Intra-day update: rupee remains 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 Monday.

At 11:10am, the currency was hovering at 277.73, a gain of Re0.03 against the greenback.

During the previous week, the rupee registered a marginal decline as it depreciated by Re0.09 or 0.03% against the US dollar.

The local unit closed at 277.76, against 277.67 it had closed the week earlier against the greenback, according to the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP).

Globally, the US dollar relinquished a little of its recent gains on Monday as the pick for US Treasury secretary seemed to reassure the bond market and pulled yields lower, shaving some of the currency’s rate advantage.

Yields on 10-year Treasuries slipped to 4.351%, from 4.412% late Friday, as President-elect Donald Trump’s choice of fund manager Scott Bessent was welcomed by the bond market as an old Wall Street hand and a fiscal conservative.

However, Bessent has also been openly in favour of a strong dollar and has supported tariffs, suggesting any pullback in the currency might be fleeting.

The US dollar was likely due some consolidation having risen for eight weeks in a row for only the third time this century and many technical indicators were flashing overbought.

The index was last down 0.5% at 106.950, having hit a two-year peak of 108.090 on Friday. The dollar dipped 0.4% on the Japanese yen to 154.11, and further away from its recent peak of 156.76.

Markets also priced in more aggressive easing from the European Central Bank, with the probability of a half-point rate cut in December rising to 59%.

At the same time, futures scaled back the chance of a quarter-point rate cut from the Federal Reserve in December to 52%, compared to 72% a month ago.

Markets now imply 154 basis points of ECB easing by the end of next year, compared to just 65 basis points from the Fed.

Oil prices, a key indicator of currency parity, retreated on Monday following 6% gains last week, but remained near two-week highs as geopolitical tensions grew between Western powers and major oil producers Russia and Iran, raising risks of supply disruption.

Brent crude futures slipped 26 cents, or 0.35%, to $74.91 a barrel by 0440 GMT, while US West Texas Intermediate crude futures were at $70.97 a barrel, down 27 cents, or 0.38%.

This is an intra-day update