Tenge weakens against USD to 341.94

    The morning trading session in US dollar with T+0 in tenge ended on the Kazakhstan Stock Exchange (KASE) with the US dollar weighted average rate making up KZT341.94.
    As the tenge has reached its historic low in mid-December, the central bank of the oil-rich republic commented on the situation, blaming falling oil prices for the national currency's depreciation.
    “The exchange rate of the tenge is influenced by factors that are determined by the situation in the world financial and commodity markets, as well as the demand for foreign currency in the domestic market of Kazakhstan,” the National Bank said in a statement.
    Kazakhstan shifted to a floating exchange rate in August as tumbling crude prices and devaluations by Russia and China boosted the cost of defending the currency. Prior to the move, the tenge exchange rate against USD stood around 185 tenge per $1, according to Akipress.