* http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/56E8BB0C-71F2-430E-82D4-ED3B1782F9B2.htm
Kuwait step eases dinar speculation* Kuwait has reversed its first currency depreciations in at least four years and eased pressure on lending rates among banks - eliminating speculations of a rise in the dinar. The central bank on Tuesday allowed the currency to rise to 0.16 per cent to trade around a mid-point of 0.28200 per dollar. The move has returned the dinar's reference rate to that set on July 25, before two depreciations on Thursday and Sunday. The central bank also resumed the sales of short-term certificates to banks after suspending them two months ago. Currency traders in Dubai and Kuwait said this was done to initially discourage investors anticipating an appreciation of the dinar. Speculators hurt "The central bank is happy," Steve Brice, a Middle East economist for the Standard Chartered Bank, said. "The move suggests that it has squeezed out speculators from the market." The central bank has been trying to deter bets on dinar appreciation for much of this year, cutting key interest rates in the run-up to a revaluation on May 20. As investor piled into dinar deposits, the central bank said on May 27 it had stopped selling the certificates it used to set the one-month intervention rate. The certificates are a main tool through which the central bank takes in short-term dinar deposits from Kuwaiti banks. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
