ISLAMABAD, June 9: Short-term money rates rose on Monday after the central bank sold Treasury bills (T-bills) to mop up liquidity, dealers said.

Overnight call rates ended at 9.5 per cent, up from Saturday’s closing of 8 per cent.

“Rates rose after the State Bank of Pakistan conducted an OMO (open market operation),” said a brokerage dealer.

The SBP sold Rs15.4 billion of T-bills on Monday at 10 per cent under three-day repo contracts.

Dealers said rates were likely to ease as inflows of about Rs32 billion were scheduled for Thursday from maturing government securities.

In the currency market, the rupee closed at 67.62/72 to the dollar, compared with Saturday’s closing of 67.70/75.

There has been pressure on the rupee unit because of increased dollar demand from importers in recent weeks but dealers said they expected it to stabilise at around this level on expectation of foreign currency inflows in the short term.—Reuters