Rupee records marginal decline against US dollar

The Pakistani rupee recorded a marginal decline against the US dollar, depreciating 0.03% in the inter-bank market on Tuesday.

At close, the currency settled at 277.95, a loss of Re0.09 against the greenback.

On Monday, the rupee had settled at 277.86, according to the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP).

Internationally, the yen got some much-needed respite on Tuesday as it steadied on the stronger side of 155 per US dollar thanks to a pullback in the US currency, which ran into profit-taking after a stellar rally that saw it scale a one-year high.

The yen last edged 0.2% higher to 154.40 per dollar, recovering from its fall in the previous session after Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda stuck to his usual script and failed to offer any hints on whether a rate hike could come in December.

In the broader market, the dollar was on the back foot as it eased further away from last week’s one-year top against a basket of currencies.

The greenback has risen more than 2% for the month thus far, buoyed by reduced expectations of the extent of Federal Reserve rate cuts and on the view that President-elect Donald Trump’s touted policies of tariffs, reduced immigration and debt-funded tax cuts will be inflationary to the US economy.

Oil prices, a key indicator of currency parity,slipped on Tuesday pressured by the restart of production at Norway’s Johan Sverdrup oilfield, although investor caution arising from fears of an escalation in the Russia-Ukraine war limited the decline.

Equinor has resumed partial production from the oilfield, Western Europe’s largest, following a power outage.

An outage at the North Sea field helped prices to climb by over 3% on Monday.

Brent crude futures were down 45 cents, or 0.6%, to $72.85 a barrel by 0915 GMT, while US West Texas Intermediate crude futures slipped by 46 cents, or 0.7%, to $68.70.

Inter-bank market rates for dollar on Tuesday

BID                            Rs 277.95

OFFER                      Rs 278.15

Open-market movement

In the open market, the PKR lost 15 paise for buying and 6 paise for selling against USD, closing at 277.04 and 278.88, respectively.

Against Euro, the PKR lost 56 paise for buying and 71 paise for selling, closing at 291.10 and 293.89, respectively.

Against UAE Dirham, the PKR remained unchanged for both buying and selling, closing at 75.27 and 75.97, respectively.

Against Saudi Riyal, the PKR remained unchanged for buying and gained 1 paisa for selling, closing at 73.52 and 74.16, respectively.

Open-market rates for dollar on Tuesday

BID                            Rs 277.04

OFFER                      Rs 278.88