Rupee strengthens marginally against dollar

KARACHI: The rupee closed marginally stronger against the dollar in the interbank market on Friday aided by healthy inflows, dealers said.

The rupee ended at 278.38 to the dollar, compared with Thursday’s close of 278.48.In the open market, the rupee remained steady at 279.69 per dollar.“The local unit recovered from four straight sessions of losses in the interbank market as exporter dollar sales and remittances exceeded importers' demand for the US currency,” a currency dealer said.

“Remittances and exporter conversions, along with a little drop in import demand, helped the rupee strengthen versus the dollar,” the dealer added.Pakistan's foreign exchange reserves fell slightly, despite the country repaying its external debt. The State Bank of Pakistan's foreign reserves decreased by $74 million to $7.981 billion as of April 19. However, reserves are anticipated to increase due to an uptick in foreign investment inflows and the release of the $1.1 billion last tranche from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) under the $3 billion loan programme.

Due to the stable currency and high yields, foreign investors continue to invest in government securities.With a 29 percent rise from the previous month, inflows from the Roshan Digital Account reached $182 million in March, bringing the total to $7.660 billion.