The Pakistani Rupee (PKR) stooped further against the US Dollar (USD) and posted losses during intraday trade today.
It depreciated by 0.02 percent and closed at Rs. 224.70 after losing five paisas against the greenback. It quoted an intraday low of 225.14 against the greenback before close.
The local unit was all red against the greenback and opened trade in the 224 range in the open market. By midday, the greenback moved higher against the rupee. After 1 PM, the local unit was red and stayed on the 224-225 level against the top foreign currency the interbank close.
The rupee reported losses against the US Dollar seventh day in a row today, despite Pakistan receiving an additional $554 million from the Asian Development Bank in flood relief support.
The external sector figures are not reassuring for the country, as forex reserves are falling and inflows are scarce. The rupee had depreciated slightly across all sessions the previous week, and money changers expect it to decline further with the likeliness of a liquidity crunch hitting markets as fiscal exposure to inflation widens.
The local unit was also bearish after the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) sealed four currency markets in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s biggest currency market. So far, over 250 operations have been conducted against the currency dealers involved in Hundi, Hawala as well as black marketing of dollars and other foreign currency during the current year. According to sources, Rs. 66 million and over 150,000 US Dollars have been recovered from the operations.
Globally, oil prices extended gains on Tuesday as a key pipeline bringing supply to the US remained closed, worsening concerns about potential tightness in arguably the world’s biggest crude market.
At 3:45 PM, Brent crude soared by $0.92 or 1.18 percent to reach $78.91 per barrel, while the US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) was still also green at $73.87 per barrel. Brent and WTI fell to their lowest levels since December 2021 last week, as investors worried about the impact of a global recession on oil demand.
The pipeline closure is expected to reduce crude inventories in the United States. Moreover, expectations that easing COVID-19 restrictions in China, the world’s second-largest oil user, will boost demand also aided oil’s rise today.
The PKR was bearish against most of the other major currencies in the interbank market today. It lost one paisa against the UAE Dirham (AED), two paisas against the Saudi Riyal (SAR), and 25 paisas against the Australian Dollar (AUD).
Moreover, it lost 47 paisas against the Canadian Dollar (CAD), 68 paisas against the Euro (EUR), and 81 paisas against the Pound Sterling (GBP) in today’s interbank currency market.
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