Rupee registers improvement against US dollar

The Pakistani rupee registered marginal improvement against the US dollar, appreciating 0.01% in the inter-bank market on Tuesday.

At close, the currency settled at 280.87, a gain of Re0.03 against the greenback.

On Monday, the local unit closed at 280.90.

Globally, the US dollar was steady on Tuesday, hovering near a three-month high as a divided Federal Reserve spurred traders to rein in interest rate cut wagers. At the same time, investors awaited an Australian policy meeting where the central bank is likely to stand pat.

The yen was softer at 154.38 per US dollar in early Asian hours, just shy of the eight-and-a-half-month low it touched last week, leading to some jawboning from Tokyo and stoking intervention jitters.

Fed officials continued pressing competing views of where the economy stands and the risks facing it in the absence of economic data suspended due to the federal government shutdown.

The Fed cut rates last week, but Chair Jerome Powell suggested that might be the last cut of the year.

Traders are now pricing in a 65% chance of a rate cut in December, compared with 94% a week earlier, CME FedWatch showed.

That shift in near-term expectations has boosted the dollar.

The dollar index, which measures the US currency against six other units, was 0.1% higher at 99.99, at a three-month high.

Oil prices, a key indicator of currency parity, slipped on Tuesday as investors read OPEC+’s decision to pause output hikes in the first quarter as a signal of oversupply in the market.

Brent crude futures fell 37 cents, or 0.6%, to $64.52 a barrel by 0700 GMT. US West Texas Intermediate crude was down 37 cents, or 0.6%, at $60.68 a barrel.

On Sunday, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and their allies, known as OPEC+, agreed to a small oil output increase for December and a pause in increases in the first quarter of next year.