Karachi, Feb 7 – The Canadian Dollar is trading at 204.80 Pakistani Rupees in the open market this Saturday afternoon, its loftiest quote since early December and almost four rupees above last weekend’s 200.90 print.
Screens at Kharadar and Liberty flashed 204.95 just after 11 a.m., but profit-taking by exporters trimmed the quote to 204.80, still 0.35 paisa higher on the day and 1.9 % up on the week.
Between February 1 and today the Loonie has climbed in five straight sessions, moving from 200.50 to 204.80, each day posting a higher high and a higher low. The move began quietly on Monday when post-holiday demand from Canadian universities collided with thin PKR liquidity; by Wednesday the pair had already printed 202.40. Thursday brought the week’s biggest single-candle gain—1.15 rupees—after the State Bank’s reserves data showed a $285 million dip, reminding traders the rupee’s cushion is thinning. Friday added another 0.90 rupees as Western-Union outlets across Punjab and Sindh raised buying rates to capture remittance flows from Toronto, Vancouver and Calgary. Today’s final push came from a 0.6 % uptick in Brent crude toward $79 and a slightly softer dollar index, giving the commodity-linked Loonie enough momentum to kiss 204.95 before the weekend close.
For households the math is stark: a C$15,000 tuition payment that converted at 200.50 last Saturday now costs an extra PKR 64,500, enough to cover a return ticket from Lahore to Toronto. Importers of Canadian pulses, paper and potash face a similar squeeze; the 1.9 % weekly jump adds roughly Pakistani Rupee 1.9 million to a C$100,000 consignment, a cost that will eventually reach supermarket shelves. On the flip side, Pakistani students already in Canada are winners; remitting PKR 500,000 now yields C$2,441 against C$2,494 a week ago, a small but welcome buffer against winter rent hikes.
The broader backdrop is still controlled. The State Bank has not intervened this week, letting the rupee find its level, but traders say dollar demand from energy companies has been routed through Canadian accounts because CAD liquidity is cheaper. That circular flow has exaggerated the move, yet no one is calling it a disorderly slide. Forward premiums for mid-February are quoted at 207.00, implying another 1.1 % depreciation, while exporters of textiles and rice are being advised to price new orders in CAD rather than USD to avoid a double hit.
Technical charts show the next resistance at 205.50, the 61.8 % retracement of the November–January fall. A weekly close above that opens 209.40, last seen in March 2025. Support is layered at 202.50, then the psychological 200.00 mark that held throughout January. Until the State Bank returns from weekend closure and the Bank of Canada delivers its March 5 statement, expect thin, two-way traffic inside that 200–206 band, with today’s 204.80 print likely to be quoted as the new baseline when markets reopen on Monday.