The Pakistani rupee extended its marginal gains against the US dollar, appreciating 0.01% in the interbank market on Monday.
The local unit closed the day at 276.97, a gain of Re0.03 against the greenback.
On Friday, the Pakistani rupee settled at 277.00 against the dollar.
Globally, the US dollar held ground near its strongest level in a year and a half in early Asian trade on Monday as an escalating Middle East conflict kept investors wary ahead of key US inflation data later this week that will influence monetary policy.
The dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies, was slightly down at 102.14 but remained not far from the 18-month peak it scaled last week. Trading was confined to a tight range with Japanese markets shut for a holiday, thinning liquidity across the region.
Against the yen, the US dollar was down 0.14% at 158.160 yen. The Australian dollar and its kiwi counterpart were both roughly flat at $0.6988 and $0.5614, respectively.
Beyond the geopolitical backdrop, the market’s focus turns to Wednesday’s US consumer price index report, one of the last major economic releases before the Federal Reserve’s late-October meeting on interest rates.
Data last week showed US consumer sentiment slumped further in early October as the rising cost of living because of the Middle East conflict soured households’ views of the economy.
The Fed raised rates last month for the first time since 2023 to rein in inflation, with markets keeping a close watch on economic data to gauge whether policymakers may move again. Traders are pricing in an 81% chance of the Fed standing pat this month, up from 51% a month earlier, CME FedWatch tool showed.
Oil prices, a key indicator of currency parity, slipped on Monday on expectations of more Russian supplies after US President Donald Trump said Ukraine and Russia had agreed to halt attacks on each other’s energy facilities following a US diesel-supply deal with Moscow.
Brent crude futures fell $1.54, or 1.47%, to $103.18 a barrel by 0154 GMT while US West Texas Intermediate crude was at $90.31 a barrel, down $1.54, or 1.68%.
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