KARACHI: After holding ground in the previous session, the rupee weakened on Friday amid depleting forex exchange reserves and political uncertainty, dealers said.
In the interbank market, the local unit ended at Rs181.78 against the dollar, compared with previous close of Rs181.73. It depreciated five paisas or 0.03 percent.
Dealers were of the opinion that the domestic currency could have rebounded after a plunge recently, however, it seemed succumbing to the pressure.
“Rupee should have gained against the dollar to register technical correction after it lost massively in the last week. However, diminishing forex reserves and political turmoil are blocking the correction,” dealers said.
Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves are under stress and according to latest figures released by the central bank, the reserves hit lowest of this financial year. During one week, foreign Overall liquid foreign currency reserves plunged by $844 million.
Currency dealers attributed the rupee’s weakness towards falling foreign exchange reserves as the country’s imports are becoming expensive on high prices of energy and commodities, which are draining more foreign exchange from the country.
Prevailing political uncertainty is also bearing on the rupee-dollar parity as the situation has been causing adverse impact on the economy and deteriorating economic fundamentals, dealers stated.
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