No respite for dollar as downward spiral against rupee continues

• Dollar depreciates for eleventh consecutive day.
• Local currency gains Rs2.02 against greenback.
• Greenback settles at Rs219.92 today. 

KARACHI: The ongoing wave of rupee appreciation continued on Friday — the eleventh consecutive day against the US dollar in the interbank market. 

The local currency gained Rs2.02 or 0.92% against the greenback in the interbank market. The dollar closed at Rs219.92 today. 

The greenback was being sold at Rs221.75 after losing 2.19 yesterday. 

The market observers are of the view that the dollar declined on hopes of inflows, upbeat trade data, and bets that the new finance minister would be able to tame the US currency effectively.

“In my view, recent encouraging trade balance data, hopes from multilateral institutions of additional inflows supported the rupee,” said Samiullah Tariq, the head of research at Pak-Kuwait Investment Company on Thursday. 

“The 215-220 per dollar seems a good level,” he added.

Meanwhile, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar’s statement about bringing the dollar below 200 further bolstered the currency as the dollar sales by the exporters continued to underpin sentiment and improve supplies in the market, according to a The News report.

Meanwhile, the governor State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) informed the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Finance that action would be taken against banks and forex exchange companies involved in creating volatility in the exchange rate upon the finalisation of the inquiry.

The committee wanted to know the names of the eight banks that were allegedly involved in speculation for making money and there was a considerable difference in dollar rate in the interbank and exchange companies rate.

The committee directed the SBP to take appropriate action against all the banks and exchange companies allegedly firing up exchange rate volatility.

The committee also asked the SBP to take exemplary action against banks and exchange companies involved in speculations to make a profit so that no one could dare to play with the economy of the country in the future.