KARACHI: The US dollar again fell back to one year low of Rs98 in the inter-bank market, prompting currency dealers to expect further decline. The dollar kept resisting in the inter-bank market for the last three days but could not break the psychological barrier of Rs100.
Dealers in the inter-bank market said the State Bank had been influencing to keep the dollar at Rs98. The currency dealers claim that there are no two opinions about the influence of the central bank to stabilise the exchange rate at Rs98 which they expecting could remain in the market till end of the fiscal year.
According to market experts, the government will not like to lose the credit of bringing dollar at Rs98 as all news coming out of the forex market is good news and the rupee is in the consolidation phase. Even the news of $2 billion current account deficit has been taken in stride. Market experts said the dollar was falling so fast that it could touch Rs97 while trading was made at Rs98 during the day.
The rupee will stay range-bound in the short to medium term, although a temporary intraweek spike may be witnessed that could take the local currency to 97. The market experts claim that the government focus will now be on building reserves.
However, the open market did not reflect the exchange rate sentiment of the inter-bank market and a wide range of rates was available. Some exchange companies are buying dollar at Rs99.90 to Rs100.10 while the B-category exchange companies are charging higher rates.
A shortage of dollars was also witnessed in the kerb market. The State Bank has been supplying dollars to stabilise the market, but buyers are still eager to get the greenback at this rate which is much lower than a month ago.
