News

Gold hits over 6-month low on rate-hike concerns amid Mideast conflict

Gold hit a more than six-month low on Thursday, as fresh US strikes on Iran drove oil prices higher, deepening concerns ​around inflation and higher-for-longer interest rates. Fundamentals Spot gold was ‌down 0.2% at $4,063.87 per ounce, as of 0043 GMT, after hitting its lowest level since November 21 earlier in the day. US gold futures for August ​delivery were down 1.1% at $4,086.50. Th

Oil rises $2 as Iran announces closure of Strait of Hormuz following US strikes

Oil prices ‌climbed more than $2 a barrel Thursday as Iran declared the critical energy chokepoint, the Strait of Hormuz, closed after the US launched additional strikes against Iran. Brent futures rose $2.30, or ​2.47%, to $95.40 a barrel, while US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude climbed $2.60, ​or 2.89%, to $92.63. US crude futures gained more than $3 earlier in ⁠the session. Iran’s to

Equities see volatile start as KSE-100 swings amid Middle East tensions

A volatile trading was observed at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX), with the benchmark KSE-100 Index swinging both ways during trading on Wednesday amid escalating tensions in the Middle East. At 12:35pm, the benchmark index was hovering at 170,284.25, down by 46.31 points or 0.03%. A mixed trading pattern was observed in key sectors, including automobile assemblers, cement, commercial ban

Oil rises nearly 1% as US launches new strikes against Iran, supply tightens

Oil prices climbed about 1% on Wednesday, moving away from a seven-week low touched in the previous session, after the US military launched new strikes against Iran and as market data showed another large draw in US crude stocks. The US military’s strikes on Iranian targets followed after President Donald Trump vowed on Tuesday to respond to the downing of a US Apache attack helicopter overnigh

Pakistan’s IT sector: a billion dollars, and still off the map

Sometime this year, Pakistan’s freelancers will earn their first billion dollars. In the ten months to April they brought home around $959 million, nearly half again as much as the year before, while total IT exports reached $3.39 billion in the first nine months of this fiscal year, according to the State Bank and Pakistan Software Export Board figures. There are now more than 2.37 million reg