Rupee crosses 85 to a dollar

KARACHI: The rupee weakened 0.50 per cent against the dollar on Wednesday because of pressure from import payments, and dealers said that they expect the currency to remain under pressure.

The rupee ended at 85.08/15 to the dollar, compared with Tuesday’s close of 84.67/73. “There are big import payments in the market which are causing the rupee to weaken,” said a currency dealer. Dealers said that the rupee was traded at 85.14 to the dollar, compared with its all-time low of 85.15 in February.

In the money market, overnight rates ended between 12.15 per cent and 12.30 per cent, compared with Tuesday’s close of 12.40 per cent. Dealers said there were no scheduled inflows or outflows on Wednesday. The next scheduled inflow is on Thursday, worth Rs12.5 billion.

Published in the Express Tribune, May 27th, 2010.