Author: Finance for Sight

GENEVA: The United Nations envoy for Syria on Tuesday strongly condemned Israel’s “military escalations, including airstrikes” on its northern neighbour. Syrian state media said Israeli strikes hit the Tartus area on Monday, after a war monitor reported a blast near the city’s port and the Israeli army said it struck a “military site” further north. That came after Israel carried out hundreds of air strikes after a lightning led offensive ousted president Bashar al-Assad in December, in what it said was a bid to prevent Syrian military assets from falling into hostile hands. It also sent troops into a UN-patrolled…

Rupee’s Performance Against US Dollar Since 15 Jan 2025 The Pakistani rupee recorded marginal decline against the US dollar, depreciating 0.04% in the inter-bank market on Tuesday. At close, the rupee settled at 279.77, a loss of Re0.10 against the greenback. During the previous week, the rupee depreciated further against the US dollar as it lost Re0.10 or 0.4% in the inter-bank market. The local unit closed at 279.67, against 279.57 it had closed the week earlier against the greenback, according to the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP). The currency market was closed on Monday on account of a bank…

TEHRAN: An Iranian court has sentenced two former ministers to prison over a multi-billion-dollar corruption case involving imported tea, the judiciary said Tuesday. The case, known in Iran as the Debsh Tea Scandal, was opened in 2023 and implicated more than 60 people, involving a total of $3.7 billion, the Iran newspaper reported in May, citing the country’s chief justice. Forty-two defendants were sentenced in the case, including former agriculture minister Javad Sadatinejad and former industry minister Reza Fatemi Amin, said Mizan Online, the judiciary’s news outlet. Sadatinejad received a one-year sentence, while Fatemi Amin was handed two years for…

Positive momentum returned to the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Tuesday, with the benchmark KSE-100 Index settling with a gain of over 750 points. The market remained range-bound in the initial hours of trading but gained momentum in the final session, reaching an intra-day high of 112,877.01. At close, the KSE-100 Index settled at 112,743.79, an increase of 756.91 points or 0.68%. Buying was observed in key sectors including automobile assemblers, commercial banks, fertilizer, power generation and refineries. Index-heavy stocks including HUBCO, NRL, PRL, OGDC, PPL, MCB and MEBL traded in the green. In a key development, the International Monetary…

Positive momentum returned to the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Tuesday, with the benchmark KSE-100 Index settling with a gain of over 750 points. The market remained range-bound in the initial hours of trading but gained momentum in the final session, reaching an intra-day high of 112,877.01. At close, the KSE-100 Index settled at 112,743.79, an increase of 756.91 points or 0.68%. Buying was observed in key sectors including automobile assemblers, commercial banks, fertilizer, power generation and refineries. Index-heavy stocks including HUBCO, NRL, PRL, OGDC, PPL, MCB and MEBL traded in the green. In a key development, the International Monetary…

WASHINGTON: U.S. President Donald Trump has paused military aid to Ukraine following his clash with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky last week, a White House official, deepening the fissure that has opened between the two one-time allies. “President Trump has been clear that he is focused on peace. We need our partners to be committed to that goal as well. We are pausing and reviewing our aid to ensure that it is contributing to a solution,” said the official on Monday, speaking on the condition of anonymity. The White House had no immediate comment on the scope and amount of aid…

COLOMBO: Sri Lanka should avoid tax exemptions and focus on passing a national budget that is in line with parameters set by the International Monetary Fund to continue with a $2.9 billion program from the international lender, an IMF official said on Tuesday. Sri Lanka mounted a “remarkable” recovery from a deep financial crisis triggered by a record shortfall of dollars three years ago, the global lender said after approving a fourth tranche of $334 million under a Extended Fund Facility (EFF) program. However, the South Asian island nation must now boost tax compliance, improve targeting of social welfare, and…

NEW DELHI: India’s finished steel imports from China, South Korea and Japan hit a record high in the first 10 months of the financial year, according to provisional government data seen by Reuters on Tuesday. India, the world’s second-biggest crude steel producer, shipped in record quantities of finished steel during April-January, and was a net importer, Reuters had reported earlier. Imports of finished steel from South Korea stood at 2.4 million metric tons, up 11.7% on year, the data showed. South Korea was the biggest exporter of the alloy to India during the period. Finished steel shipments from China stood…

LONDON: Britain’s Royal Society will hold a crunch meeting on Monday following calls to expel technology billionaire Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, from the prestigious institute of scientists. Founded in 1660, the Royal Society describes itself as a “fellowship of many of the world’s most eminent scientists” and is a key voice in the global scientific community. Past members have included Albert Einstein, Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin, Dorothy Hodgkin, Benjamin Franklin and Stephen Hawking. But after members raised concerns about Musk, the owner of SpaceX, Tesla and the social network X who was elected a fellow in 2018, the…

Pakistan’s Balance of Trade Value in USD billion Pakistan’s trade deficit significantly increased by over 33% to $2.3 billion in February 2025, as compared to the same month of the previous year, data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) showed on Monday. The country’s trade balance, the gap between exports and imports, was recorded at a deficit of $1.72 billion in February 2024. The trade deficit expanded year-on-year (YoY) in February 2025 on the back of an increase in the country’s imports along with a decrease recorded in exports. Exports in February 2025 stood at $2.44 billion, down…