Rupee Gains Ground Against US Dollar in Intra-day Trading

The Pakistani rupee continued to strengthen against the US dollar, rising 0.36% in the first hours of trading on Thursday.

At roughly 11:30 a.m., the rupee was trading at 286, up Rs1.04 in the interbank market.

The Pakistani rupee recovered 0.52% to settle at 287.04 on Wednesday, spurred by the central bank’s decision to enable Exchange Companies (ECs) to import US dollars in cash.

In a significant development, the parliament approved ‘The Elections (Amendment) Bill, 2023,’ which amends the Election Act, 2017, delegating additional powers to the caretaker government to take actions or make decisions regarding existing bilateral or multilateral agreements or projects already underway.

The US dollar fell globally on Thursday after the Federal Reserve delivered what some thought to be its final rate boost, while market attention switched across the Atlantic to the European Central Bank’s (ECB) rate decision later in the day.

The Fed hiked interest rates by a quarter percentage point on Wednesday, as predicted, marking the central bank’s 11th rate hike in the last 12 meetings.

While Fed Chair Jerome Powell left the door open for another raise in September, traders remained skeptical, sending the US currency down.

The dollar index was recently 0.04% lower at 101.06, down from a two-week high of 101.65 earlier in the week, though losses were limited since money markets had already factored in Wednesday’s 25-basis-point increase.

Oil prices, a crucial measure of currency parity, surged on Thursday as investors focused on prospects of tighter supplies from top oil producers, helping to reverse previous losses caused by concerns that the US interest rate hike would hamper demand.

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