The Pakistani rupee remained largely unchanged against the US dollar during the opening hours of trading in the inter-bank market on Monday.
At 10:20am, the currency was hovering at 278.53, a gain of Re0.01 against the US dollar.
During the previous week, the rupee depreciated marginally as it lost Re0.04 or 0.01% against the US dollar.
The local unit closed at 278.54, against 278.50 it had closed the week earlier against the greenback, according to the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP).
In recent months, the domestic currency has largely been around 277-279 against the dollar as traders keep an eye on some positive indicators and approval from the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) Executive Board over a new $7-billion Extended Fund Facility (EFF).
Globally, the US dollar climbed to a two-week top against the euro on Monday as traders pared bets for aggressive policy easing by the Federal Reserve with the focus now moving to a crucial U.S. jobs report at the end of this week.
The dollar advanced to its strongest since Aug. 21 on the yen, buoyed by a rise in long-term Treasury yields to the highest since mid-August after a closely watched measure of U.S. inflation held steady, reducing the imperative for the Fed to cut interest rates by a super-sized 50 basis points (bps) on Sept. 18.
The dollar index measure against major peers edged up to 101.79 early in the Asian day, a level last seen on Aug. 20.
Economists surveyed by Reuters expect the addition of 165,000 jobs in August, rising from a 114,000 increase in the prior month, and that the unemployment rate ticked lower to 4.2%.
Oil prices, a key indicator of currency parity, extended losses on Monday on expectations for higher OPEC+ production starting in October and as signs of sluggish demand in China and the U.S., the world’s two largest oil consumers, raised concerns about future consumption growth.
Brent crude futures fell 61 cents, or 0.8%, to $76.32 a barrel by 0450 GMT while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude slipped 52 cents, or 0.7%, to $73.03 a barrel.
The losses followed a 0.3% decline for Brent last week and a 1.7% drop for WTI.
This is an intra-day update
Source: Brecorder
