Intra-day update: rupee sees gain against US dollar – Markets

The Pakistani rupee registered marginal improvement against the US dollar, appreciating 0.07% during the opening hour of trading in the inter-bank market on Friday.

At 10:10am, the rupee was hovering at 279.12, a gain of Re0.19 against the greenback.

On Thursday, the rupee registered a marginal improvement to settle at 279.31 against the US dollar, according to the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP).

In a key development, Moody’s Investors Service (Moody’s) on Thursday upgraded the outlook of Pakistan’s banking sector to ‘stable’ from ‘negative’ as macro challenges and fiscal pressures ease.

“The banks’ solid profitability and stable funding and liquidity provide an adequate buffer to withstand the country’s macroeconomic challenges and political turmoil,” read the report.

Internationally, the US dollar headed for its sharpest weekly drop of the year on Friday as Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell sounded more confident about cutting interest rates in coming months.

Traders were on edge and early Asia moves small while waiting for US employment data later in the day that could confirm or confound market expectations for a US cut by June. Powell said the Fed was “not far” from the confidence it needed to cut rates.

The common currency hit an almost two-month high of $1.0954 in the Asia session – putting it back in the middle of a range it has kept for a year.

It is up 1% on the dollar for the week.

Oil prices, a key indicator of currency parity, rose on Friday, driven by growing demand in the United States and China, the world’s biggest oil consumers, and as the US Federal Reserve gave a positive signal on possibility of rate cuts.

Brent crude futures were up 0.45%, or 37 cents, at $83.32 a barrel at 0110 GMT. US West Texas Intermediate crude futures rose 0.61%, or 48 cents, to $79.44.

Data released by Energy Information Administration showed that US gasoline inventories fell by 4.5 million barrels last week, and distillate stockpiles were down by 4.1 million barrels.

Both fell more than expected a sign of a strong demand.

This is an intra-day update