KARACHI: The Pakistani rupee experienced a slight depreciation against the US dollar on Monday, falling by 0.07% in the inter-bank market.

At the close of trading, the rupee stood at Rs 277.86, losing Re0.19 against the greenback. This decline comes after the local currency registered a minor improvement last week, gaining Re0.07 or 0.02% against the US dollar. The rupee closed at Rs 277.67 on Friday, up from Rs 277.74 at the end of the previous week, according to the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) data. Meanwhile, the US dollar saw strength in global markets on Monday, particularly against the Japanese yen, after Japan’s central bank hinted at further policy tightening, although the exact timing remains unclear. The US dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies, held steady at 106.660, just below a one-year high of 107.07 reached on Friday. The dollar index rose by 1.6% last week, marking its sixth gain in the last seven weeks, fueled by a sharp rise in US Treasury yields. In the open market, the rupee remained unchanged for buying but weakened by 17 paise for selling against the dollar, closing at Rs 276.89 for buying and Rs 278.82 for selling. Against the euro, the rupee gained 56 paise for buying and 62 paise for selling, closing at Rs 290.54 and Rs 293.18, respectively.

Meanwhile, oil prices saw a slight increase on Monday, with Brent crude rising 0.8% to $71.59 per barrel, while US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude gained 0.6%, trading at $67.45 per barrel. Geopolitical tensions between Russia and Ukraine continued to impact global oil markets. In the UAE Dirham market, the PKR remained unchanged, closing at Rs 75.27 for buying and Rs 75.97 for selling, while against the Saudi Riyal, it lost 1 paisa for selling, closing at Rs 73.52 for buying and Rs 74.17 for selling.