The Pakistani rupee lost further ground against the US Dollar during intraday trade today after opening trade at 283.87 in the interbank market.
At 11 AM, it was bullish, rising as high as 283.225 after gaining ~60 paisas against the greenback.
Later, it dropped to the 284 level between 12:30 PM and 1:15 PM and stayed at that level, before crashing below 285.
Open market rates (documented) across multiple currency counters stayed in the 289-297 range.
At close, the PKR depreciated by 0.47 percent to close at 285.14 after losing Rs. 1.34 against the dollar today.
The informal exchange rate initially docked at 298-300.
Today’s cash rate per dollar in Hundi clocked in at the 295-300 band while many channels (undocumented) reported rates as high as 307.
The PKR crashed again for the 5th consecutive day today but the gap between open and interbank PKR/USD rates continued to expand despite the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) premium limit of 1.25 percent on the exchange rate.
One trader said anomalous premiums were distorting the black market with more intensity, but he still expected the PKR to dock somewhere in the region of 290 and form resistance as this might indicate the likely acceptable value of the local unit against the greenback.
“Undocumented channels are booming with an unsupervised exchange of USD to PKR while overall, documented counters saw little to no activity as most trades had shifted beyond the scope of the regulator. Like yesterday, expect breaches at 290, or further below in the days to come. The new resistance line is near though, so the drop will halt later,” he remarked.
Overall, the rupee is down nearly Rs. 60 since January 2023. Since April 2022, it is down over Rs. 109 against the greenback. As per the exchange rate movements witnessed today, the PKR has lost Rs. 1.34 against the dollar today.
The PKR was bearish against all of the other major currencies in the interbank market today. It lost 36 paisas against the Saudi Riyal (SAR), 37 paisas against the UAE Dirham (AED), Rs. 1.11 against the Euro (EUR), and Rs. 1.6 against the Canadian Dollar (CAD).
Source: Pro Pakistani