THE RUPEE: firm trend

Firmness prevailed on the currency market amid shortened week due to disturbed law and order situation, the week ended on March 30, one-day earlier because of said reason. In the interbank dealings the rupee gained four paisa against dollar for buying and selling at 90.76 and 90.78
In the open market, the rupee followed the same trend, gaining 20 paisa for buying and selling at 90.90 and 91.10, against euro, the rupee picked up 40 paisa for buying and selling at Rs 120.40 and Rs 121.40.
Since the week started, the violence erupted in the city as a result several people were killed and many hurt, furthermore, almost all trading centres were closed, which caused huge losses.
In the meantime, during the week, the rupee has been supported by remittances from overseas Pakistanis, which rose by nearly a quarter to 8.59 billion dollars in the first eight months of the 2011/12 fiscal year, compared with 6.96 billion dollars in the same period in 2010/11. In February, remittances totalled 1.16 billion dollars.
INTER-BANK RATES: On Monday, the rupee was marginally down losing two paisa for buying and selling at 90.80 and 90.82. On Tuesday, the rupee shed two paisa in relation to dollar for buying at 90.82 and lost four paisa for selling at 90.86. On Wednesday, the rupee recovered against dollar for buying by six paisa at 90.76 and shed eight paisa for selling at 90.78.
On Thursday, the rupee managed to gain versus dollar by eight paisa for buying and selling at 90.68 and 90.70. On Friday, rupee inched up by two paisa in terms of dollar for buying and selling at 90.66 and 90.68.
OPEN MARKET RATES: On March 26, the rupee also turned lower against dollar by five paisa for buying at 91.10 and by 15 paisa for selling at 91.30. However, the rupee was higher against euro by gaining 16 paisa for buying at 120.00 but lost 34 paisa for selling at 121.00. On March 27, all the commercial centres remained closed after killing of MQM worker in Karachi, including open market.
March 27, the rupee gained 10 paisa versus dollar for buying and selling at 91.00 and 91. 20, the rupee, however, lost 50 paisa in relation to euro for buying and selling at Rs 120.50 and Rs 121.50.
On March 28, the rupee also followed the same trend in terms of the greenback, picking up 10 paisa for buying and selling at 91.00 and 91.20. The rupee, however, came under pressure in relation to euro, shedding 50 paisa for buying and selling at Rs 120.50 and Rs 121.50.
On March 29, the rupee also moved up slightly in terms of the greenback, rising five paisa for buying and selling at 90.95 and 91.15. The rupee went up in relation to euro, too, gaining 55 paisa for buying at Rs 119.95 and rose for selling by Rs 1.05 to Rs 120.45.
On March 30, the rupee rose against dollar by five paisa at 90.90 and 91.10 for buying and selling. The rupee lost 45 paisa versus euro for buying at Rs 120.40 and shed 95 paisa for selling at Rs 121.40.
WORLD VALUE OF DOLLAR: The dollar bounced off a 10-day low against yen, scooped up on the dip by Japan importers after it found support on the charts, although doubts lingered about the greenback's strength after a rally in the US bond yields took a breather.
The dollar muscled in on the Japanese currency, pushing it lower against other units such as euro and the Australian dollar, while commodity currencies were broadly steady after a hammering last week on worries of slowing demand for resources.
The dollar was trading versus the Indian rupee at Rs 51.33, it was at 3.0790 in terms of the Malaysian ringgit and the US currency was available at 6.308 against the Chinese yuan.
In the second Asian trade, the dollar held near a one-month low against a basket of currencies after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke signalled that a supportive monetary policy would remain and kept alive hopes of more monetary stimulus for the US economy.
The dollar index was at 78.937, stuck near a low of 78.870 hit on Monday when Bernanke said the central bank's policy of very low interest rates was needed to reduce unemployment and made it clear he was in no rush to reverse course.
The dollar was trading versus the Indian rupee at Rs 50.93, in terms of the Malaysian ringgit, the US currency was at 3.0630 and the greenback was at 6.3116 against the Chinese yuan. Inter bank buy/sell rates for taka against dollar on Tuesday: 81.75-81.82 (previous 81.77-81.80). Call Money Rates: 10.50-12.00 percent (previous 07.00-12.50 percent). In the third Asian trade, yen edged higher against dollar on Wednesday, supported by seasonal flows from Japanese exporters who bought yen with the end of their financial year approaching. The dollar fell 0.3 percent to 82.92 yen, while euro eased 0.2 percent to 110.52 yen to inch away from a 4-1/2 month high of 111.43 yen hit last week on trading platform EBS.
The Indian rupee pulled back from the session's low on as exporters selling dollars aided, but remained weak on the back of high demand for the greenback from oil importers and negative shares, that accentuated foreign fund outflow fears. The rupee ended at 50.7750/7850 to dollar, weaker than Tuesday's close of 50.735/745, after touching a low of 51.02. The yuan closed slightly higher against dollar and the People's Bank of China (PBOC) fixed a slightly weaker mid-point, signalling it may favour a pull-back in coming days after setting the mid-point at record highs in recent sessions. Still, traders believe the government will allow yuan to appreciate about 0.7 percent against dollar in the first half of this year, guiding it to move in a relatively wide range of 6.25 to 6.35.
In the fourth Asian trade, yen was a shade stronger across the board on Thursday but could come under renewed pressure as buying linked to Japan's financial year-end is set to peak out this week. The last day for spot trading in the business year to March 31 was on Wednesday, but real-money flows from Tokyo still kept main currencies under pressure against the Japanese unit, with exporters spotted selling dollar in large amounts. The dollar versus the Indian rupee was available at Rs 51.18, in terms of the Malaysian ringgit the greenback was at 3.0681 and it was trading at 6.308 in relation to the Chinese yuan. Inter bank buy/sell rates for taka against dollar on Thursday: 81.75-81.83 (previous 81.76-81.83). Call Money Rates: 11.00-12.00 percent (previous 07.00-12.50 percent.
At the week-end, euro rallied against dollar and yen on Friday after budget cuts in Spain boosted hopes the country could stick to an austerity path, though mixed US data capped some gains.
Spain presented a budget that aims to save more than 27 billion euros in 2012 through spending cuts and revenue increases. Also in Europe, euro zone finance ministers agreed to strengthen their financial firewall to contain the region's debt crisis.