Intra-day update: rupee’s appreciation run continues against US dollar

The Pakistani rupee strengthened further against the US dollar, appreciating another 0.55% during the opening hours of trading in the inter-bank market on Wednesday. At 10:20am, the rupee was hovering at 298.25, an increase of Rs1.64, in the inter-bank market. On Tuesday, the rupee had appreciated 0.42% to settle at 299.89 in the inter-bank market. The currency has been on an appreciation run since the government announced a crackdown against hoarders and smugglers of local currency last week, with a more pronounced change witnessed in the open-market. Internationally, the US dollar was broadly steady on Wednesday ahead of a key US inflation report later in the day, though it rose on the yen as traders assessed comments from Japan’s top central banker on a possible early exit from its negative interest rate policy. The US currency advanced around 0.2% to 147.36 against the yen, which retraced its biggest one-day percentage rise in two months on Monday, following the remarks from Bank of Japan (BOJ) Governor Kazuo Ueda over the weekend. The US dollar index measure against a basket of key rivals was last steady at 104.67, after slipping to a one-week low on Monday and clocking its largest daily fall in two months. Oil prices, a key indicator of currency parity, edged higher on Wednesday, hovering at a new 10-month high hit the previous day, as expectations of tighter global supply and fears of supply disruption in Libya outweighed concerns of slower demand in some countries such as China. This is an intra-day update