KARACHI – After touching record high level, the US dollar has been remained under pressure against Pakistani rupee in interbank and open market since the government launched a crackdown against smuggling and hoarding of dollars.
In early trading session, the greenback has lost Rs1.41 paisa as is being traded at Rs299.75, hitting the 20-day lowest level.
The foreign also witnessed downward trend in open market in early session as there is a decrease in demand of the dollar.
“The rupee has gained significantly in the open market in a week due to the government’s action against the smuggling of the currency in big cities,” said Arif Habib Limited Head of Research Tahir Abbas.
“This was a very important measure as our currency was continuously depreciating. It was also IMF’s [International Monetary Fund] demand to maintain a difference between the rupee-dollar exchange rate at 1.25%,” he added.
He said that further correction of up to Rs10-15 is expected in the coming days. The sale of dollars by exporters and the return of remittances to the interbank market, spurred by the narrowing gap between the official banking market and the kerb market, helped boost the rupee’s strength.
“We have had exporters selling dollars at large scale. They were offloading dollars that’s why the rupee strengthened in the interbank market. We expect the rupee’s upward trend to continue in days ahead,” a trader at a leading commercial bank said.
