News

Stocks flat as profit-taking erodes early gains

The Paki­stan Stock Exchange (PSX) opened the week on a bullish note, briefly crossing the 140,000-point mark, but failed to sustain mom­entum due to profit-taking. The benchmark KSE-100 index closed marginally higher at 139,380.06, gaining 172.77 points or 0.12 per cent on Monday. Ali Najib, Deputy Head of Trading at Arif Habib Ltd, said another attempt by the PSX to break past the 140,000 psy

Greenback — a safe haven no more?

AFTER suffering its steepest first-half-year decline in 50 years, the US dollar managed to recover a touch in July — but not before its repute as a global safe-haven currency had taken a significant hit. Despite a slight improvement in the US dollar index, the markets continue to discount an early recovery of the greenback. The dollar index had initially dropped 10.8 per cent against a baske

CORPORATE WINDOW: Muted impact of import of used cars

ROUGHLY 44,000-45,000 used cars were imported in FY25, according to a Japanese car assembler and a brokerage house. However, importers and dealers of vehicles offer a different view. According to Top Line Securities, the management of Honda Atlas Cars Limited (HACL) informed in a corporate briefing held in mid-July that around 45,000 “used cars” have been imported over the last 12 months, with

Salaries aren’t changing fast enough

PAKISTAN’S compensation landscape is evolving but remains poorly understood due to limited data, lack of structured studies, employers’ reluctance, and no regulatory push for transparency. This gap enables exploitation, misalignment of skills and jobs, and declining productivity. A closer look at Pakistan’s employment scene reveals some stark patterns. About 72 per cent of the workforce (85.18

Economic recovery continues, but rains pose threat: ministry

The Ministry of Finance (MoF) on Monday projected that inflation for July would remain in the range of 3.5–4.5 per cent, though it warned that recent heavy rains could disrupt agricultural output and supply chains. In its Monthly Economic Update and Outlook, the MoF said inflation had declined sharply in recent mon­ths, supported by lower interest rat­es, exchange rate stability, and prudent ma