Searches at the NBU did not shake the interbank: dollar went down

For Thursday, October 22, the National Bank set the following official exchange rates: US dollar – UAH 45.0256 (‑0.0535 UAH against the official rate for Wednesday, October 21); euro – UAH 50.5601 (+0.03 UAH against the official rate for Wednesday, October 21).

The rates were set at 15:30 on October 21 and reflect the following trends:

1. On Wednesday, immediately after trading started on the interbank currency market, the National Bank carried out a large currency intervention to prevent any panic due to the news about searches in the office of the NBU Governor Andriy Pyshny. The result exceeded all expectations: the market calmed down, and until 13:00 trading took place in a narrow range of UAH 45.03‑45.067 on the “bid” side. The average deal price at 12:00 was UAH 45.0382 – 5.3 kopiykas lower than on Tuesday Monday. After 13:00, quotations gradually decreased and dropped to UAH 44.971 on the “bid” side. The average price fell even more, so the NBU was forced to lower the official rate for Thursday by 5.4 kopiykas.

2. The euro on the international FOREX market on Wednesday traded in a narrow range of USD 1.1214‑1.12377. The situation on the market remains difficult for the euro, which is pressured by the accumulated problems of the Eurozone. At the time of fixing, the euro was sold at USD 1.12292 – 20 points higher than on Tuesday (USD 1.12092). Therefore, despite the decrease in the official dollar rate, the NBU raised the official euro rate for Thursday by 3 kopiykas.

As we can see, the NBU tries to reduce euro exchange rate fluctuations where possible, effectively “fixing” it against the hryvnia. The reverse side of this process is that the dollar rate changes more dynamically and sharply.