PKR slips by 94 paisa against USD

May 06, 2022 (MLN): Riding on a slippery slope, the Pakistani rupee (PKR) has depreciated by 94 paisa against the US dollar in today's interbank session as the currency closed the trade at 186.63 compared to the previous session's close of PKR 185.69 per USD.

The rupee endured a volatile trading session with quotes being recorded in a range of 1.3 rupees per USD showing an intraday high bid of 186.80 and an intraday low offer of 185.70.

After the Eid holidays in Pakistan & Middle East markets are yet to open, PKR could come under pressure as NOSTROs accounts will need funding, Asad Rizvi, the former Treasury Head at Chase Manhattan Bank said.

More importantly, remittances will dry out for about a week or so. Managing cash flow will be a challenging task due to the weekend, he added.

From July’21 to date, the local unit has lost Rs29.08 against the USD. Similarly, the rupee fell by Rs10.11 in CYTD, with the month-to-date (MTD) position showing a drop of 0.50%, as per data compiled by Mettis Global.

Within the open market, PKR was traded at 186/187 per USD.

Alternatively, the currency gained 3.6 rupees against the Pound Sterling as the day's closing quote stood at PKR 229.89 per GBP, while the previous session closed at PKR 233.46 per GBP.

On the other hand, PKR's value weakened by 27 paisa against EUR which closed at PKR 196.02 at the interbank today.

On another note, within the money market, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) conducted an Open Market Operation (OMO) in which it injected Rs3.55 trillion into the market for seven days at 12.3%.

The overnight repo rate towards the close of the session was 12.60/12.90 percent, whereas the 1-week rate was 12.55/12.65 percent.

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