The Pakistani rupee registered marginal gain against the US dollar in the inter-bank market on Thursday.
At close, the local currency settled at 278.95 against the greenback, according to the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP).
On Wednesday, the local unit closed at 278.96.
The central bank has received funds of $2 billion from the Ministry of Finance, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, it confirmed on Thursday morning.
On Wednesday, Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb informed that Saudi Arabia had committed deposits of $3 billion. He further stated that the existing Saudi deposit would no longer remain subject to the earlier annual rollover arrangement and would instead be extended for three years.
Internationally, US dollar held near its lowest level since early March against major currencies on Thursday.
The euro stood at $1.1808 and the sterling traded at $1.3569 , both up about 0.1% for the day to hover near their highest level since February.
The dollar index, which measures the currency’s strength against six major peers, was steady at 98.027. It declined for eight straight sessions through Wednesday to give up most of the gains sparked by the Iran war, as a tentative ceasefire revived appetite for riskier currencies.
“Markets are now basically looking past the conflict and pricing that there’s going to be some kind of settlement,” said Khoon Goh, the head of Asia research at ANZ.
“As markets are pricing out the war premium, we could see the dollar coming under further pressure and resuming the downtrend that has been established since basically last year.”
Additionally, oil prices were little changed on Thursday, reversing earlier declines, on scepticism that peace talks between the US and Iran will reach a deal to end the war that has bottled up oil output from the key Middle East producing region.
Brent crude futures were down 26 cents to $94.67 a barrel at 0611 GMT.
US West Texas Intermediate crude futures climbed 14 cents to $91.43 a barrel.
Both benchmarks settled little changed on Wednesday but traded in a wide range.
American Dollar Exchange Rate