The rupee strengthened marginally against the dollar as it appreciated by 16 paise against the greenback in the interbank market and closed at Rs278.50 against the previous day’s closing of Rs278.66 on Friday.

The buying and selling rates of the dollar in the open market stood at Rs279.2 and Rs280.4 respectively, according to the Forex Association of Pakistan.

In recent months, the domestic currency has largely been trading in the Rs277-279 range against the US currency as traders have an eye on some strong positive indicators.

Globally, the safe-haven Japanese yen and Swiss franc traded near multi-month highs against the US dollar on Friday after an unexpected slump in US manufacturing fueled fears of an economic downturn, sending stocks and bond yields tumbling.

The yen was steady at 149.49 per dollar as of 0400 GMT, after strengthening as far as 148.51 overnight for the first time since mid-March.

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The franc gained about 0.1% to 0.87225 per dollar, and earlier reached its highest since early February at 0.8722.

Oil prices, a key indicator of currency parity, rose on Friday but were set for a fourth successive weekly decline, as signs of disappointing global fuel demand growth emerged.