Currency: Rupee firms against dollar

KARACHI: The rupee ended firmer at 86.32/37 to the dollar compared with Tuesday’s close of 86.41/44 because of higher remittances. Remittances rose 38.57 per cent to $1.1 billion in the first month of 2011/12 fiscal year, compared with $791.18 million in the same period last year, according to data released by the central bank. In the money market, overnight rates ended at 1.6 per cent, compared with Tuesday’s close of 10.5 per cent. Dealers said they were awaiting the result of the treasury bill auction, in which they expect a cut in the cut-off yields.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 11^th, 2011.