In June, Kazakhstan's currency market showed unusual dynamics: on the Kazakhstan Stock Exchange (KASE), the tenge strengthened against the dollar, while on the over-the-counter (OTC) market, the US currency appreciated. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing Kursiv Media.
According to economist Ruslan Sultanov, at the end of June, the KASE dollar rate fell from 485.95 to 480.72 tenge, indicating an appreciation of the national currency by about 1.1%. At the same time, on the OTC market, the weighted average dollar rate rose from about 470 to 486 tenge.
The economist explained that the indicators cannot be directly compared. The exchange rate reflects the situation at the end of the month, while OTC statistics are based on the average rate of all transactions during the month and involve a different set of market participants. Nevertheless, this divergence shows how heterogeneous the situation was in the currency market.
In June, the volume of dollar trading on KASE increased from $6.8 billion to $8.8 billion, or nearly 28%. This is one of the highest figures since the beginning of the year. Despite the increase in activity, the dollar exchange rate on the exchange fell to 480.7 tenge.
The OTC market also saw a notable increase in transactions. Dollar purchases reached $32.2 billion, and sales reached $33.2 billion, about a third higher than May figures. At the same time, the weighted average rate rose to 486.2 tenge from 470 tenge a month earlier.
According to Sultanov, there is no currency shortage, as dollar sales even exceeded purchases by nearly $1 billion. Rather, market participants were seeking a new balance after the sharp fluctuations observed in the spring.
A similar situation occurred with the euro. On KASE, the euro rate fell from 567.06 to 546.06 tenge by the end of June, while trading volume increased by 36% to 87.8 million euros. Simultaneously, on the OTC market, the weighted average rate rose from about 549.7 to 561.7 tenge, and transaction volume increased by nearly 29% to 3.45 billion euros in each direction.
The most noticeable change was in the Russian currency. On KASE, the ruble rate fell from 6.85 to 6.18 tenge, corresponding to a tenge appreciation of nearly 10%. Trading volume increased by 28% to 152.1 billion rubles.
On the OTC market, the weighted average rate remained around 6.59 tenge per ruble, slightly exceeding May values. Ruble purchases nearly doubled to 22.1 billion rubles, while sales rose to 14.3 billion rubles.
Significant growth in activity was also observed in the Chinese currency. On KASE, yuan trading volume increased by nearly 90% from 1.1 billion to 2.1 billion yuan. At the same time, the rate fell from 71.76 to 70.85 tenge.
In the OTC segment, yuan purchases reached 52.1 million, and sales reached 45.8 million yuan. The weighted average rate exceeded 72 tenge, again diverging from exchange quotes.
Summing up June, Ruslan Sultanov noted that the main event was not the strengthening or weakening of the tenge, but a sharp increase in activity in the currency market.
According to him, trading volumes on KASE increased for all major currencies: dollar by 28%, euro by 36%, ruble by 28%, and yuan by nearly 90%.
The economist emphasized that the exchange and OTC markets reflect different aspects of the currency market. While KASE shows public pricing and the rate at the end of the month, the OTC segment reflects large interbank transactions that took place throughout the month.
Earlier, economists predicted the dollar exchange rate in Kazakhstan.