PKR stays flat

December 16, 2021 (MLN): Pakistani rupee (PKR) took a breather against the greenback in today’s session as the currency managed to close at PKR 177.98 after witnessing a dip of 28 paisa during the ongoing week.

The rupee traded within a narrow range of 20 paisa per USD showing an intraday high bid of 178.10 and an intraday Low offer of 177.90.

Despite several attempts, PKR is trading around 178, as it failed to move beyond, Asad Rizvi, the former Treasury Head at Chase Manhattan said.  

"Yesterday, the forward and foreign exchange swap points, which is below interest rate parity eased further by 20-40 paisa. It suggested banks are short of USD or tight in NOSTRO’s and opted for buying and selling swaps," he added.

From July’21 to date, the local unit has lost Rs20.44 against the USD. Similarly, the rupee has weakened by 10.20% or PKR18.15 in CY21, with the month-to-date (MTD) position showing a decline of 1.27%, as per data compiled by Mettis Global.

Meanwhile, the currency lost 20 paisa to the Pound Sterling as the day's closing quote stood at PKR 236.05 per GBP, while the previous session closed at PKR 235.85 per GBP.

Similarly, PKR's value weakened by 71 paisa against EUR which closed at PKR 201.19 at the interbank today.

As per the Exchange Companies Association of Pakistan (ECAP), PKR gained 1.1 rupees for buying and 60 paisa for selling over the day closed at 178.90 and 179.90 respectively in the open market.

On another note, within the money market, the overnight repo rate towards close of the session was 10.50/10.60 percent, whereas the 1-week rate was 9.95/10.05 percent.

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