PKR stays flat

January 27, 2022 (MLN): Pakistani rupee (PKR) managed to hold the ground against the US dollar in the interbank market today after observing depreciation in back-to-back three sessions as the currency closed trade relatively unchanged at PKR 176.98.

The rupee traded within a very narrow range of 10 paisa per USD showing an intraday high bid of 176.95 and an intraday low offer of 176.85.

The local unit has eased to nearly 20-days low on jitters over the shift of IMF meeting dates which is now rescheduled on February 2, Asad Rizvi, the former Treasury Head at Chase Manhattan said.

He also added that the passing of the SBP Amendment Bill is the key while payment pressure persists as the economy is heavily relying on external borrowing.

The 30-day rupee-dollar parity is less volatile as the rupee has been less responsive to economic events. However, it seems that the stabilizing mode of PKR is fading away as the currency fell by 74 paisa during the previous three consecutive sessions.

From July’21 to date, the local unit has lost Rs19.43 against the USD. Similarly, the rupee lost its ground by 46 paisa in CY22, with the month-to-date (MTD) position showing a drop of 0.26%, as per data compiled by Mettis Global.

The performance of PKR remained bleak during the fiscal year to date as the currency depreciated by 12.30%, 10.98%, 10.95%, 10.63%, 8.15%, and 5.52% against CNY, USD, AED, SAR, CHF, GBP, and EUR, respectively.

As per the Exchange Companies Association of Pakistan (ECAP), PKR gained 50 paisa for buying and selling over the day closed at 178 and 179 respectively in the open market.

Meanwhile, the currency gained 1.7 rupees against the Pound Sterling as the day's closing quote stood at PKR 237.33 per GBP, while the previous session closed at PKR 239 per GBP.

Similarly, PKR's value strengthened by 1.6 rupees against EUR which closed at PKR 198.2 at the interbank today.

On another note, within the money market, the overnight repo rate towards the close of the session was 10.00/10.25 percent, whereas the 1-week rate was 9.75/9.85 percent.

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