Islamabad, Mar 4 (IANS): The Pakistani rupee gained a strong recovery following a big fall against the US dollar as the greenback was being traded at 278.46 rupees in the interbank, according to the State Bank of Pakistan.

The US dollar closed at 285.09 rupees on Thursday. On the last working day of the week, the local currency appreciated by 6.63 rupees, or 2.38 per cent, against the US dollar, official figures showed on Friday as quoted by Xinhua news agency report.

Talking to Xinhua, Rehan Ateeq, Head of treasury with Silk Bank, a Pakistani commercial bank, said that massive increase in the price of greenbacks in the previous session encouraged exporters to sell their dollars in the market, which eventually resulted in the improvement of the local currency.

The main reason for this highly volatile trend in the market is due to the looming uncertainty around Pakistan's International Monetary Fund programme that is still pending, according to Malik Bostan, Head of the Forex Association of Pakistan.