The rupee crossed the barrier of 80 in the interbank market on Wednesday due to higher demand by importers, dealers said. In the interbank market, the rupee was trading at 79.45 and 79.55, they said and adding that at one point the rupee was at 80.30 and 80.50 for buying and selling.
According the money experts, the Pakistani rupee weakened to a record low of 79.50 to a dollar in early trade as demand to meet import payments continued to erode the currency's value, with the economy facing multiple problems. The new low was one percent weaker than the previous low of 78.69 struck on Tuesday, and the currency has lost 22.5 percent so far this year, they said.
During the third session, the safe-haven yen soared as investors dumped stocks and unwound carry trades favouring higher-yielding currencies on deepening worries about the global credit crisis. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's signal that an interest rate cut is coming shortly, along with a new Fed facility to help unfreeze money markets, did little to reassure market players fretting about more trouble ahead.
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Open Buying Rs 79.50
Open Selling Rs 79.90
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Buying Rs 79.45
Selling Rs 79.55
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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 11.50 12.50 12.00 12.75 12.19
1-Week 12.00 12.25 12.25 12.40 12.23
2-Week 12.10 12.30 12.40 12.60 12.35
1-Month 12.25 12.40 12.35 12.50 12.38
2-Months 12.40 12.60 12.55 12.65 12.55
3-Months 12.45 12.60 12.60 12.70 12.59
4-Months 12.45 12.60 12.60 12.70 12.59
5-Months 12.45 12.60 12.60 12.70 12.59
6-Months 12.50 12.65 12.60 12.70 12.61
9-Months 12.50 12.65 12.60 12.70 12.61
1-Year 12.55 12.65 12.65 12.75 12.65
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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 15.00 35.00 16.00 38.00 26.00
1-Week 15.00 25.00 16.00 30.00 21.50
2-Week 14.00 25.00 16.00 26.00 20.25
1-Month 14.00 20.00 15.00 22.00 17.75
2-Months 14.00 18.00 15.00 20.00 16.75
3-Months 14.00 18.00 15.00 20.00 16.75
4-Months 14.00 17.00 15.00 19.00 16.25
5-Months 14.25 17.00 15.25 18.00 16.13
6-Months 14.25 17.00 15.25 18.00 16.13
9-Months 15.00 18.00 16.00 20.00 17.25
1-Year 15.50 19.00 16.00 20.00 17.63
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Similarly, the rupee remained under pressure and further depreciated against the British pound. The pound recorded significant improvement and closed higher at Rs 139.50 and Rs 142.00 as compared to Tuesday closing of Rs 137.50 and Rs 139.50 on buying and selling counters, respectively. Commenting on the State Bank's decision, the money changers said that simply decision could not arrest the rupee's free-fall and actual injection of funds by the central bank must be needed to enable the rupee's recovery.
Pound Sterling opened at Rs 139.00 (buying) and Rs 139.50 (selling) against the last rate of Rs 138.00 (buying) and Rs 138.50 (selling). It did not observe further change in the second session and closed at Rs 139.00 (buying) and Rs 139.50 (selling).