Rupee ends higher against dollar

KARACHI: The rupee closed slightly stronger against the dollar in the interbank market on Monday. The rupee finished at 278.65 per dollar, compared with the previous close of 278.71 in the previous session. In the open market, however, the rupee lost ground, closing at 281.17 to the dollar, down from 281.11 in the previous session.

Tresmark, a financial terminal, stated in a note last week that the two positives -- a $538 million current account surplus and a $20 billion long-term partnership with the World Bank -- will keep the rupee sideways in the short term, even as the USD Index reaches multi-year highs near the 110 level and quashes major emerging market currencies like India (86.7 per dollar), Turkey (35.5 per dollar) and Brazil (6.05 per dollar). “A slight deterioration in REER [real effective exchange rate] (103.7) will not impact the rupee at these levels, and with inflation at near lows, REER will not pose any significant risk in the near future,” it said. “Small, but significant, rise in premiums did activate exporters to sell forward, but the wider market is looking for better rates. One-, two-, three-month premiums were at 130, 200 and 300 paisas,” it added.