The Pakistani rupee traded largely steady against major foreign currencies in the open market on Tuesday, May 5, 2026, with the US dollar quoted at Rs279.05 for buying and Rs279.85 for selling. Dealers also listed the euro at Rs326.29/Rs331.53 and the British pound at Rs377.69/Rs383.50, according to published market rates for the day.
Among Gulf currencies, the UAE dirham was quoted at Rs76.05 for buying and Rs77.05 for selling, while the Saudi riyal stood at Rs74.45/Rs75.20. The Kuwaiti dinar, one of the highest-valued currencies in the market, was listed at Rs879.50/Rs891.28.
Other commonly watched rates showed the Canadian dollar at Rs203.31/Rs206.85, the Australian dollar at Rs197.35/Rs202.45, the Swiss franc at Rs353.24/Rs358.50, the Chinese yuan at Rs40.00/Rs40.25, and the Japanese yen at roughly Rs1.7342/Rs1.8340.
On the official side, the State Bank of Pakistan’s interbank benchmark for the US dollar was around Rs279.20 for May 5, while the SBP’s most recent mark-to-market revaluation history also shows the dollar in the upper Rs278-Rs279 range around this period. That gap between interbank and open-market pricing is fairly typical in Pakistan’s currency market, where retail exchange company rates tend to sit a little above the official benchmark.
For importers, travelers and remittance recipients, the main takeaway is pretty simple: the rupee did not show any dramatic break on May 5, but the spread between buying and selling rates remained noticeable across major currencies. In practical terms, that means retail customers still faced a higher cost when purchasing dollars, pounds or euros from the open market than the headline buy rate might suggest.
