The Jamaican dollar depreciated by 0.22 per cent relative to the US dollar, moving from a selling rate of $155.00 on Friday, July 16, to $155.34 on Friday, July 23.

The depreciation is as a result of brokers demanding a higher price for the US dollar. Last week, liquidity for US dollar money market remained generally moderate.

Broker market demand is at 30-day and longer tenured funds. Jamaican dollar liquidity conditions were still tight, with some broker market players opting to lend for tenures overnight up to a week only.

The average yield of the Bank of Jamaica’s (BOJ) competitive auction on its 30-days Certificate of Deposit had a small downturn to 0.58 per cent relative to 0.59 per cent in the prior week. The highest bid for full allocation was 0.62 per cent.

The bid-to-cover ratio for last week’s auction was 2.63, which is below the 12-week average of 3.80.