Dollar gains 35 paisas against rupee

KARACHI: The US dollar gained 35 paisas against Pakistani rupee in the interbank on Tuesday, weakening the local currency by another 0.09 percent.
According to the State Bank of Pakistan, the US dollar was opened at Rs159.98 and closed at Rs160.33. The greenback gained Re0.50 against the PKR during the last two days.
Currency dealers said that the demand of the greenback remained high due to improvement in foreign trade following vaccination initiated for coronavirus. They further said that the foreign companies operating in Pakistan are also buying dollars to repatriate profit and dividend for the period ended December 31, 2020. They, however, hoped that the improved export receipts and inflows of workers remittances would help the local unit gain value.
Meanwhile, the foreign exchange reserves of the country stood at $20.254 billion by week ended on December 24, 2020. The official reserves of the SBP stand at $13.15 billion, while reserves held by commercial banks remained $7.103 billion. – TLTP