KARACHI: Within one week of the new prime minister and cabinet taking charge in Islamabad, the rupee managed to claw back some ground against the dollar.

By the end of Monday, it gained one per cent from last week against the greenback in the open market, according to the Forex Association of Pakistan.

The dollar was traded in the range of Rs106.50-70 on Monday, down 0.8 per cent on a week-on-week basis.

“The disqualification of Nawaz Sharif as prime minister shocked the market, which remained uncertain for more than a week. But now it is under control,” said Malik Bostan, president of the Forex Association of Pakistan.

Currency dealer Anwar Jamal said the open market had surplus dollars due to higher inflows related to Eidul Azha.

“Trading was dull while buying was much lower than usual,” he said.

Last week, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) held a meeting with currency dealers.

It asked them to bring down the rupee in the open market, pointing out that its rate should not be higher than Re1 compared to the rate in the interbank market.

Currency buying for Haj has slowed down. The interbank market did not show any instability after it recovered from the shock of a sudden deprecation in the local currency on July 5.

Published in Dawn, August 8th, 2017