Pakistan’s oil and eatables imports grew 11.4 per cent in the first two months of the current fiscal year to $5.08 billion from $4.56bn a year ago, the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) said on Thursday. In contrast, textile and clothing exports could only rise by 4.2pc year-on-year to $3.05bn due to slow demand and high cost of local production because of expensive energy. The oil import
Oil prices edged higher on Friday but were on track for a weekly decline amid fears of sharp interest rate hikes that would slam global growth and hit fuel demand. Brent crude futures were up 24 cents, or 0.3 per cent, to $91.08 a barrel as of 0315 GMT, but were down 1.9pc for the week so far. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures gained 10 cents, or 0.1pc, to $85.20 a barrel, but w
The dollar hovered near its recent peaks on Friday as expectations that the United States Federal Reserve would need to hike more to tame inflation sent Treasury yields higher and kept the greenback in demand. The towering dollar pushed the offshore yuan past the critical threshold of seven per dollar for the first time in more than two years overnight, with the yuan hitting a trough of 7.035 i
Bulls fought bears on Wednesday in a range-bound session on the Pakistan Stock Exchange. Arif Habib Ltd said the index traded within a narrow band due to the investors’ concerns about rising political noise and the continuous hammering of the rupee against the dollar. The benchmark moved sideways a volatile session, with decent main-board volumes. The national currency closed at 234.32 per d
A rally that has the dollar on course for its best year since 1984 has further to run, traders and analysts say, suggesting more pain almost everywhere else as other currencies either crumble or require rapid rate hikes to stay put. The rise — the dollar is up nearly 15 per cent against a basket of currencies this year — has already been a wrecking ball through foreign exchange markets, crushin