Pakistan risks locking itself into a prolonged phase of economic stagnation, warned economist Asad Ali Shah, as the World Bank’s latest update projects growth at just 2.6% for FY25-26 — following a dismal four-year stretch of weak performance. Expressing his views on the social media platform X, Asad, the former president of the Institute of Chartered Accountants Pakistan (ICAP), said: “The Wor
After a brief positive start, profit-taking returned to the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) with the benchmark KSE-100 Index shedding over 800 points during intra-day trading on Tuesday. At 10:25am, the benchmark index was hovering at 166,914.96, an increase of 837.44 points or 0.5%. Selling pressure was observed in key sectors including cement, commercial banks, fertiliser, oil and gas explor
Oil prices extended gains on Tuesday as a smaller-than-expected November output hike by OPEC+ helped to ease some fears of a growing supply glut. Brent crude futures advanced 23 cents, or 0.35%, to $65.70 a barrel by 0356 GMT. US West Texas Intermediate crude climbed 21 cents, or 0.34%, to $61.90. Both contracts settled more than 1% higher in the previous session after the Organization of
Bitcoin hit a new record high on Monday as the world’s largest cryptocurrency by market value continued to benefit from strong investor demand. The rally since the start of the year has been fueled by institutional investors, friendlier policies under U.S. President Donald Trump, and a bitcoin’s increasing connection with global financial systems. Bitcoin rose as high as $125,835.92 after cl
The Pakistani rupee saw a slight gain against the US dollar, appreciating 0.08% during Tuesday’s opening hours of trading in the inter-bank market. At 10am, the currency was hovering at 281.03, a gain of Re0.22 against the greenback. On Monday, the local unit closed at 281.25. Internationally, the Japanese yen weakened to a two-month low against the US dollar on Tuesday as attention in Ja