Persisting demand for dollars, forced the rupee to shed its value further in terms of the US currency on both open and interbank market on Saturday, dealers said. It was noted that gap between the interbank and open market rates widened, which is approximately Re.1, they said.
General trend in the money market was weak as the speculative buying of dollar continued as no change was seen in the key policy rate, experts said. In the announcement of monetary policy, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) also decided to leave its key policy rate unchanged at 14 percent for the subsequent two months, the State Bank of Pakistan said in a statement on Saturday. The central bank also left the rate unchanged on March 26, 2011.
Pakistan's fiscal deficit is likely to be 6.2 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) in the 2010/11 fiscal year(July-June), compared with the government's target of 5.5 percent, the State Bank of Pakistan statement said. The central bank also revised its forecast for inflation to range between 14 and 14.5 percent for the year ending June 30, compared to its earlier projection of between 14.5 and 15.5 percent.
At the weekend euro should remain vulnerable to negative headlines about Greece's debt next week, but will likely trade within a range as investors hesitate to sell euro zone single currency with a key European Central Bank meeting around the corner. While the euro dropped about four percent against dollar in May, interest rate differentials have largely worked in favour of the currency and it is up six percent year-to-date.
While euro's fragility was made evident on Friday when ratings agency Fitch downgraded Greece and Norway suspended a grant payment to the country, it will likely remain range bound over the near term with the ECB widely expected to communicate plans for another rate hike at its meeting on June 2. Friday's negative Greece news caused euro to sink to a session low of $1.4139 on trading platform EBS before paring losses on a commodities rebound. Investors are focused on the key $1.40 level for euro.
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Open Buying Rs 87.30
Open Selling Rs 87.50
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Buying Rs.86.35
Selling Rs.86.40
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Repo Rates (Yield p a)
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Tenor Low Bid High Bid Low Offer High Offer Average
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Overnight 13.50 13.90 13.70 13.90 13.75
1-Week 12.50 13.30 13.25 13.40 13.11
2-Week 12.75 13.25 13.25 13.35 13.15
1-Month 12.75 13.20 13.15 13.30 13.10
2-Months 12.80 13.20 13.20 13.30 13.13
3-Months 12.90 13.20 13.20 13.30 13.15
4-Months 12.90 13.25 13.20 13.30 13.16
5-Months 13.00 13.35 13.30 13.40 13.26
6-Months 13.20 13.40 13.35 13.50 13.36
9-Months 13.25 13.50 13.50 13.60 13.46
1-Year 13.40 13.60 13.55 13.70 13.56
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Call Rates (Yield p a)
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Tenor Low Bid High Bid Low Offer High Offer Average
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Overnight 13.50 13.90 13.75 13.95 13.78
1-Week 12.60 13.45 13.30 13.50 13.21
2-Week 12.80 13.35 13.30 13.45 13.23
1-Month 12.90 13.30 13.30 13.40 13.23
2-Months 12.90 13.35 13.25 13.40 13.23
3-Months 13.10 13.40 13.30 13.45 13.31
4-Months 13.10 13.40 13.35 13.50 13.34
5-Months 13.25 13.50 13.40 13.60 13.44
6-Months 13.30 13.60 13.45 13.65 13.50
9-Months 13.50 13.70 13.60 13.75 13.64
1-Year 13.50 13.75 13.60 13.90 13.69
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According to the currency dealers, the dollar witnessed fresh demand that helped its appreciation against the rupee in the open market. The dollar commenced trading on a positive note and ended higher at Rs 87.00 and Rs 87.80, as its buying and selling rates against the overnight closing of Rs 86.80 and Rs 87.50, respectively.
However, the rupee showed stability and remained unchanged against the British pound. The pound was purchased and sold at Friday closing of Rs 141.00 and Rs 142.00, respectively, the dealers added.
The dollar resumed trading at Rs 84.50 (buying) and Rs 85.10 (selling) against the last rate. It did not observe further change in the evening session and closed at Rs 84.50 (buying) and Rs 85.10 (selling).
Pound Sterling opened at Rs 136.50 (buying) and Rs 137.60 (selling) against the previous rate. It did not witness any change in the evening session and closed at Rs 136.50 (buying) and Rs 137.60 (selling).