The Jamaican dollar gave up marginal ground last week as it took 0.08 per cent more of the domestic currency to purchase one American dollar (USD).

This comes despite the Bank of Jamaica (BOJ) intervening in the market two times last week with US$30 million each, totalling US$60 million through its B-FXIT operation. However, only US$51.75 million of the eligible bids were allocated. 

This helped the Jamaican dollar recover from the lows it was trading at earlier last week. For the first B-FXIT intervention, the entire US$30 million was allocated. 

However, the second B-FXIT intervention on April 19 had only US$21.7 million allocated, despite US$55.1 million in eligible bids. While not explicitly stated, it suggests that not all institutions met all conditions for participation.

In the USD money market, broker market demand for USD remained moderately liquid, particularly for longer-tenured funds. The weighted average selling rate for US$1 was J$156.77 at the close of trading yesterday (April 24).