Intra-day update: rupee registers 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 Wednesday. At 10am, the local currency was hovering at 279.75, a gain of Re0.25 against the greenback. On Tuesday, the local unit closed at 280.00. Internationally, the US dollar recovered ground to near a one-month ​high in early Asian trade on Wednesday after US CPI data that was broadly in line with estimates, firming up ‌expectations that the Federal Reserve will remain on hold later this month despite unprecedented pressure from the White House to lower interest rates. The US dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies, was last up 0.3% at 99.18, retracing losses from Monday after US President Donald Trump threatened Fed Chair Jerome Powell with a criminal indictment.