- On Tuesday, the rupee weakened for the second straight session due to continued demand for the hard currency from importers.
- The rupee ended lower at 160.45 against the dollar in the open market in the previous trading session.
- Analysts see the rupee to remain stable with slight depreciation against the dollar in 2021.
KARACHI: The buying rate of the US dollar was Rs160 while its selling rate was Rs160.8 on Wednesday, January 6 at the opening of Pakistan’s currency market.
On Tuesday, the rupee weakened for the second straight session due to continued demand for the hard currency from importers.
In the interbank market, the rupee closed at 160.33 against the dollar, compared with Monday’s opening of 159.98. The domestic currency fell 0.22 percent during the day.
The rupee ended lower at 160.45 against the dollar in the open market. It had settled at 160.45 in the previous trade.
Read More: Gold being sold for Rs116,000 per tola in Pakistan on January 6
“There was a dollar demand today, and we didn’t see exporters selling dollars in the market. The rupee was under pressure due to weak supplies,” a currency dealer said.
“We expect the rupee to trade in the range-bound manner in the coming days on the back of sluggish demand from importers and the corporates. Payments seem to have been covered in the first trading sessions of this week.”
Analysts see the rupee to remain stable with slight depreciation against the dollar in 2021.
Healthy remittances, an encouraging start of the Roshan Digital Initiative, and increased growth in exports in recent months will keep the rupee stable this year. The real effective exchange rate is below 100 and showing that the local currency is currently undervalued.
Meanwhile, the following were the rates of the US Dollar, Saudi Riyal, UK Pound, the UAE’s Dirham, and other foreign currencies in the open market.
| Currency | Buying | Selling |
| Australian Dollar | 121.5 | 123.5 |
| Canadian Dollar | 124 | 126.5 |
| Euro | 194 | 196.5 |
| Saudi Riyal | 42.35 | 43 |
| Japanese Yen | 1.55 | 1.58 |
| China Yuan | 24.5 | 24.65 |
| UAE Dirham | 43.5 | 44.2 |
| UK Pound Sterling | 215 | 218 |
| US Dollar | 160 | 160.8 |