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ISLAMABAD

The open currency markets of Islamabad and Rawalpindi showed lacklustre activity in both morning-evening sessions on Saturday.

The market remained stagnant against the dollar with contraction in the overall volume of buying and selling in the kerb.

It stated the day with a better greenback at Rs 53.95 as compared with the same overnight value. The value of the rupee remained unchanged throughout the day and was at Rs 54.05 for a dollar.

Money changers were of the view that markets of twin cities resumed trading on a dull note due to the absence of major buyers and sellers in the first session. The sluggish trend continued in the second session and the markets finally closed on a negative note.

The constant supply of the greenback and sufficient amount of the local currency helped the rupee to portray a stable picture on the last trading day of the week. However, new economic developments as well as balanced demand and supply factor will result in a comparatively better rupee against the US unit, they added.

The trade volume of other currencies such as pound, yen, dirham and riyal was also lower as genuine buyers and margin hunters appeared to be out of the game for a while, they stated.

Pound sterling shed 10 paisa as it resumed trading at Rs 87.60 as compared to Friday's rate of Rs 87.70. British currency did not observe any change throughout the day and was sold at Rs 88.

Buyers of UAE dirham offered overnight value at Rs 14.75 and seller were looking three paisa more at Rs 14.78, Saudi currency was bought and sold at Rs 14.42 and Rs 14.46 respectively.

German mark was the major loser of the day as it opened at Rs 26.90 as compared with the last value of Rs 27.25. It moved in a tight band during the day and was sold at Rs 27.10.

Japanese currency opened (buying) at Re 0.501 and was sold at Re 0.502.