News

Reforms to end reliance on IPPs

The energy ministry had embarked upon major reforms, including operationalisation of an energy exchange, which would allow the power plants to sell electricity to the buyer, Energy Minister Awais Leghari said on Wednesday. Leghari told the Senate Standing Committee on Energy that the ministry was currently facing problems related to high electricity prices. He assured that every possible relief

Stocks drift lower on mounting political unrest

Volatility persisted on the stock market on Wednesday amid growing political uncertainty as PTI challenged the controversial election law in the apex court a day after it was bulldozed through the parliament. Ahsan Mehanti of Arif Habib Corporation said stocks closed lower on economic uncertainty. “Falling rupee, delays on privatisation of state-owned enterprises, concerns for $15bn unsettled d

Oil gains 2pc on falling US inventory

Oil prices rose more than two per cent on Wednesday, boun­cing back from multi-month lows, after data showed a bigger-than-expected draw in US crude stockpiles, even as worries about weak oil demand in China persisted. Brent crude futures were up $1.84, or 2.41pc, to $78.32 a barrel at 1:35pm EDT (1735 GMT). US West Texas Intermediate crude rose $1.96, or 2.68pc, to $75.16. US crude stocks f

Bank profit rises

MCB Bank posted a profit-after-tax (PAT) of Rs16.79 billion in the second quarter of 2024, an increase of 14 per cent over the Rs14.67bn PAT in the same period last year. In its consolidated financial statement, released to the Pakistan Stock Exchange on Wednesday, the bank reported earnings per share at Rs14.17 during the April-June quarter compared to Rs12.38 in the same period last year.

Govt slashes yields on treasury bills

The government slightly reduced the cut-off yields by up to 54 basis points for different tenors to raise Rs260 billion, exceeding the auction target of Rs210bn, on Wednesday. According to the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), it received a total of Rs1.77 trillion in bids. This was the first auction after the 100bps cut announced on July 29 to bring down the SBP policy rate to 19.5pc. The yi