March 29, 2006	Wednesday	Safar 28, 1427

KARACHI, March 28: The Pakistani rupee eased on Tuesday, and dealers saw it shedding more value in the days ahead due to rising dollar demand from importers. The rupee closed at 60.00/01 to the dollar, compared with 59.96/ 98 a day earlier.

“Importers are buying dollars to clear quarter-end payments, and the demand is expected to stay firm in the near term,” said a dealer at a local bank.

“This high dollar demand would keep the rupee under a slight downward pressure,” he said.

Earlier this month, the rupee hit a 16-month low of 60.19 to the dollar, but recovered on improved dollar supplies. “We may see the rupee trading around at 60.05-10 in the coming days,” said a second dealer.

But dealers said healthy dollar inflows from exporters’ sales and remittances from Pakistanis working abroad were likely to limit the rupee’s fall.

In the money market, overnight call rates remained firm at 7.5 per cent, little changed from the previous close.

Dealers said the market was now eyeing Wednesday’s auction of three- six- and 12-month Treasury bills, for which the central bank has set a target of Rs14.0 billion. Dealers said they expected the yields to remain flat in the auction.—Reuters