Currency: Rupee hits record low against dollar

KARACHI: The rupee hit a record low of 91.65/70 to the dollar, compared with Monday’s close of 91.26/32. “There were several large payments, mostly for oil imports, which drove the rupee lower,” said Abdul Basit, a dealer at Elixir Securities. The rupee had previously been supported by remittances, which rose 20.2% to $10.88 billion in the first 10 months of the 2011/12 fiscal year, compared with $9.05 billion in the same period last year. In April, remittances totalled $1.14 billion. Overnight rates in the money market closed lower at 9.10%, compared to 10.50% on Monday, because of increased liquidity in the interbank market.

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