News

Lucky Cement profit rises

Unconso­li­dated earnings of Lucky Cement Ltd grew 17 per cent year-on-year in July-Septe­mber to Rs3.8 billion, a stock notice showed on Thursday. The company didn’t announce a dividend. The Hub Power Company Ltd said its consolidated net income for July-September remained Rs9.1bn, up 23pc from a year ago. It didn’t declare any dividend, although the independent power producer already pa

Concern expressed over backtracking on ‘digital Pakistan’ commitments

Pakistan is diverting away from its earlier commitments for ‘digital Pakistan’ and there is an urgent need to connect more people for a resilient digital society, GSMA Asia Pacific head Julian Gorman said on Thursday. GSMA, an association of global mobile network operators, had been expressing concern over policy shifts by the government regarding the telecom sector, leading to high cost of doi

Rupee extends losses despite $1.5bn inflow

Foreign exchange reserves of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) fell by $157 million during the week ended on Oct 21, but an inflow of $1.5 billion from the Asian Development Bank elevated the reserves level. However, the US dollar remained in high demand in the interbank market as a result it appreciated by 81 paise against the rupee despite a massive inflow from the ADB. The greenback closing p

SBP chief assures market of timely foreign debt repayments

State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) Governor Jameel Ahmad said on Thursday the country will meet all foreign debt obligations on time. “There should be no concern about that,” he said while speaking at a gong-ringing ceremony at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX). The risk of sovereign default hit its highest level since November 2009 early this week. The country’s five-year credit default swap (CDS

Elon Musk\'s Twitter ownership starts with firings, uncertainty

Elon Musk became Twitter Inc's owner on Thursday, firing top executives and providing little clarity over how he will achieve the lofty ambitions he has outlined for the influential social media platform. "The bird is freed," he tweeted after taking control. The CEO of electric car maker Tesla Inc has said he wants to “defeat” spam bots on Twitter, make the algorithms that determine how cont