Intra-day update: rupee records gain against US dollar

The Pakistani rupee registered gains against the US dollar, appreciating 0.06% during the opening minutes of trading in the inter-bank market on Friday. At 10am, the local currency was hovering at 280.27, a gain of Re0.18 against the greenback. On Thursday, the local unit closed at 280.45. Internationally, the US dollar languished not far from a five-week low against its major peers on Friday as investors braced for a Federal Reserve rate cut next week. Markets widely expect a quarter-point reduction when the policy-setting Federal Open Market Committee meets on December 9-10, and a focus will be on any signals about how much additional easing lies ahead. The dollar index, which measures the currency against six rivals, was flat at 99.065 in Asia early. A small gain overnight snapped a nine-day losing streak, but the index had dipped to a five-week low of 98.765 earlier that session, and it remains on course for a 0.4% decline this week.