June 24, 2008	Tuesday	Jamadi-us-Sani 19, 1429

KARACHI, June 23: The short-term money rates rose after the State Bank of Pakistan on Monday sold Treasury bills (T-bills) to mop up liquidity.

Overnight call rates ended at 11.15 per cent, up from Saturday’s close of 10.50 per cent.

The central bank sold Rs5 billion of T-bills on Monday under five-day repo contracts at 9.85 per cent to mop up liquidity from the money market.

“Everyone is now waiting for the PIB (Pakistan Investment Bond) auction,” said a brokerage dealer, referring to a PIB auction scheduled for June 28 with a target of Rs20 billion.

In the currency market, the rupee firmed slightly and dealers said they expected the rupee to remain stable because of foreign inflows in the short-term.

The rupee was quoted closing at 67.25/45 to the dollar, compared with Saturday’s closing of 67.35/50.

The central bank said last month foreign currency inflows of up to $3.5 billion, mainly from multilateral lenders and friendly governments, were expected in the short- to medium-term.

However, dealers said outflows from the stock market were likely to add some pressure to the rupee. —Reuters