Rupee firms to 11-mth high; KSE sheds 77 points

KARACHI: The Pakistani rupee gained on Tuesday to end near an eleven-month high, amid a lack of import payments and continuous healthy dollar inflows, dealers said. The rupee closed at 84.43/53 to the dollar, compared with Monday's close of 84.72/78, its highest close since May last year. "There were no oil payments, therefore there was less demand for the dollar," said a dealer at a foreign bank, adding that oil payments may start from next week. Officials and dealers said a record inflow of remittances, strong foreign exchange reserves positions, healthy exports and a current account surplus were the reasons behind the rupee's gain in value in recent days. Remittances by overseas Pakistanis increased by 22.37percent to over $8 billion in the first nine months of the2010/11 fiscal year, and in March a record $1.05 billion was remitted, according to data from the State Bank of Pakistan. Meanwhile stocks ended lower, and in low turnover, amid alack of any positive triggers, dealers said. The Karachi Stock Exchange's (KSE) benchmark 100-share index fell 0.66 percent, or 77.98 points, to end at 11,796.09. Turnover fell to 50.1 million shares from 60.3 million shares traded on Monday. "The KSE-100 index continued to decline on low volume as investors preferred to stay on the sidelines in the absence of any immediate trigger," said Samar Iqbal, a dealer at Topline Securities Ltd. (Reuters)