January 13, 2022 (MLN): After witnessing a gain of 40 paisa against the US dollar in yesterday’s session, the Pakistani rupee (PKR) joined back its downward course on Thursday, depreciating by 16 paisa as the currency closed the trade at PKR 176.38.
The demand for the dollar started rising once again on the back of inflationary pressure. While inflation continues to surge globally, nearly 60% of people have felt the pinch that may not ease in the ongoing quarter, Asad Rizvi, the former Treasury Head at Chase Manhattan said.
Also in Pakistan, the utility cost is sharply increasing and adding pressure. Brent oil is hovering around $85, adding pressure and increasing the risk to weaken the economy, he added.
The rupee endured a relatively dull trading session with very little intraday movement, trading in a range of 25 paisa per USD showing an intraday high bid of 176.35 and an intraday low offer of 176.20.
From July’21 to date, the local unit has lost Rs18.83 against the USD. On the other hand, the rupee appreciated by 13 paisa in CY22, with the month-to-date (MTD) position showing an uptick of 0.07%, as per data compiled by Mettis Global.
As per the Exchange Companies Association of Pakistan (ECAP), PKR gained 50 paisa for buying and selling over the day closed at 177.50 and 178.50 respectively in the open market.
Meanwhile, the currency lost 2 rupees to the Pound Sterling as the day's closing quote stood at PKR 242.14 per GBP, while the previous session closed at PKR 240.16 per GBP.
Similarly, PKR's value weakened by 1.9 rupees against EUR which closed at PKR 202.19 at the interbank today.
On another note, within the money market, the overnight repo rate towards the close of the session was 10.00/10.20 percent, whereas the 1-week rate was 9.75/9.85 percent.
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