Czech Central Bank Intervenes on Forex Markets for First Time Since 2013

        By Leos Rousek
        PRAGUE--The Czech National Bank last week intervened on foreign exchange markets--the first time since imposing a ceiling for the koruna against the euro in November 2013, the bank's spokeswoman said Monday.
        The bank sold an undisclosed amount of koruna Friday as it tried to prevent the local currency from firming below its 27.00 cap against the euro, Katerina Bartuskova said. She declined to comment on the intervention's euro-koruna exchange rate.
        Mid-afternoon Friday the koruna traded just above its floor at 27.086 to the euro. "No transactions at levels below EUR/CZK27.00 took place on the interbank market on Friday," Ms. Bartuskova said, adding that the bank hasn't intervened on Monday.
        At 1500 GMT the koruna traded a little weaker than on Friday at 27.10.
        In November 2013, the Czech central bank spent more than 7 billion euros ($7.6 billion) in a one-day assault on markets that weakened the koruna more than 5% against the euro, staved off domestic deflation, and pulled the country out of a two-year long recession. The central bank said at the time it wouldn't allow the koruna to firm beyond 27 against the euro. The intervention came after the bank had already slashed its interest rate to near zero in late 2012. The bank has kept its headline two-week repurchase agreement rate at 0.05% for nearly three years.
        Write to Leos Rousek at leos.rousek@wsj.com, @LeoRousek
        (END) Dow Jones Newswires

        July 20, 2015 11:15 ET (15:15 GMT)

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