KARACHI, May 22 (AFP) - Pakistan may be plunged into currency turmoil if a newly adopted unified exchange rate is allowed to cause wild fluctuations in the money market, financiers and businessmen warn. The government must keep a "strict vigil" on the movement of the Pakistani rupee to avoid the wild swings faced by some Asian economies last year, they said. The rupee is now vulnerable to manipulators, senior market analyst Abid Reza said. "The currency market is now in the control of private banks and currency dealers who can manipulate any time and severly harm the stock market," he said. Some Asian currencies plunged last year amid regional financial turmoil. "God forbid, if the situation of Far Eastern countries is repeated here, our investors will not be able to sustain the losses," Reza said. The State Bank of Pakistan on Tuesday abolished the official pegged exchange rate of its rupee and adopted a unified market-based rate on Tuesday. The official rate of 46 rupees to the dollar was replaced with a floating exchange rate quoted at 51.10 to the dollar on Thursday, depreciating the local currency by at least nine percent. "I think it is now more important that our central bank and economic managers should closely watch the movement of currency as any (big currency dealer) can enter the market any time and turn the table," leading industrialist Majyd Aziz said. He welcomed the move to discard the multiple exchange rate, saying it was good for business. But he said in the absence of proper controls, the floating exchange rate could have a "negative impact" on the economy. "It is necessary now to closely monitor the fluctuation as any foreign currency gambler can cause havoc in the local market like Malaysia," he added. According to analyst Reza, the downward adjustment of the rupee will cause price hikes and may also trigger a dollar run in the market. Pakistan raised prices of petroleum products by 11 percent on Wednesday after switching to the free exchange rate. Analysts and businessmen said the move would increase prices of consumer goods by 20 to 25 percent. A banker said the central bank did not intervene in support of the rupee on Friday, preferring to gauge the depth of the currency market. "I think the State Bank will not intervene until (waiting to) see the absorption of the market and also to watch the range of the market," said the official, who did not want to be identified. The central bank in a circular has said it would intervene only for the sale and purchase of foreign exchange at a desired rate when considered necessary to check the currency's movement. The bank will monitor the market daily through a new reporting system to be introduced shortly.  