Rupee strengthens

KARACHI: The rupee appreciated against the dollar on Thursday amid lacklustre activity in the currency market, dealers said.

The rupee gained nine paisas to close at 85.85 to a dollar in the inter-bank market from the previous day’s close of 85.97.

“Traders show reluctance to buy greenback on the hope that the foreign currency’s value may further go down,” a dealer said. The rupee is stable against the dollar during the ongoing month after it registered a decline to a historic low of 86.32 early this month on heavy demand for the dollar for import payments.
The inter-bank forex market started the day in the range of Rs85.93 and 85.97. The dollar witnessed deterioration throughout the day as it registered a high of Rs85.93 and a low of Rs85.85. Currency experts said that the dollar demand would rise early next month as import for oil payments is due. However, the inflows of home remittances and export receipts would help the rupee maintain its current levels, they added.

Weak rupee boosts exports, data proves the contrary

LAHORE: The myth that rupee depreciation boosts exports is not true as exports remained stagnant from 1994 to 1999 despite massive rupee depreciation, but rose appreciably when the rupee was stable from 2003 to 2008, analysis of trade data reveals.

The foreign trade data of past two decades collected by The News showed that devaluation of rupee almost always failed to boost exports that grew during the period when the rupee remained stable against the dollar.

Rupee further gains 21 paisas

KARACHI: The rupee further strengthened its position on Thursday to close at 83.50 against the dollar in the currency market.

According to the weighted average, customer exchange rates issued by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), the rupee gained 21 paisas against the greenback.

Weak rupee adds Rs17bn to debt servicing

ISLAMABAD: Servicing of both domestic and external debt to cost the national kitty Rs664 billion during the current fiscal year as against the budgetary estimation of Rs647 billion due to depreciation of the rupee, officials in the finance ministry told Dawn on Saturday.


The sources said that domestic debt servicing was estimated to be Rs573 billion at the start of the fiscal year, however, upward revised estimates suggested that it would be Rs589 billion owing to inflationary factors and increased short-term loaning by the government for budgetary support and operational expenses.

Rupee gains over dollar amid falling imports

KARACHI: The dollar fell to Rs84 on Thursday reflecting the lower demand with falling imports and sufficient availability of the currency.

“The dollar was traded in the range of Rs83.95 to Rs83.98 in the inter-bank market on Thursday, which was the lowest of this calendar year 2010,” said Atif Ahmed, a currency dealer.

Rupee slide continues

Saturday, January 09, 2010
KARACHI: The Pakistani rupee fell to a new low on Friday for the fifth consecutive day because of high demand for dollars to pay for imports.

The rupee was quoted closing at 84.95/85.02 to the dollar compared with Thursday’s close of 84.79/85.

“The weakest trade for the rupee was made at 84.90,” said a currency dealer in Karachi.

State Bank announces clean note policy

Wednesday, January 06, 2010
KARACHI: State Bank of Pakistani (SBP) in order to overcome problems relating to collection, sorting and replacement of soiled notes and to provide better services to the general public, has introduced a self-assessment compliance program for banks with regard to Clean Note Policy (CNP).

Rupee falls to record 84.57 against dollar

KARACHI: The rupee fell to a record low against the dollar on Monday while it already lost almost Re1 since the private sector was given sole responsibility to pay the entire oil bills.
 
The dollar was traded at the maximum price of Rs84.57, which is the highest price dollar ever found in the local market, said currency traders adding that the dollar gained up to 20 paisa on Monday.

Import payment pressure pushes rupee down

Experts say SBP won’t intervene

Tuesday, January 05, 2010
By Saad Hasan

KARACHI: The rupee dropped to a new low of Rs84.65 on Monday, down 0.44 per cent from Saturday’s close of Rs84.25 as importers rushed to buy US dollar to make oil payments, dealers told The News.

The weighted average at which commercial banks bought and sold the dollar was Rs84.33 and Rs84.52 respectively, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) said. Average exchange rate on Saturday was Rs84.20 and Rs84.39.

Pressure mounts on rupee as dollar demand surges

KARACHI: The rupee lost about 75 paisa against the US dollar so far and was likely to remain under tremendous pressure since the exchange market was made responsible to bear the burden of oil import bill.
 
‘The old days’ strategy returned to exchange market after the private sector was again given the responsibility to pay entire oil import bill forcing the rupee to depreciate against the US dollar amid sharp surge in demand for the greenback during a week,’ said a currency expert.