Dollar holds ground, recovers slightly against rupee

• Rupee depreciates over Re1 against US dollar in last two sessions.
• Analysts expect currency to remain under pressure till IMF meeting.
• It emerged as the best-performing currency in the world on Monday.

KARACHI: The US dollar held ground on Thursday as it extended gains against the Pakistani rupee — ending its appreciation streak that continued for 11 consecutive working days.

The greenback gained Rs0.07, or 0.03%, against the local unit, the data released by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) showed.

The rupee — which emerged as the best-performing currency in the world on Monday — has lost over Re1 in the last two days as it undergoes correction after it notched up the largest gain of 11% in the first half of August compared to all other currencies on the Bloomberg terminal.

Analysts and currency dealers believe that the currency is expected to remain under pressure till the International Monetary Fund’s board meeting which is scheduled to be held on August 29.

Earlier, the excessive supply of dollars in the market helped the rupee to stage an 11-day-long rally. 

However, the supply of foreign currency decelerated after the sluggish data on export earnings and worker remittances — which fell 8% year-on-year to $2.5 billion in July — which further dented sentiment in the interbank market and encouraged importers to buy dollars at the prevailing rate before it became expensive.

Pakistan-Kuwait Investment Company Head of Research Samiullah Tariq earlier told Geo.tv that there was "a bit of a correction" as the rupee appreciated "too much”.