THE RUPEE: Steady trend

Firmness prevailed on the money market on Friday as the rupee showed slight gains against the dollar in the process of trading activity, dealers said.

INTER-BANK MARKET RATES: The rupee inched up in relation to the dollar for buying and selling at Rs 155.05 and Rs 155.10 respectively, they said.

OPEN MARKET RATES: The rupee managed to hold overnight levels versus the dollar for buying and selling at Rs 154.80 and Rs 155.10 respectively, they said. The rupee, however, shed 20 paisas against the euro for buying 170.70 while it held the overnight level for selling at Rs 172.20, they said.

In the final Asian trade, the dollar nursed a week of losses on Friday, hit by nervousness on trade and mixed signals about the US economy, while the British pound stood tall as bets firmed that Prime Minister Boris Johnson can win a commanding electoral victory.

The safe havens of the Japanese yen and Swiss franc were in demand as a hedge against Sino-US trade talks collapsing, and as investors fretted that US jobs figures due later in the day may fail to deliver an expected rebound.

The euro held on to overnight gains against the greenback to buy $1.1104, having climbed 0.8% this week. The yen has added 0.9% on the dollar this week and was steady at 108.72 yen per dollar on Friday.

Against a basket of currencies the dollar has dropped every day this week for a cumulative loss of almost 1%.

The best gains have been won by the soaring kiwi and British pound. The kiwi sat just below a four-month high touched on Thursday at $0.6541, having gained 1.8% this week as expectations for deep monetary easing have ebbed.

Sterling climbed to a 2-1/2 year high of 84.28 pence against the euro overnight-holding near there on Friday-and has advanced 1.7% against the dollar this week, last trading at $1.3158.

The dollar was available against the Indian rupee at Rs 71.283, the greenback was at 4.161 in terms of the Malaysian ringgit and the US currency was trading versus the Chinese yuan at 7.048.

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Open Bid       Rs 154.80
Open Offer     Rs 155.10
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Interbank Closing Rates: Interbank Closing Rates For Dollar on Monday.

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Bid Rate       Rs 155.05
Offer Rate     Rs 155.10
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RUPEE IN LAHORE: The Pak rupee recovered its earlier losses versus the greenback and the British pound in the open currency market on Friday.

Amid lack of buyers' interest in the market, the greenback could not sustain its worth and ended lower for buying and selling at Rs 154.20 and Rs 154.90 against the opening rate of Rs 154.50 and Rs 155.30 respectively, local currency dealers said.

Likewise, the local currency also followed the suit in relation to the pound sterling which was bought and sold at Rs 201.30 and Rs 202.30 against the Thursday's closing trend of Rs 201.50 and Rs 202.50 respectively, they added.

RUPEE IN ISLAMABAD AND RAWALPINDI: The dollar gained 10 paisa against the rupee at the open currency markets of Islamabad and Rawalpindi here on Friday.

The dollar opened at Rs 155.40(buying) and Rs 155.50(selling) against last rate of Rs 155.30(buying) and Rs 155.40(selling).

It closed at Rs 155.40(buying) and Rs 155.50(selling).

The buying and selling rates of one tola of gold were Rs. 85,500(selling) and Rs 85,200 (buying) in the local Sarafa (gold) markets of Islamabad and Rawalpindi.