Intra-day update: rupee records gain against US dollar

The Pakistani rupee strengthened against the US dollar, appreciating 0.09% during the opening minutes of trading in the inter-bank market on Tuesday. At 10am, the local currency was hovering at 280.25, a gain of Re0.26 against the greenback. On Monday, the local unit closed at 280.51. Internationally, the US dollar remained under pressure on Tuesday as weaker-than-expected manufacturing activity data from the world’s biggest economy heaped pressure on the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates at its policy meeting later this month. The US dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a basket of six major peers, edged lower to 99.408 at the start of the Asian trading session after falling for a seventh consecutive session to hit a two-week low during US trading hours on Monday as stocks and bonds pulled back. Data released on Monday showed US manufacturing contracted for the ninth straight month in November, as the Institute for Supply Management’s manufacturing PMI dropped to 48.2 in November from 48.7 a month earlier.