The Pakistani rupee registered gains against the US dollar, as it appreciated 0.34% during trading in the inter-bank market on Friday.
At 12pm, the rupee was hovering at 286.40, an increase of Re0.98 in the inter-bank market.
On Thursday, the rupee finally ended its 17-session depreciation run to settle at 287.38 against the US dollar.
In a related development, Caretaker Finance Minister Dr Shamshad Akhtar said another increase in gas prices would be in January 2024.
Speaking to the media after the staff-level agreement (SLA) reached with the IMF, she maintained that external financing would not be an issue as the government expects inflow in December 2023, which would help increase foreign exchange reserves.
Meanwhile, the country’s total liquid foreign exchange reserves fell by $79 million during the last week due to external debt servicing to settle at $12.535 billion as of November 10, 2023.
Globally, the yen was on track for its best week against the US dollar in four months on Friday on the prospect of a narrowing US-Japan rate differential, with bets that the Federal Reserve is done raising rates leaving the greenback headed for a weekly loss.
A slew of weaker-than-expected US economic data released this week, led by a slowdown in inflation, has reinforced market expectations that the Fed has reached the end of its aggressive monetary tightening cycle, with a focus now on when the first rate cuts could begin.
Oil prices, a key indicator of currency parity, were on track for the fourth straight week of decline as they remained little changed in early Asian trade on Friday after slipping about 5% to a four-month low on Thursday on worries over global demand.
Brent futures were up 10 cents, or 0.1%, at $77.52 a barrel at 0232 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude (WTI) was nearly flat at $72.95. Both indices have lost around a sixth of their value over the last four weeks.
This is an intra-day update
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