News

Apple earnings rise as economic gloom hits tech

Apple Inc on Thursday reported revenue and profit that topped Wall Street targets, one of the few bright spots in a tech sector battered by spending cutbacks due to inflation. The forecast for the holiday quarter was more grim. While not providing specific numbers, Apple said revenue growth would fall below eight per cent in the December quarter but did not go as far as Amazon.com, whose dire h

ECC okays Rs31bn supplementary grant to defence ministry

The Econ­o­mic Coordination Commi­ttee (ECC) of the cabinet on Thursday approved a Rs31 billion supplementary grant to the defence ministry and cleared an out-of-court settlement with three “non-performing and defaulter” oil and gas companies over 11 exploration and concession blocks to push for new domestic hydrocarbon finds. In a meeting presided over by Finance Minister Ish­aq Dar, the commi

PKR falls by nearly Re1 against dollar in interbank

The Pakistani rupee continued to fall against the dollar for the third consecutive session on Friday, losing 97 paise in the interbank market. The local currency closed at Rs222.47 per dollar, a depreciation of 0.44 per cent from yesterday’s close of Rs221.5, according to the State Bank of Pakistan. Since the start of this fiscal year, the PKR’s value has declined by Rs16.64 or 7.52pc, accor

Oil falls as China widens Covid-19 curbs; still set for weekly gain

Oil prices fell on Friday after China, the world’s top crude oil importer, widened its Covid-19 curbs, but were poised for a weekly gain on supply concerns ahead of Europe’s pending cut-off of Russian imports. Brent crude futures eased 78 cents, or 0.8 per cent, to $96.18 a barrel at 0350 GMT, after rising 1.3pc in the previous session. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were down $

Stocks add 134 points amid positive triggers

Trading on the stock exchange stayed range-bound on Monday even though the Financial Action Task Force announced that it took Pakistan off its grey list. Arif Habib Ltd said the stock market was unable to capitalise on the positive trigger because of the political upheaval, which kept investors at bay. The mainboard shares attracted reasonable volumes but the top volume leaders were mostly t