fixed income market, rose to 2.49%.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine has rattled stock and commodity markets over the past month and remains a key factor in investor sentiment. The war has sent commodity prices soaring, raising the risk of rising inflation, which is already high, and also threatens a broader economic recession in Europe.
The central bank’s tool to control inflation is to raise interest rates and that is why the market anticipates that the monetary entities will carry out higher rate hikes.
With Diario Financiero-RIPE
