Rupee maintains upward momentum against dollar, closes at Rs227.2

KARACHI: The Pakistani rupee continued to gain ground against the US dollar for the seventh consecutive session in the interbank market on Monday.

According to the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), the rupee jumped by Rs1.16 and closed at Rs227.29 per dollar, an appreciation of 0.51% from Friday’s close of Rs228.45.

It is pertinent to mention here that Ishaq Dar's homecoming and his subsequent comments on the rupee's undervaluation, as well as the likelihood that economic policy will remain stable going forward after he was appointed finance minister, changed market sentiment from bearish to bullish on the currency.

When Dar stated that strengthening the rupee was his main objective, traders who had been long [on the dollar] started to sell. 

In a similar vein, exporters began selling forwards in considerable sums. The finance minister's warning to speculators to discontinue their activities and the exporters' healthy supplies of dollars helped support the rupee.

During the previous week, the local unit gained 11.2 rupees or 4.9% against the dollar in the interbank market, its second-biggest weekly rise since August 5, 2022, when the currency appreciated by 15.3 rupees.