Intra-day update: rupee sees further improvement against US dollar

The Pakistani rupee registered a marginal gain against the US dollar, appreciating 0.07% during the opening hours of trading in the inter-bank market on Thursday. At 10:15am, the currency was hovering at 280.57, a gain of Re0.20 against the greenback. On Wednesday, the local unit closed at 280.77. Internationally, the yen wallowed near a record low versus the euro and a nine-month trough to the dollar on Thursday after Japan’s new premier said she wants the central bank to go slow on interest rate hikes. The Aussie dollar climbed to a two-week high after official data showed a larger decline in the unemployment rate than economists had forecast, lessening the impetus for rate cuts. Currency markets could face some volatility over the coming days, with the prolonged US government shutdown likely to end soon, triggering the release of a backlog of economic data.