July 29, 2022 (MLN): Snapping its 15-day long losing streak against the greenback, the Pakistani rupee has managed to gain 57 paisa in today’s interbank session as the currency settled the trade at PKR 239.37 compared to yesterday's closing of 239.94 per USD.
The rupee traded in a range of one rupee per USD showing an intraday high bid of 240 and an intraday low offer of 239.50 while in the open market, PKR was traded at 246/248 per USD.
Throughout the week, the local unit remained under severe pressure from bleak macros and political heat. Even it marked the historic low of 240 per US dollar in the intraday trade on Thursday.
Accordingly, the currency has lost 11 rupees against the greenback, as the previous week was concluded at PKR 228.37 per USD.
Analyst fraternity is of the view that delay in the IMF tranche has made the matter worst for the domestic unit as fast depleting foreign exchange reserves is creating chaos amongst market participants.
As per the recent development, Army Chief Qamar Javed Bajwa asked the US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman for help in securing an early loan dispersal from IMF.
At present, the total liquid foreign exchange reserves held by the country stood at $14.4 billion which is enough to cover the import bill of only 1.22 months.
In addition to it, the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet on Thursday lifted the ban on imported goods except for Auto CBU, Mobile CBU, and Home Appliances CBU, which will also increase the import bill in months to come.
July 2022 remained the worst month in the history of PKR as it depreciated by 34.52 rupees or 14.42% during the month while In CYTD, the local unit plummeted by Rs62.86 or 26.26% against the USD, as per data compiled by Mettis Global.
During the last 52 weeks, PKR lost 32.14% against the greenback while reaching its lowest at 239.94 on July 28, 2022, and the highest of 162.43 on July 30, 2021.
Furthermore, the local unit has weakened by 21.70% and 23.50% against EUR and GBP, respectively since its high on August 20, 2021.
In addition to it, the performance of the local unit remained bleak against other major currencies in MTD as the currency lost 16.52%, 14.99%, 14.70%, %, 14.43%, 14.34%, 13.96% and 12.66%, against JPY, GBP, CHF, AED, SAR, CNY, and EUR, respectively.
Meanwhile, the currency gained 12 paisa against the Pound Sterling as the day's closing quote stood at PKR 292.29 per GBP, while the previous session closed at PKR 292.41 per GBP.
On the other hand, PKR's value weakened by 2 paisa against EUR which closed at PKR 244.81 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 Rs1.24 trillion through reverse repo purchase and Shariah-compliant mudarabah.
The overnight repo rate towards the close of the session was 14.90/15.15 percent, whereas the 1-week rate was 14.86/14.96 percent.
Copyright Mettis Link News
34355
