Currency: Rupee firms, overnight rates fall

Dealers say local unit expected to be range-bound because of higher remittances from overseas Pakistanis.

KARACHI: The rupee firmed against the dollar amid low demand for the dollar from importers and dealers said the local unit is expected to be range-bound in the coming days because of higher remittances from overseas Pakistanis. The rupee closed at 85.26/33 to the dollar, compared with Thursday’s close of 85.30/38. In the money market, overnight rates eased to 13.75 per cent, compared with the previous day’s close of 13.90 per cent after the central bank conducted a seven-day reverse repo and bought back Rs62.95 billion worth of government paper to inject liquidity into the interbank market.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 2^nd,  2011.