During the trading session on Wednesday, the Pakistani rupee remained largely unchanged against the US dollar, settling with a marginal gain of 0.01%.
The Pakistani rupee closed at 283.88, up Re0.04 from the previous day, according to the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP).
On Tuesday, the rupee fell slightly against the US dollar, finishing at 283.92 in the interbank market.
In a significant development, Consumer Price Index (CPI)-based inflation reached a new high of 36.4% year on year in April 2023, up from 35.4% the previous month and 13.4% in April 2022, according to figures issued by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) on Tuesday.
Furthermore, Pakistan’s trade deficit shrank by 39.62% to $23.713 billion in the first ten months of the current fiscal year 2022-23, compared to $39.272 billion in the same period last year, according to the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).
Globally, the US dollar fell on Wednesday, pulled down by gloomy US labor market statistics as investors worried about the US debt ceiling and banking sector vulnerabilities ahead of the Federal Reserve’s policy meeting later in the day.
US job postings decreased for the third month in a row in March, while layoffs rose to their greatest level in more than two years, according to statistics released on Tuesday, raising hopes that a softer labor market may boost the Fed’s fight against inflation.
The dollar index, which compares the US currency to six others, fell 0.029% to 101.820 after falling 0.245% on Tuesday.
Oil prices, a major measure of currency parity, fell another 5% on Wednesday, as investors worried about the health of the US economy ahead of an expected Federal Reserve interest rate hike later in the day.
