The rupee was inert on the open market, however it dropped against the dollar on the inter-bank market on Thursday in the process of trading activity, dealers said.
Forex Association of Pakistan (FAP) President Malik Bostan, commenting on the persistent rising fears and uncertainties the world over, said "last week, we held an urgent meeting with the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) and requested to make strategy or mechanism to tackle the situation if any time flights to Dubai are suspended, in the wake of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak.
We plead the central bank to ask all commercial banks to take cautious but effective measures to deal with the worse situation."
Reports showing that business activity halted in Punjab for indefinite period due to suspension of Dubai-bound flights.
FAP President Malik Bostan requested the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) to direct commercial banks to purchase foreign currencies, including US dollar from the currency markets.
In the fourth Asian trade, the dollar resumed its relentless climb against major currencies on Thursday as wild financial market volatility and worries over tightening liquidity triggered by the coronavirus pandemic sparked an investor flight into cash.
Sterling teetered near the lowest since at least 1985 against the greenback.
The euro briefly rose against the dollar and the pound after the European Central Bank announced a 750 billion euro ($816.83 billion) asset-purchase programme in response to the coronavirus outbreak, but even this effort was overwhelmed by a stampede into the dollar.
The dollar was trading against the Indian rupee at Rs 74.993, the greenback was at 4.404 versus the Malaysian ringgit and the US currency was available at 7.077 in terms of the Chinese yuan.

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Open Bid       Rs 157.50
Open Offer     Rs 158.50
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Bid Rate       Rs 158.55
Offer Rate     Rs 158.65
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