Rupee registers back-to-back gains, settles at 220.41 against US dollar
- Currency appreciates 0.20% as market sentiments improve after Pakistan's removal from the FATF grey-list
Pakistan’s rupee recorded back-to-back gains against the US dollar, and registered a marginal improvement of 0.20% in the inter-bank on Monday.
As per the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), the rupee closed at 220.41 after appreciating Re0.43.
On Friday, Pakistan’s rupee finally ended its seven-session depreciation run against the US dollar, and closed at 220.84 after appreciating Re0.11. However, on a weekly basis, the currency depreciated by 1.1% or Rs2.41 against the US dollar, driven by uncertainties regarding foreign commitments.
As per market experts, the improvement in rupee comes after the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) on Friday removed Pakistan, by consensus, from its list of countries under “increased monitoring”, also known as ‘grey list’ after four years.
The decision was taken in a two-day FATF plenary and International Co-operation Review Group (ICRG) meetings held from October 20-21, 2021 in Paris and the same was announced in a press conference by the FATF’s president, T Raja Kumar.
“Pakistan has made significant improvements to strengthen the effectiveness of this framework for combating terrorism financing,” the FATF president acknowledged.
Experts believe that the development would boost the country’s perception and allow Pakistan to attract foreign investment in the long run.
Internationally, the U.S. dollar weathered another suspected blast of Japanese intervention to push higher on the yen on Monday. At the same time, for equities a drop in Chinese markets took the shine off hopes for an eventual slowdown in U.S. interest rate hikes.
The dollar index was up 0.063% at 111.87, with the euro down 0.02% to $0.9858.
Oil prices, a key indicator of currency parity, slid more than 1% on Monday after Chinese data showed that demand from the world’s largest crude importer remained lacklustre in September as strict COVID-19 policies and fuel export curbs depressed consumption.
Inter-bank market rates for dollar on Monday
BID Rs 220.40
OFFER Rs 221.40
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