Rupee may remain stable

The local currency market remained stable during the outgoing week due to persistent soft dollar demand from importers.

Dealers expect the rupee to maintain a stable trend next week due to the absence of triggers and normal dollar importer demand.

“We foresee a status quo in the dollar / rupee rate next week,” a forex dealer said.

“The rupee is likely to trade at 121.51/121.55 against the dollar.”

The rupee did not show any changes and moved in a narrow range because of easy supply of the dollar.

The rupee / dollar parity traded flat at 121.54 against the dollar in the interbank market during the entire week amid the lack of interest by market participants.

In the open market, the currency traded at 123.60/124.10 against the greenback.

Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves fell 1.83 percent to $16.084 billion during the week ended July 6.

The foreign currency reserves stood at $16.385 billion in the preceding week.

The reserves held by the central bank decreased by $309 million to $9.480 billion due to external debt and other official payments.

The forex reserves of commercial banks rose to $6.604 billion from $5.596 billion a week ago.

The State Bank of Pakistan raised the benchmark policy rate by 100 basis points to 7.5 percent as widely expected on Saturday, its third hike in a year, as it tries to cool domestic demand.