April 19, 2021 (MLN): After stable previous sessions, the Pakistani rupee (PKR) on Monday depreciated by 12 paisa against US Dollar (USD) in the interbank market as the currency closed the day's trade at PKR 152.93 per USD, against the last session's closing of PKR 152.82 per USD.
Mentioning interbank opening quote via his Twitter handle, Asad Rizvi, Former TREASURY Head-CHASE MANHATTAN Bank, predicted domestic currency’s direction amid March trade data released by PBS. He said, ‘Exports for March was $ 2.36billion vs Feb $ 2.07billion. While imports surged by $1billion to $5.66b due to buying wheat, sugar & higher oil. Though higher Remittances will support Rupee. But the pace of PKR upside momentum will surely slow down a bit.’
The rupee endured a relatively dull trading session with very little intraday movement, trading in a range of 12 paisa per USD showing an intraday high bid of 152.95 and an intraday Low offer of 152.85.
Within the Open Market, PKR was traded at 152.50/153.30 per USD.
So far, the local currency has logged by PKR 15.12 or 9.88% gain against the greenback in FY21 while appreciation has been PKR 6.90 or 4.51% in CY21. MTD (month to date) position showed a decrease of 0.12%, as per data compiled by Mettis Global.
Meanwhile, the currency lost 2.3 rupees to the Pound Sterling as the day's closing quote stood at PKR 212.23 per GBP, while the previous session closed at PKR 209.95 per GBP.
Similarly, PKR's value weakened by 87 paisa against EUR which closed at PKR 183.75 at the interbank today.
On another note, within the money market, the overnight repo rate towards the close of the session was 7.40/7.70 percent, whereas the 1-week rate was 7.10/7.20 percent.
