KARACHI: Pakistan’s rupee registered losses for the third successive session against the US dollar, and settled with a depreciation of 0.44% in the inter-bank during the final session of the week.
As per the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), the rupee closed at 222.47 after a fall of Re0.97. Since October 13, the rupee has decreased by Rs4.09 or 1.84% against the US dollar.
On Thursday, rupee had registered back-to-back losses against the US dollar, and closed at 221.5 after a fall of Re0.82 or 0.37% in the inter-bank.
Markets have been gripped with negative sentiment amid an escalation of political tensions in the country after Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan announced to start of a ‘long march’ from Lahore to Islamabad on Friday (today).
In another key development, foreign exchange reserves held by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) were down $157 million to clock in at $7.44 billion for the week ending October 21, 2022. Pakistan’s total liquid foreign exchange reserves also dropped by $89 million to clock in at $13.16 billion.
The reserves’ position is critical for Pakistan which has been desperately seeking dollar inflows to meet its balance-of-payments needs.
Globally, the US dollar struggled to hold on to its overnight gains as expectations for a pivot by the Federal Reserve gathered pace.
Major currencies were higher on the back of a softer dollar, which has declined this week on hopes of a potential Fed pivot.
The US dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies, and with the euro the most heavily weighted, fell 0.17% to 110.35.
Oil prices, a key indicator of currency parity, fell on Friday after China, the world’s top crude oil importer, widened its COVID-19 curbs, but were poised for a weekly gain on supply concerns ahead of Europe’s pending cut-off of Russian imports.