Business

KARACHI: A sense of stability prevailed in the currency market as the rupee rose for the third session in a row against the US dollar in the interbank market on Thursday. The State Bank reported the dollar settled at Rs283.51 after losing 10 paise against the local currency. Dealers said the market stayed calm even though importers were facing a …

Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) on Thursday announced that it had signed an agreement with Telenor to acquire a 100 per cent stake in the company on a cash free, debt free basis. Ownership of the country’s second-largest cellular service provider will soon change hands, as Telenor Pakistan had signalled leaving the country since last year amid a growing cost of doing …

ISLAMABAD: The prices of major petroleum products — petrol and high-speed diesel (HSD) — are set to fall by over Rs10 per litre each on Dec 15 for the next fortnight mainly because of a decline in the international market. Informed officials said the international prices of both HSD and petrol had declined over the past fortnight by almost 5pc …

ISLAMABAD: Under the instructions of the Power Division, the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) has called a public hearing on Dec 20 to rubber stamp the application of Rs1.72 per unit additional cost to consumers of K-Electric on account of two quarterly tariff adjustments (QTAs) for last fiscal year i.e. second and third quarter of FY23. The Power Division …

KARACHI: Finance Minister Dr Shamshad Akhtar said on Wednesday that public-sector dominance in the insurance sector should be reduced by privatising State Life Insurance Corporation. Addressing the International InsureImpact Conference 2023 organised by the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP), she said competition should be enhanced in insurance by offering a “level playing field” to private-sector operators. The state-owned …

KARACHI: The national bourse witnessed on Wednesday a tumultuous session as bulls took control of the trading floor early in the day to lift the KSE-100 index to an intraday high of 667 points. But bears entered the market all of a sudden and caused the index to drop the morning gains while plunging it to an intraday low of …

ISLAMABAD: The caretaker government machinery scrambled on Tuesday to assure the nation that the country has sufficient fertiliser stocks and that all fertiliser plants will be provided with an uninterrupted gas supply throughout the ongoing winter season to maximise production. “All plants will be running at full capacity throughout the current winter season… to ensure a consistent and sufficient local …

KARACHI: In an already struggling environment, the surging prices of wheat flour, onion and sugar have added salt to the wounds of low- and middle-income households. The price of onion, a high-running staple food of almost every household, has jumped to Rs200-220 per kg from Rs150-180 per kg last week, while it was tagged at Rs120-150 per kg two weeks …

ISLAMABAD: The electricity distribution companies (Discos) operating under the Power Division on Tuesday conceded billing discrepancies highlighted by the power regulator Nepra in a recent inquiry report but downplayed the extent of the wrongdoings happening to consumers and attributed its veracity to the natural, human and technical factors. The “initial response” released by the Power Division comes days after it formed an …

ISLAMABAD: In a first, Saudi Oil giant Aramco formally entered Pakistan’s retail market with an estimated investment of about $100 million by acquiring a 40 per cent stake in Gas & Oil Pakistan Ltd (GO) — a private entity established almost a decade ago. GO announced in a statement on Tuesday that Aramco, one of the world’s leading integrated energy …