- Pakistan Rupee (PKR) supported by IMF & WB inflows
- Domestic equities fall
- US Dollar (USD) rises versus majors traces bond yields higher
- No US data today, but calendar picks up across the week.
The US Dollar Pakistan Rupee (USD/PKR) exchange rate is trading lower for a third straight session. The pair settled -0.2% on Monday at 154.00. At 10:50 UTC, USD/PKR trades -0.6% at 153.02, a two-year low.
The strengthening of the Rupee comes after the IMF ,last week, approved a $500 million disbursement to Pakistan for budgetary support. Adding to the upbeat mood surrounding the Rupee, Pakistan and the World Bank, on Friday, signed a loan agreement of seven projects worth in the region of $1.336 billion. These projects are to focus on social protection, disaster and climate risk management, infrastructure, food security and human capital development amoung other things.
Separately domestic equities trade lower with the Karachi 100 benchmark index trading -0.2% at the time of writing.
The US Dollar is trading lower versus the Rupee. However, it is trading firmly higher versus its major peers. The US Dollar Index which measures the greenback versus a basket of 6 majors, trades +0.2% at 93.11 as it continues to trade at 4 month highs.
An accelerating vaccination programme in the US, combined with the prospect of massive stimulus has sent US treasury yields marching higher again. The yield on the benchmark 10 year treasury reached 1.74% overnight.
Expectations for a strong, rapid US economic recovery come as President Biden announced that 90% of Americans will be eligible for the covid vaccine by April 19. Biden increased his self-imposed target of 100 million jabs in his first 100 days in office, to 200 million inoculations.
The Biden administration is also expected to set out plans for a massive infrastructure spend, in the region of $3 – $4 trillion. The plans for this package are expected to be set out tomorrow.
There is little on the US economic calendar for investors to watch today. However, things start to pick up tomorrow ahead of Friday’s non farm payroll data.
