Author: Finance for Sight

Canada’s main stock index struggled to find direction on Friday, pulled between worries over looming tariffs and positive domestic economic data. The S&P/TSX composite index was up 0.06% at 25,144.50. After surging more than 3% in January, the index is heading toward an over 1% loss in February. “What really pressuring the markets is Trump talking about tariffs,” said Ian Chong, portfolio manager at First Avenue Investment Counsel. U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday said his proposed 25% tariffs on Mexican and Canadian goods will take effect on Tuesday, along with an extra 10% duty on Chinese imports because deadly…

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump told President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday that Ukraine will have to make “compromises” in a truce with Moscow, while Zelensky insisted that there should be no concessions with Russia’s “killer” leader. “You can’t do any deals without compromises. So certainly he’s going to have to make some compromises, but hopefully they won’t be as big as some people think,” Trump said at a White House meeting. But showing Trump pictures of war atrocities and referring to President Vladimir Putin, Zelensky said there should be “no compromises with a killer on our territory.” “Crazy Russians,” he…

ISLAMABAD: Eight Pakistan nationals residing illegally in the United States have been deported to Pakistan, Islamabad said Friday, with a diplomat calling it the first such flight since Donald Trump returned to power. “We can confirm that eight Pakistani nationals, who were staying illegally in the US, have indeed returned yesterday,” Pakistan’s foreign ministry spokesman Shafqat Ali Khan told a press conference. A Pakistani diplomat confirmed that this was the first such flight since Trump’s second term began in January. “But (it is) not the first ever as in 2019, several such flights also arrived in Pakistan,” the diplomat said,…

The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) witnessed volatile trading on Friday, as its benchmark KSE-100 Index closed the week’s last session lower by 532.64 points or 0.47% amid selling pressure. The KSE-100 started the session positive, hitting an intra-day high of 114,265.97, followed by selling pressure in the final hours, which pushed the index to an intra-day low of 113,201.84. At close, the benchmark index settled at 113,251.67, down by 532.64 points or 0.47%. “KSE-100 Index opened on a positive note and gained to make an intraday high of +482 points, which can be attributed to AGP PA result announcement in…

CAIRO: An Israeli delegation in Cairo aims to negotiate to extend the first phase of the Gaza ceasefire deal by an additional 42 days, two Egyptian security sources said on Friday. Hamas opposes the extension and insists on proceeding to the second phase of the deal as originally agreed, the sources told Reuters. The second phase is meant to include steps leading to a permanent end to the war. The first phase of the ceasefire is set to end on Saturday, and the warring parties have yet to clarify what will happen if no agreement is reached by then. Egypt…

MOSCOW: The Russian rouble weakened against the U.S. dollar and the Chinese yuan on Friday, losing support from corporate tax payments at the end of the month, as the influence of Russia-U.S. talks on the currency market began to wane. At 1125 GMT, the rouble was down 0.9% at 87.75 against the dollar in the over-the-counter market. It also weakened by 0.6% to 12.09 against the yuan, the most traded foreign currency in Russia. “The seasonal sales activity of exporters ahead of the tax payment deadline, which is today, was quite moderate yesterday, and from today it is expected to…

VATICAN CITY: Pope Francis, who has been hospitalised for two weeks battling double pneumonia, has spent another peaceful night and is now resting, the Vatican said on Friday. Francis was admitted to Rome’s Gemelli hospital on February 14 with what was originally described as a bronchitis and was later revealed to have developed into something more serious. In a medical update on Thursday, the Vatican said the pontiff’s condition had “continued to show improvement” but his prognosis remained guarded due to a complex clinical picture. Francis has suffered several bouts of ill health over the past two years. He is…

BEIJING: Beijing said on Friday it opposed President Donald Trump’s latest threat to slap an extra 10% duty on Chinese imports, accusing the US of “shifting the blame” on the flow of fentanyl and promising retaliation to protect its interests. China’s Commerce Ministry said the country has some of the world’s strictest anti-drug policies and highlighted the risks new tariffs would bring to global supply chains. Trump said on Thursday his proposed 25% tariffs on Mexican and Canadian goods will take effect on Tuesday, along with the extra 10% duty on Chinese imports. The fresh China tariffs, in addition to…

The Pakistani rupee recorded a marginal improvement against the US dollar, appreciating 0.08% in the inter-bank market during the opening hours of trading on Friday. At 11am, the rupee was hovering at 279.5, a gain of Re0.22 against the greenback. On Thursday, the rupee had closed at 279.72. Globally, the US dollar drew safe-haven support on Friday ahead of US President Donald Trump’s impending tariffs, though was still headed for a monthly loss as investors weighed those threats against a darkening US growth outlook. The US dollar index last stood at 107.24, having jumped nearly 0.9% on Thursday. Still, the…

JERUSALEM: The Israeli military said it struck a Hezbollah observation post in southern Lebanon on Thursday, calling its presence “a violation of the ceasefire understandings between Israel and Lebanon”. “Earlier today (Thursday), activity inside an observation post belonging to the Hezbollah terrorist organisation was identified in the area of Aainata in southern Lebanon,” the military said in a statement, adding that it “was struck by the IAF (air force).” The strike came a day after the Israeli military said it carried out an air strike targeting a “significant” Hezbollah in Lebanon, where state media reported one person was killed and…