August 25, 2021 (MLN): Stretching the losses for the fourth straight session, the Pakistani Rupee (PKR) on Wednesday plunged by Rs1.1 or 0.65% to close at 166.28 against the US Dollar (USD) amid growing demand for imports.
This is the lowest closing since September 21, 2020.
The local currency continued its downtrend against the greenback as a current account (C/A) of the country is in deficit. In his morning tweet, Asad Rizvi, Former Treasury Head-Chase Manhattan Bank said, “After receiving $2.75billion from IMF under new SDR allocation, the market expected that the direction of PKR would change as central bank’s reserves reached an all-time high.”
He noted that SBP’s version is very clear; it is the demand-supply factor that determines the Exchange rate.
The rupee saw moderate volatility in today’s session and traded in a range of 1.00 rupees per USD, showing an intraday high bid of 166.30 and an intraday Low offer of 165.40.
Within the Open Market, PKR was traded at 166/166.20 per USD.
According to the data compiled by Mettis Global, the home unit has weakened by 5.25% and 3.88% in FY22 and CY21, respectively with the month-to-date (MTD) position showing a depreciation of 2.98%.
Meanwhile, the currency lost 2 rupees to the Pound Sterling as the day's closing quote stood at PKR 228.36 per GBP, while the previous session closed at PKR 226.33 per GBP.
Similarly, PKR's value weakened by 1.6 rupees against EUR which closed at PKR 195.4 at the interbank today.
On another note, within the money market, the overnight repo rate towards the close of the session was 7.15/7.20 percent, whereas the 1-week rate was 7.10/7.20 percent.
