* Kazakh cbank bought over $2.5 bln to slow appreciation
* Says will intervene again if moves beyond 147.5-148.0
(Adds details, background, quotes)
By Olzhas Auyezov
ALMATY, Nov 18 (Reuters) - Kazakhstan's central bank has bought more than $2.5 billion since last week to slow the appreciation of the tenge and will intervene more if the rate goes beyond 147.5 against the dollar, it said on Wednesday.
The tenge started appreciating against the dollar a week ago
after central bank chairman Grigory Marchenko said such a move
was justified by fundamentals including oil prices. It has
firmed to 149.14 now from 150.69 on November 11
"We... had to buy over $2 billion to stop the tenge from appreciating too fast," Marchenko told a web conference, adding that about a quarter of that sum had come from foreign players.
He said later in the day that the regulator bought a further $500 million on the foreign exchange market on Wednesday alone to slow the appreciation of the tenge. [ID:nLI121921]
Like Russia's rouble and other currencies in resource-driven economies, the tenge has come under appreciation pressure from foreign investors keen to cash in on higher oil prices. [ID:nLH521118]
In the past Kazakhstan has often moved to adjust its policy in line with Russia's footsteps, devaluing the tenge in February this year following several months of rouble devaluation.
So far Russia, unlike Kazakhstan, has allowed the rouble to appreciate gradually, adding some 9 percent versus the dollar since September. Investors are now betting that Kazakhstan could follow suit in early 2010. [ID:nLG365395]
This month, Marchenko said the trading band could be widened in 2010 to allow more upside.
On Wednesday, he said the central bank would allow further appreciation but would intervene more heavily if the tenge moved beyond 147.5-148.0 per dollar to protect the competitiveness of the Kazakh economy.
"The tenge may appreciate by 1-2 percent without hurting economic competitiveness," Marchenko said.
Crisis-hit Kazakhstan moved to devalue the tenge in February after a slump in oil prices and devaluations in other ex-Soviet countries. It then established a trading band of 145-155 tenge per dollar saying it would be maintained throughout 2009.
In other emerging markets, the weak dollar has prompted countries to look for new ways to cushion their economies, with Brazil introducing a tax on foreign investment in its fixed income and stock markets. [ID:nN19264977]
Kazakhstan has introduced legislation allowing it to enforce capital controls if deemed necessary but so far the authorities have not used the option.
Marchenko told reporters separately later in the day that the central bank was prepared to punish foreign players to prevent its tenge currency from appreciating too fast.
"They (foreign players) will be able to earn some money," he said. "But we won't allow them to gain a lot." (Additional reporting by Toni Vorobyova; Writing by Maria Golovnina nad Olzhas Auyezov)