National Bank of Kazakhstan pauses mirroring of National Fund operations

October 1, 2026 at 12:07 PM2 min

This digest was compiled by AI from multiple sources — links to the originals are below.

The National Bank of Kazakhstan postponed mirroring operations with the National Fund in September due to excess foreign currency supply on the domestic market. The tenge strengthened 4.6% to 440.49 per dollar in September, with average daily trading volume on KASE rising to $474 million. The bank also sterilized 374 billion tenge through gold purchase mirroring operations.

Key Facts

The tenge strengthened 4.6% in September to 440.49 per dollar, according to the National Bank of Kazakhstan.
Average daily trading volume on the Kazakhstan Stock Exchange rose from $415 million to $474 million in September, with total volume reaching $10.4 billion.
The National Bank sold $200 million from the National Fund on the exchange in September, accounting for 1.9% of total trading volume.
The National Bank sterilized approximately 374 billion tenge through gold purchase mirroring operations in September.
The National Bank plans to sell foreign currency equivalent to about 907 billion tenge in Q4 2026 as part of gold purchase mirroring operations.

Mirroring Operations Postponed

The National Bank of Kazakhstan postponed mirroring operations with the National Fund in September due to excess foreign currency supply on the domestic market. The bank had planned to allocate $200–300 million for these operations in September. The National Bank stated that further implementation will be determined by market conditions to ensure the tenge exchange rate aligns with fundamental factors and to avoid sharp speculative jumps. The bank emphasized that the principle of market neutrality is observed in operations with National Fund assets and in the implementation of the mirroring mechanism.

September Market Performance

The tenge strengthened 4.6% in September to 440.49 per dollar, following a 2.6% gain in August to 461.57 per dollar. Average daily trading volume on the Kazakhstan Stock Exchange increased from $415 million to $474 million in September, with total volume reaching $10.4 billion. The National Bank sold $200 million from the National Fund on the exchange in September, representing 1.9% of total trading volume or about $9.1 million per day. The National Bank did not conduct currency interventions in September.

Pension Asset Purchases and Policy Outlook

To maintain the foreign currency share of pension assets, the National Bank purchased $986 million on the exchange, or about 9.4% of total trading volume. The National Bank stated that further decisions on pension asset management will be made based on market conditions. Deputy Governor Aliya Moldabekova noted that the nearly year-long trend of tenge strengthening allows the National Bank to continue currency market reforms and begin phased liberalization of foreign currency deposit rates. Starting October 1, the maximum rate on savings deposits with terms over 12 months will be raised from 1.0% to 2.5% per annum.