UK Pound gains against Pak rupee

KARACHI: Pakistani rupee (PKR) depreciated against the UK Pound or GBP sterling in the interbank trading and closed at Rs348.69, ARY News reported on Thursday.

According to the Forex Association of Pakistan (FAP), the buying and selling rates of the UK Pound in the open market stood at Rs348.69 and Rs352.93 respectively.

The 1,000 pounds will be equal to Rs348,690 in Pakistani currency.

Meanwhile in the international market, Sterling was set for its biggest one-day fall since early January on Thursday, after the Bank of England (BoE) cut interest rates and slashed its growth forecasts but warned that inflation will rise “quite sharply” this year.

Sterling was already on the back foot and extended its slide to trade about 1.1% lower at $1.2371. It was heading for its largest daily fall since January 2 and was down from a four-week high the day before.

The BoE lowered rates to 4.5% from 4.75%, but investors homed in on the fact two members of the rate-settting Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) called for a deeper 50 bps cut, one of whom had previously voted to hold rates steady.

“The fact that two MPC members voted to deliver a bumper 50 bps cut, despite revising up near term inflation forecasts, gives a sense of how concerned some policymakers are about the headwinds to growth,” said Luke Bartholomew, deputy chief economist at asset manager abrdn.

Investors initially looked past the sharp increase in the BoE’s inflation forecasts and added to their bets on rate cuts this year, seeing roughly 65 bps of further easing this year, from around 60 bps before the decision.

Britain’s two-year bond yields , which are sensitive to BoE rate expectations, fell to their lowest since October after the decision – even as U.S. and European yields rose. They later moderated to trade 3 bps lower at 4.107%.

UK Pound gains against Pak rupee - 6 February 2025