Currency: Rupee firms against dollar

KARACHI: The rupee ended firmer at 90.75/79 to the dollar, compared with Tuesday’s close of 90.86/91 amid lack of import payments, but dealers expect pressure on the local unit to continue due to rising international oil prices, which hit a nine-month high on Tuesday. The State Bank of Pakistan has cautioned that it would be a challenge to finance the country’s projected current account deficit and has kept the policy rate flat at 12 per cent for the next two months. In the money market, overnight rates ended flat at 11.90 per cent, unchanged from Tuesday’s close, because of a lack of liquidity in the interbank market.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 23^rd, 2012.