Intra-day update: rupee largely stable against US dollar

The Pakistani rupee remained largely stable against the US dollar, appreciating 0.01% during the opening hours of trading in the inter-bank market on Wednesday.

At 10:10am, the currency was hovering at 277.63, a gain of Re0.04 against the US dollar.

On Tuesday, the rupee had settled at 277.67, according to the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP).

Internationally, the US dollar drifted sideways on Wednesday, giving some relief to the yen and other major currencies after a sharp rally to a seven-week high last week, as investors paused to assess the interest rate path outlook for the United States.

On Wednesday, investors will get minutes of the Fed’s September meeting, which will show discussions about what at the time had appeared to be a deteriorating labour market that ended with all but one policymaker agreeing to a 50-basis point cut.

But bets for another jumbo cut in November have been taken off the table after the latest nonfarm payroll data indicated a more resilient picture.

Markets now have about an 85% chance of a quarter basis point reduction priced in, as well as a slim probability the Federal Reserve will leave rates unchanged, the CME FedWatch tool showed.

The US dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies, was flat at 102.490, not far from Friday’s seven-week high of 102.69.

Oil prices, a key indicator of currency parity, steadied in Asian trading on Wednesday as traders weighed developments in the Middle East conflict against continued bearish expectations for demand.

Brent crude futures rose 22 cents, or 0.3%, to $77.4 a barrel by 0349 GMT.

US West Texas Intermediate futures rose 14 cents to $73.71 a barrel.

Prices had plunged more than 4% in the previous session on a possible Hezbollah-Israel ceasefire, but markets remain wary of a potential Israeli attack on Iran’s oil infrastructure.

This is an intra-day update