National Bank of Ukraine's forex interventions down 9.3% last week amid stable hryvnia

MOSCOW. Aug 26 (Interfax) - The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) reduced U.S. dollar sales on the interbank market by $56.7 million, or by 9.3%, to $551.2 million last week, Ukrainian media said citing the statistics published by the NBU on its website.

According to NBU data, over the past week, the negative balance of foreign currency purchases and sales by bank customers - legal entities was relatively stable within $53.6 million-$62.5 million per day on Monday to Thursday, which is 17.4% less on average than the week before.

Meanwhile, last week saw an increase in forex demand from the population. If between Saturday and Monday, forex sales exceeded its purchases by $11.1 million, then on Thursday by $29.3 million. This figure stood at $10.5 million last Thursday.

On Thursday, the population again, for the first time in two weeks, bought more non-cash currency that sold it - for $3.8 million per day.

The hryvnia's official exchange rate against the dollar strengthened a little over the week from UAH 41.3401/$1 to UAH 41.2839/$1.

Similar dynamics was observed on the cash market, where the hryvnia also rose by 5-6 kopecks over the week to around 41.32 UAH/$1 for purchase, and to around 41.39 UAH/$1 for sale.