Dollar continues to extend gains against rupee, closes at Rs218.43

KARACHI: The Us dollar continued to gain ground against the rupee for the third consecutive session in the interbank market on Friday.

The local currency closed at 218.43 after depreciating 0.02% or Rs0.05 against the greenback in the interbank market, according to the statistics issued by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP).

The drop in inflows — following a decline in the foreign exchange reserves — impacted the market sentiment and encouraged importers to buy dollars at the prevailing rate before it became expensive.

The excessive supply of dollars in the market helped the rupee to stage a 13-day-long rally. However, the supply of foreign currency decelerated following a decline in remittances ad reserves.

Going forward, analysts expect the currency to remain range-bound in the coming days and see momentum to sustain amid expected inflows from multilateral institutions.

Globally, US dollar remained steady against other currencies, as investors wait for US inflation figures out later on Thursday. The data is expected to reinforce bets that the Federal Reserve will continue to aggressively tighten policy.