KARACHI
Pakistani rupee snapped the two-day losing streak against the US dollar and appreciated by 11 paisas (+0.06 percent) on Wednesday.
The State Bank of Pakistan said in a statement that the dollar opened at Rs175.78 in the interbank market and closed at Rs175.67. The rupee witnessed a trading range of 15 paisas during the session, showing the intraday high bid of 175.80 and low offer of 175.65. Within the open market, the rupee was traded at 176.50/177.50 per dollar.
Overall, the rupee shed 96 paisas against the American currency during the last three days, while it has depreciated by Rs18.24 during the ongoing fiscal year 2021-22. However, the local unit has appreciated by 84 paisas during the current year 2022.
The US dollar also dipped in global markets as market participants are awaiting the latest meeting minutes from the Federal Reserve. The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major peers, decreased 0.40 percent at 95.99.
The rupee remained under pressure against the greenback during the previous two sessions mainly on the rising oil prices which are hovering around $94 on Russia Ukraine tussle. However, Russia pulled back some of its troops from the Ukraine border on Tuesday, which brought down the prices of oil and gold in the international market and this also provided some stability to the rupee.
According to market experts, the rupee is also bearing the brunt of rising commodity prices. They said that high oil prices in the international markets have also escalated the demand for the dollars. Though oil prices came down on Tuesday after hitting their highest in more than eight years, they are still very high. Pakistan is the net importer of crude oil to meet its domestic demand. The oil import bill of the country surged to $10.18 billion during the first half (July-December) of 2021-22 compared to $4.77 billion during the same period of the last fiscal year.
