Foreign currencies slipped in Tehran’s free market on Sunday impacting the bullion market.
The dollar was down 2.3% after logging about 7% gain against the rial in three consecutive sessions to Saturday. It was traded at 320,000 rials, almost 7,000 rials lower from the session before.
Likewise, the euro was worth 334,900 rials to post nearly 2.4% decline or 7,900 rials. The GBP bought 390,700 rials, falling 2.3% or 9,200 rials while the UAE dirham was traded 2,100 rials lower at 87,600 rials.
The downturn at the currency market is seemingly linked to increase in supply, according to Kamran Soltanizadeh, general secretary of the Association of Bureaux de Change Operators.
“Given the increase in forex supply, buyers can meet their need from authorized exchange shops,” he was quoted as saying by the IBENA.
Struggling to control the volatility in the currency market, the Central Bank of Iran said it had intervened in a bid to boost supply.
In the middle of June, the regulator allowed official moneychangers to buy overseas currency income from exporters at “negotiated rates”. The move reportedly encouraged exporters, who had withheld their money seeking higher rates, to join the sellers.
In the official market forex is usually traded lower than in the open market. In the regulated market, where currency is sold wholesale, the greenback was tagged at 276,150 rials, indicating a subtle 0.05% rise on Saturday.
The latter market is a CBI-affiliated spot market operated by a network of banks and certified moneychangers dealing in wholesale currency.
Currency prices in the exchange bureaus affiliated to the CBI remained unchanged. Melli Exchange quoted the greenback at 277,430 rials on Sunday.
Gold prices too fell with the Emami gold coin shedding 2.1% or 3.2 million rials to change hands at 153.5 million rials.
The Half-Bahar Azadi coin was traded at 83.5 million rials, down 1.6% or 1.3 million rials and one gram of 18-karat gold was worth 14.26 million rials, dropping almost 2%, the Tehran Gold and Jewelry Union reported.
