The Pakistani rupee settled lower against the US Dollar and posted heavy losses today after opening trade at 276 in the interbank market.
At 11:30 PM, it was bearish, treading the 279 level against the greenback after losing ~Rs. 3.
Later, the interbank rate dropped to the 280 level between 1:30 PM and 2:30 PM before anchoring trends for the remainder of the day. Open market rates across multiple currency counters stood in the 279-282 range today.
At close, the PKR depreciated by 1.16 percent to close at 280.29 after losing Rs. 3.25 against the dollar today.
The rupee declined second day in a row today on higher demand for the dollars to make upcoming foreign payments, according to Tresmark.
Despite today’s losses, the gap between interbank and open market rates is still down by Rs. 63 since 4 September. The rates have gone down to as low as 276 and have since continued brief spikes to 281 today.
Pertinently, the rupee is down nearly Rs. 62 since January 2023. Since April 2022, it is down over Rs. 109 against the greenback. As per exchange rate movements witnessed today, the PKR has lost over Rs. 3 against the dollar.
Globally, the dollar was little changed on Wednesday after rising the previous day, as Chinese economic data helped temper the greenback’s advance.
A blast at a Gaza hospital slowed trading and put traders on edge as the war between Israel and Hamas escalated. On Wednesday, US President Joe Biden visited Israel in an effort to prevent an escalation.
According to Reuters, the US dollar index rose slightly to 106.3. The index, which compares the US dollar to six other currencies, increased 0.53 percent on Tuesday but remains below an 11-month high of 107.34 reached last week.
The PKR was red against all of the other major currencies in the interbank market today. It lost 86 paisas against the Saudi Riyal (SAR) and f86 paisas against the UAE Dirham (AED).
Moreover, it lost Rs. 2.31 against the Canadian Dollar (CAD), Rs. 2.76 against the Australian Dollar (AUD), Rs. 4.38 against the Euro (EUR), and Rs. 4.81 against the British Pound (GBP) in today’s interbank currency market.
