THE RUPEE: Rupee recovers

14 Mar, 2020

The rupee managed to recover its some lost ground against the dollar in the process of trading activity, dealers said.

Marketmen observed that dollars' supply eased Friday, which helped the rupee to come out from the bottom side.

In the final Asian trade, the dollar stood tall on Friday as investors scrambled for the world's most liquid currency amid deepening panic about the coronavirus while the euro nursed losses after the European Central Bank disappointed investors by not cutting rates.

The greenback held gains against most currencies after a blow out in swap spreads showed investors are facing a shortage of dollars as equity markets plunged on fears about the economic impact of the flu-like virus.

The ECB on Thursday unveiled a stimulus package that provides loans to banks with rates as low as minus-0.75% and increases bond purchases.

The Federal Reserve moved to provide $1.5 trillion in short-term liquidity and changed the durations of Treasuries it buys, but money markets show investors expect the Fed will have to go even further to restore calm to financial markets.

The dollar was available versus the Indian rupee at Rs 74.083, the greenback was at 4.280 in terms of the Malaysian ringgit and the US currency was trading against the Chinese yuan at 6.982.

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Open Bid Rs 156.00

Open Offer Rs 157.00

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Bid Rate Rs 158.95

Offer Rate Rs 159.05

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Amid lack of buyers' interest in the market, the greenback remained under selling pressure throughout the trading session and ended lower for buying and selling at Rs 155.20 and Rs 157.60 against the overnight closing rate of Rs 157.50 and Rs 158.50 respectively, local currency dealers said.

Similarly, the local currency also followed the suit in relation to the pound sterling that was bought and sold at Rs 192.50 and Rs 196.90 against the Thursday's closing trend of Rs 198.50 and Rs 199.80 respectively, they added.

It is worth mentioning that the difference in the buying and selling rates of the greenback normally stays within the range of 50 paisas and the pound sterling within Re 1. Though both the foreign currencies drastically declined in today's trading session, but the currency dealers have now widened the margin between the buying and selling rates to avert any loss.

The dollar opened at Rs 158 (buying) and Rs 158.50 (selling) against last rate of Rs 159 (buying) and Rs 159.50 (selling). It closed at Rs 158 (buying) and Rs 158.50 (selling).

The buying and selling rates of one tola of gold were Rs. 92,300 (selling) and Rs 92,000 (buying) in the local Sarafa (gold) markets of twin cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi.

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