KARACHI: The rupee gained once again on Wednesday to reach Rs159.50 against the US dollar.

Currency dealers said the greenback was traded as low as Rs159 but closed at Rs159.50. The dollar has been falling against the local currency since last Friday when it lost Rs3.

The US dollar further lost Rs2.36 on Tuesday and about Rs1.50 on Wednesday.

The Rs159.5 was the highest level since March 24. The rupee had declined to Rs167.9 against the dollar on April 7 but has gained five per cent or Rs8.4 against dollar since then.

The State Bank of Pakistan on Wednesday confirmed the receipt of $1.39 billion from the International Monetary Fund to help the government fight coronavirus-related challenges.

Currency dealers in the inter-bank market were clueless about the future trend in rupee-dollar parity but were sure that exchange rate stability would last for a longer period.

SBP raises Rs436bn from T-bills as yields

The government on Wednesday received bids worth Rs1.45 trillion in the latest treasury bill auction, press release issued by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) showed.

Despite auction of target of Rs500 billion, the SBP only accepted bids worth Rs436bn. Of the total bids, the SBP raised Rs164.03bn from three-month, Rs126.5bn from six-month and Rs145bn from 12-month papers.

The cut-off yields for three-month instruments fell by 250 basis points to 8.399 per cent whereas for six-month papers, it fell by 230bps to 8pc and 218bps for 12-month papers to 7.48pc.

Published in Dawn, April 23rd, 2020