Pakistan rupee records marginal gain against US dollar

The Pakistani rupee registered marginal gain against the US dollar in the inter-bank market on Monday.

At close, the local currency settled at 279.85, a gain of Re0.01 against the greenback.

On Friday, the local unit closed at 279.86.

The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) decided on Monday to keep its benchmark policy interest rate unchanged at 10.5% in its first Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting of 2026. SBP Governor Jameel Ahmad announced the decision in a press conference.

Inflation in Pakistan could be above 7% in some months of the current year’s second half, he said. The country’s gross domestic product (GDP) would grow by 3.75% to 4.75% this year, Ahmad envisaged.

Internationally, the yen jumped to a more than two-month high on Monday as speculation mounted of coordinated currency intervention by authorities in the US after remarks from Tokyo’s prime minister and Japan’s leading currency diplomat.

Investors also scaled back their dollar positions ahead of a Federal Reserve meeting and a possible announcement by the Trump administration of a new Fed chair.

The yen rose by as much as 1.5% to 153.30 per dollar, its strongest since early November. It was last at 153.97.

The US dollar index, which measures the currency’s strength against a basket of six currencies, was down 0.1% at a four-month low of 97.14.

Meanwhile, spillover dollar selling on Monday helped push the euro and the British pound to four-month highs, while the Australian dollar hit its strongest since September 2024.

The euro was last up 0.2% at $1.1854, sterling was 0.1% higher at $1.3659, while the Aussie advanced 0.4% to $0.6922.

“The dollar has been fragile anyway, but the gain in the yen has been the precipitating trigger for the market to sell it across the board,” said Marc Chandler, chief market strategist at Bannockburn Capital Markets in New York.

Oil prices, a key indicator of currency parity, steadied on Monday after climbing more than 2% in the previous session on output disruptions in US crude-producing regions and tensions between the US and Iran.

Brent crude futures dipped 7 cents, or 0.1%, to $65.81 a barrel by 1251 GMT. US West Texas Intermediate crude was down 13 cents, or 0.2%, at $60.94.

Both benchmarks notched weekly gains of 2.7% to close on Friday at their highest since January 14.

Inter-bank market rates for dollar on Monday

BID Rs 279.85

OFFER Rs 280.05

Open-market movement

In the open market, the PKR gained 7 paise for buying and 3 paise for selling against USD, closing at 280.25 and 280.96, respectively.

Against Euro, the PKR lost 3.01 rupees for buying and 3.21 rupees for selling, closing at 331.97 and 335.15, respectively.

Against UAE Dirham, the PKR lost 2 paise for both buying and selling, closing at 76.53 and 77.29, respectively.

Against Saudi Riyal, the PKR gained 3 paise for buying and 2 paise for selling, closing at 74.81 and 75.40, respectively.

Open-market rates for dollar on Monday

BID Rs 280.25

OFFER Rs 280.96