The US dollar firmed to its highest level in a week against major currencies on Monday as renewed US-Iran tensions and shaky prospects of a peace deal in the Middle East sent investors toward safe havens. The United States said on Sunday that it had seized an Iranian cargo ship that tried to run its blockade while Iran said it would retaliate amid growing worries of a resumption of hostilitie
Oil prices rebounded more than 6% on Monday after tumbling more than 9% on Friday on news the Strait of Hormuz is closed again after both the U.S. and Iran said the other party had violated their ceasefire deal by attacking ships over the weekend. Brent crude futures jumped $6.11, or 6.76%, to $96.49 a barrel by 2327 GMT and U.S. West Texas Intermediate was at $90.38 a barrel, up $6.53, or
At least three Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) cargoes destined for Pakistan are currently stranded in the Persian Gulf, according to Bloomberg’s vessel-tracking data. The South Asian country has gone more than a month without receiving any LNG shipments due to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, raising the risk of increased power outages as temperatures begin to rise, said the report. Last we
Buying rally continued at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX), with the benchmark KSE 100 index gaining over nearly 1,000 points during the opening hour of trading on Friday. At 9:50am, the benchmark index was hovering at 170,880.78 points, up by 968.83 points or 0.57%. On the index front, oil and gas exploration, automobile, cement, and chemical sectors emerged as key gainers. On Thursday, th
The National Assembly Standing Committee on Finance on Thursday directed the Tax Policy Unit of the Ministry of Finance and the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to urgently rationalise duties and taxes on imported mobile phones for announcement in the coming budget (2026-27). Primarily, the proposal was to reduce sales tax from 25 percent to 18 percent on high-end mobile phones in CBU condition e