PKR strengthens by 29 paisa against greenback

February 01, 2022 (MLN): Continuing its stable journey, the Pakistani rupee (PKR) appreciated by 29 paisa against the US dollar in today's interbank session as the currency settled the trade at PKR 176.43.

Yesterday, the local unit had closed the session at PKR 176.72 per USD after offsetting the previous losses by 5 paisa.

The rupee traded within a range of 45 paisa per USD showing an intraday high bid of 176.55 and an intraday low offer of 176.20.

PKR traded in a narrow band between 176.65 and 176.75 during the previous session. Since the last couple of weeks, the trend is almost unchanged. Unless major payment is in the pipeline, PKR dollar parity is likely to remain range-bound, Asad Rizvi, the former Treasury Head at Chase Manhattan said. 

It is pertinent to mention that the rupee-dollar parity during the last 30-days witnessed comparatively less volatility due to the prevailing certainty in the market.

Meanwhile, the local unit has lost Rs18.88 against the USD from July’21 to date, Whereas, the rupee gained some ground by 0.8 paisa in CY22, with the month-to-date (MTD) position showing a meagre appreciation of 0.16%, as per data compiled by Mettis Global.

From January 2022 to date, the currency made remarkable progress as it appreciated by 1.03%, 0.5%, 0.14% and 0.05% against CHF, EUR, GBP and USD, respectively.

On the other hand, the local unit lost its value by 0.23%, 0.14% and 0.02% against JPY, CNY, and SAR, respectively.

According to the ECAP, PKR stayed flat for buying and selling over the day closed at 177 and 178 respectively in the open market.

Alternatively, the currency lost 47 paisa to the Pound Sterling as the day's closing quote stood at PKR 237.94 per GBP, while the previous session closed at PKR 237.47 per GBP.

Similarly, PKR's value weakened by 1.2 rupees against EUR which closed at PKR 198.64 at the interbank today.

On another note, within the money market, the overnight repo rate towards close of the session was 10.25/10.40 percent, whereas the 1-week rate was 9.85/9.95 percent.

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