The rupee recovered in the interbank foreign exchange market on Tuesday gaining Rs1.24, or 0.44%, against the US dollar.

The greenback was trading at Rs278.56 at the closing of the interbank, as against the closing of Rs279.8 the previous day.

In the open market, the selling price of the dollar was recorded at Rs282.

The local currency had witnessed a sharp increase on July 4, after Pakistan and the International Monetary Fund reached a staff level agreement on the $3 billion Stand-by Arrangement for nine months.

It gained Rs10.55, or 3.83%, against the dollar, closing at Rs275.44 in the interbank market.

However, it soon took a downward trend as increasing demand for dollar for import payments kept the rupee under pressure.

The local currency shed Rs3.12 to reach Rs278.56, compared with the closing of Rs275.44 on July 4.

PSX rally

Meanwhile, the Pakistan Stock Exchange also witnessed a positive session on Tuesday as investors’ sentiments improved after Fitch rating agency upgraded Pakistan’s long-term foreign currency issuer default rating (IDR) to ‘CCC’ from ‘CCC-’.

The equity market gained 570.67 points, or 1.28% to cross the 45,000 levels after 14 months.

The benchmark KSE-100 Index closed at 45155.79 points.