Intra-day update: rupee remains stable against US dollar

The Pakistani rupee remained largely stable against the US dollar, appreciating 0.01% during the opening hours of trading on Monday.

At 10am, the rupee was hovering at 279.93 a gain of Re0.04 against the greenback.

During the previous week, the rupee maintained its gradual downturn as it lost Re0.30 or 0.11% in the inter-bank market.

The local unit closed at 279.97, against 279.67 it had closed the week earlier against the greenback, according to the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP).

Internationally, the US dollar began Monday on a weak note after significant losses last week due to a potentially weakening US labour market, while concerns over a global trade war led investors to safe havens, lifting the yen and the Swiss franc.

Markets have been fixated on simmering trade tensions across the world as US President Donald Trump slapped tariffs on top trading partners only to delay some of them for a month amid growing signs and fears of the US economy slowing down.

That has led to investors losing faith in the US economy which has been outperforming its peers. On currency futures markets, investors have slashed net long dollar positions to $15.3 billion from a nine-year high of $35.2 billion in late January.

That left the US dollar index, which measures the US currency against six others, at 103.59 on Monday, stuck near a four-month low touched last week.

The US dollar fell more than 3% last week against major rivals, clocking its weakest weekly performance since November 2022 as investors fret about tariffs and their impact on the economy.

Adding to investor jitters, Trump in a Fox News interview on Sunday declined to predict whether the US could face a recession amid stock market concerns about his tariff actions on Mexico, Canada and China.

Oil prices, a key indicator of currency parity, fell on Monday as concern about the impact of U.S. import tariffs on global economic growth and fuel demand, as well as rising output from OPEC+ producers, cooled investor appetite for riskier assets.

Brent crude fell 25 cents, or 0.4%, to $70.11 a barrel by 0037 GMT after settling up 90 cents on Friday.

US West Texas Intermediate crude was at $66.76 a barrel, down 28 cents, or 0.4%, after closing 68 cents higher in the previous trading session.

This is an intra-day update