Greenback continues to surge, touches new all-time high against Pakistani rupee

KARACHI: The US dollar continued to surge against the Pakistani rupee and hit another all-time high of Rs169.12 for the second consecutive day on Wednesday, according to the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) data. 
Early on Wednesday, the rupee depreciated by 46 paisas against the greenback, according to an update on Mettis Global, a web-based financial data and analytics portal. 
The US dollar closed the trading session at Rs169.12 in the interbank market, beating Tuesday’s record high of Rs168.94. In the open market, it was trading at Rs169.30 for buying and Rs169.60 for selling (by currency dealers). 
“Despite encouraging economic indicators, the rupee is depreciating mainly because of the widening trade deficit and the flow of dollar to Afghanistan,” Zafar Paracha, general secretary of the Exchange Companies Association of Pakistan, told Arab News. 
“The demand for dollar in Afghanistan is rising after the withdrawal of NATO and US forces that were the main sources of dollar flows [in the war-torn country].” 
Speaking on the condition of anonymity, some currency traders told Arab News there was an indication the central bank was intervening in the market to support the rupee by selling US dollars. The SBP did not respond to a request for comments. 
It is scheduled to announce its monetary policy on September 20, with analysts expecting it to increase the policy rate by 25 basis points (bps). 
The stock market also reacted negatively to the rupee’s depreciation and the benchmark KSE-100 Index closed at 46,716 points, showing a decline of 175 points.