KARACHI
\nPakistani rupee returned back to making gains against the US dollar a day after falling slightly in the inter-bank market and improved by nine paisas on Tuesday. The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) said in a tweet that the rupee opened at 279.64 against the dollar in the interbank market and closed at 279.55, appreciating by 0.03 percent. Out of the last 34 sessions, the rupee has surged in 30 sessions and lowered in three sessions, while it remained unchanged in one session. Overall, the local unit improved by Rs0.31 against the greenback last week while it gained Rs7.53 during the previous 11 weeks, which it closed on a positive note.
\nThe rupee improved by Rs8.74 during the current fiscal year 2023-24 and Rs2.31 in the current year. The rupee gained Rs3.31 against the US dollar in December, while it shed Rs3.69 against the US dollar in November after gaining Rs6.26 (+2.23 percent) against the greenback in the month of October. The currency surged more than 6 percent in September.
\nOn the other hand, the local unit remained unchanged against the greenback in the open market. The rupee was quoted at 279.5 for buying and 281.5 for selling against the same rates a session earlier, according to data provided by different exchange companies. The rupee surged by 50 paisas against the greenback last week. The rupee has gained Rs2 against the greenback in the previous five weeks while it gained Rs3.50 in December.
\nMarket talk suggests that the rupee will remain stable around current levels until the general elections scheduled for February 8, 2024. The rupee-dollar exchange rate will take cue for future direction from the new government\u2019s economic policies. In a key development, the central bank on Monday decided to keep the policy rate unchanged at 22 percent for the fifth consecutive meeting.
\nMeanwhile, the SBP said on Tuesday that the official reserve assets, including foreign currency reserves, IMF reserve position, Special Drawing Rights (SDRs), gold, and other reserve assets, stood at $13.67 billion as of December 31, 2023. The foreign currency reserves comprised securities, currency, and deposits held with other national central banks, and banks headquartered in and outside Pakistan clocked in at $4.85 billion.
\nThe gold reserves, which include gold deposits and swapped gold, amounted to 2.079 million fine troy ounces, equivalent to $4.32 billion, up from $4.23 billion from the previous month due to a rise in international spot gold price in the review month. The data further detailed that Pakistan\u2019s other foreign currency assets amounted to $97.48 million.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
KARACHI Pakistani rupee returned back to making gains against the US dollar a day after falling slightly in the inter-bank market and improved by nine paisas on Tuesday. The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) said in a tweet that the rupee opened at 279.64 against the dollar in the interbank market and closed at 279.55, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-384275","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-business"},"yoast_head":"\n