Rupee records gain against US dollar

The Pakistani rupee continued its small gains against the US dollar on Thursday, closing the day at 277.65, a rise of Re0.01 from the previous level. Earlier, the rupee had settled at 277.66 against the dollar on Wednesday. Meanwhile, the dollar's upward momentum slowed down on Thursday as a relatively stable US inflation report on Wednesday led traders to reduce expectations of a near-term Federal Reserve interest rate increase.

The greenback remained stable against the Japanese yen during Asian trading hours, but on track to gain nearly 1% over the week after a recent US-Japan intervention that pushed it to a three-month low. The dollar index, which tracks the US currency against the yen and five other major currencies, stayed unchanged at 100 on Thursday, but is expected to rise by around 0.4% this week.

In addition, Brent crude futures dropped by 91 cents, or 1%, to $88.07 per barrel by 0800 GMT, reducing earlier gains for the past six sessions. Meanwhile, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil slipped by 96 cents, or 1.2%, to $82.31 after five consecutive rises.