Marginal gain: rupee settles at 277.87 against US dollar

The Pakistani rupee maintained its positive momentum for the third successive session against the US dollar, albeit with a marginal 0.02% appreciation on Tuesday.

As per the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), the rupee settled at 277.87 against the greenback, an increase of Re0.05 in the inter-bank market.

The momentum comes after the currency settled at 277.92, an appreciation of 0.19% against the US dollar on Monday after Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserve position improved.

Pakistan’s central bank last week received $500 million from the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), the first of three disbursements that were approved for rollover, said Finance Minister Ishaq Dar.

In a key development, the Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) agreed to temporarily increase the limits on members’ annual and cumulative access to Fund resources in the General Resources Account (GRA).

The US dollar was tentative on Tuesday ahead of testimony by US Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell.

Meanwhile, the US dollar index, which measures it against six major rivals, fell 0.077% to 104.170, having slipped 0.26% overnight.

The index is down 0.6% for the month following a 2.6% gain in February.

Oil prices, a key indicator of currency parity, were little changed on Tuesday, after rising for the past five sessions, as concerns about limited spare capacity in the market and uncertainty over Russian supplies offset mixed oil data from top crude importer China.

Inter-bank market rates for dollar on Tuesday

BID Rs 277.85

OFFER Rs 280.85

Open-market movement

In the open market, the PKR remained unchanged for both buying and selling against USD, closing at 276.00 and 279.00, respectively.

Against Euro, the PKR lost 3 rupees for both buying and selling, closing at 293.00 and 296.00 respectively.

Against UAE Dirham, the PKR remained unchanged for both buying and selling, closing at 75.50 and 76.20, respectively.

Against Saudi Riyal, the PKR lost 20 paisa for both buying and selling, closing at 73.50 and 74.20, respectively.

Open-market rates for dollar on Tuesday

BID Rs 276.00

OFFER Rs 279.00