Rupee stages comeback against US dollar
The 100-index of the Pakistan Stock Exchange continued with bullish trend on Wednesday, gaining 217.76 points, a positive change of 0.53 percent, closing at 41,167.60 points against 40,949.84 points the previous day.
A total of 196,543,047 shares were traded during the day as compared to 96,490,520 shares the previous day, whereas the price of shares stood at Rs.6.413 billion against Rs. 4.605 billion on the last trading day.
As many as 331 companies transacted their shares in the stock market; 185 of them recorded gains and 122 sustained losses, whereas the share price of 24 companies remained unchanged.
The three top-trading companies were WorldCall Telecom with 44,210,807 shares at Rs 1.26 per share; Maple Leaf with 22,383,945 shares at Rs.24.03 per share, and Oil and Gas Dev. with 10,388,052 shares at Rs.90.78 per share.
Sapphire Fiber witnessed a maximum increase of Rs.71.77 per share price, closing at Rs.1,063.99, whereas the runner-up was Reliance Cotton with Rs. 45.00 rise in its per share price to Rs.645.00.
Sapphire Tex witnessed a maximum decrease of Rs.88.49 per share closing at Rs.1,091.41; followed by Nestle Pakistan with Rs.85.00 decline to close at Rs.5,314.00.
Meanwhile, after going down against the mighty US dollar, the Pakistani rupee on Wednesday staged a turnaround and gained Rs1.01 in early business in the interbank market.
According to the information extracted from the forex dealers, the Pakistani rupee gained Rs1.01 in its value against the greenback and was currently being traded at Rs261.50.
On Tuesday, Pakistani rupee’s five-session appreciation run came to an end as the currency settled with a decline of 0.24% against the US dollar in the inter-bank market. As per the State Bank of Pakistan, the currency closed at 262.51 against the US dollar, a fall of 63 paisas.
The last cycle of currency devaluation pushed Pakistan’s real effective exchange rate (REER) to 92.8 in January 2023 from 96.2 a month earlier, data from the State Bank of Pakistan showed.
The decline in the REER is driven by the rupee’s massive depreciation against the US dollar during the month of January. Amid other developments, the National Assembly on Monday passed the Finance (Supplementary) Bill, 2023, proposing additional taxes and duties of Rs170 billion to meet the understanding reached with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for its Extended Fund Facility.
