Panic buying of dollars by importers caused dearth of the US currency. Amid volatile session dollar touched the new high at 66.78, resulting in the State Bank of Pakistan's (SBP) intervention in the interbank market on Monday to rescue the rupee as it was expected earlier, leading money experts said.
The rupee recovered its lost ground, showing no change for buying at Rs 65.80 while it shed five paisa for selling at 65.90 in process of trading following the central bank move, they said. But some currency experts said that the rupee's gain may proved short-lived as the demand for dollars is not declining, instead, it is gaining momentum, they said.
The rupee, which has been under pressure since the start of year 2008, has slipped by nearly 5 percent. Now it appears that it is going to widen its losses if dollar buying continues without any shadow of the SBP umbrella, they said.
A number of stock investors after shifting their position from share market to forex, were also visible among the buyers, perhaps unpredictable conditions on the economic and political fronts forced them to invest in dollars, they said.
Soaring oil prices in the world market and political instability are the major factors behind the fall in the rupee's value during the last 4-5 months, analysts said. In the Asian market, during the second session, the US dollar was broadly weaker as doubts resurfaced about the health of the US economy while record oil prices lifted commodities and currencies such as the Canadian dollar.
Even the Australian dollar rose as a tentative pick up in risk appetite boosted high-yielders but it retreated after the Reserve Bank of Australia kept its cash rate steady and said aggregate demand in the economy was significantly lower.
The rupee lost 30 paisa in relation to the dollar for buying and selling at 66.95 and 67.05, they said. The rupee also failed to resist erosion in its value versus euro, losing 80 paisa for buying and selling at Rs 103.50 and Rs 103.60, they said.

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Open Buying             Rs 66.95
Open Selling            Rs 67.05
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Buying                Rs 65.80
Selling               Rs 65.90
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Repo Rates (Yield p a)
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Tenor      Low Bid   High Bid   Low Offer   High Offer    Average
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Overnight    10.40     10.45      10.40        10.45        10.43
1-Week        9.25      9.50       9.40         9.60         9.44
2-Weeks       9.20      9.35       9.30         9.50         9.34
1-Month       9.25      9.40       9.35         9.55         9.39
2-Months      9.50      9.60       9.60         9.75         9.61
3-Months      9.55      9.65       9.60         9.75         9.64
4-Months      9.65      9.85       9.80         9.95         9.81
5-Months      9.75      9.95       9.85        10.10         9.91
6-Months      9.75     10.10       9.85        10.20         9.98
9-Months      9.80     10.10       9.90        10.20        10.00
1-Year       10.00     10.15      10.10        10.25        10.13
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Call Rates (Yield p a)
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Tenor      Low Bid   High Bid   Low Offer   High Offer    Average
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Overnight    10.50     11.00      10.75        11.25        10.88
1-Week        9.50      9.75       9.75        10.00         9.75
2-Weeks       9.50      9.75       9.75        10.00         9.75
1-Month       9.50     10.00       9.75        10.25         9.88
2-Months      9.90     10.25      10.10        10.40        10.16
3-Months     10.00     10.25      10.25        10.40        10.23
4-Months     10.00     10.40      10.25        10.60        10.31
5-Months     10.25     10.75      10.40        11.00        10.60
6-Months     10.25     11.00      10.50        11.25        10.75
9-Months     10.40     11.00      10.60        11.25        10.81
1-Year       10.50     11.00      10.75        11.50        10.94
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