Most emerging market stocks started the week lower after disappointing China economic data, while Pakistani equities traded at record highs and investors assessed the fallout of a revised budget in Kenya.
China stocks ended flat on Monday and Hong Kong equities logged their biggest one-day drop after the economy grew much slower than expected in the second quarter, prompting downward revisions for annual growth by brokerages J.P.Morgan and Goldman Sachs.
Attention was also on the once-in-five-years ‘Third Plenum’, due to end on Thursday, where markets hope for some efforts to manage China’s vast property crisis, boost domestic consumption and revitalize the private sector.
“It remains the case that China is taking pragmatic steps to address the problems it can fix, but at nothing like the pace foreign investors or net commodity exporters wish to see,” said Hasnain Malik, head of equity research at Tellimer Research.
MSCI’s index tracking bourses in developing economies slipped 0.2 percent, while an index tracking currencies was flat. Traders assessed political developments in the US and the implications of a second Donald Trump presidency.
In South Asia, Pakistan’s benchmark index rose 1.7 percent to hit a record high after the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the country reached a staff level agreement (SLA) for a $7 billion, 37-month loan program.
The index has soared 30 percent this year and has almost doubled since Pakistan signed its last SLA for the $3 billion standby arrangement.
India’s main stock indexes also traded at record highs. Quarterly earnings were in focus along with the new government’s annual budget expected on July 23, where a private lender expects the country to cut its current year’s gross market borrowings after a better-than-estimated surplus transfer from the central bank.
Meanwhile, yield on Kenyan sovereign bonds slipped between 5 and 13 basis points (bps) after the government said it plans to cut annual spending by 1.9 percent and widen the fiscal deficit to 3.6 percent of GDP, weeks after it was forced to roll back tax hikes due to mass protests.
Most currencies in eastern and central Europe were tepid against the euro. The forint inched up 0.2 percent ahead of remarks on monetary policy from the Hungary’s deputy central bank governor.
Elsewhere, the shekel inched up 0.1 percent against the dollar ahead of June inflation data and against the backdrop of talks of a Gaza ceasefire, while Rwanda’s franc was flat against the euro as elections were underway.
Pakistan equities trade at record highs as weak China data dents investor mood
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Pakistan equities trade at record highs as weak China data dents investor mood
- Pakistan’s benchmark index rose 1.7 percent to hit a record high after Islamabad reached an agreement for $7 billion loan with the IMF
- The index has soared 30 percent this year and has almost doubled since Pakistan signed its last deal for $3 billion standby arrangement
Bullet-riddled bodies of five Afghans found in Pakistan returned to families
- Bodies were found hanging from an electric pole in southwestern Pakistan last week
- Handed over to families at the Spin Boldak-Chaman border crossing on Wednesday
ISLAMABAD: Five bullet-riddled bodies found hanging from an electric pole in southwestern Pakistan last week were Afghan nationals and have been returned to their families, Kabul’s embassy in Islamabad said Thursday.
The bodies were discovered on Friday near a college in Dalbandin city, close to the borders with Afghanistan and Iran in Balochistan province.
A statement from the Afghan embassy in Pakistan’s capital said the bodies were handed over to families at the Spin Boldak-Chaman border crossing on Wednesday shared between the neighbors.
Their consulate in Balochistan made “serious efforts” to return the bodies to waiting relatives in Afghanistan.
“The five Afghans were brutally killed by unknown people,” said the statement shared with AFP on Thursday.
Balochistan, Pakistan’s least populous but largest province, is home to several militant groups, some fighting for independence or a greater share of the region’s mineral resources, with security forces often the target of bombings.
Islamist groups are also behind sectarian violence in the region.
Some 600,000 Afghans have traveled to Pakistan since the Taliban took back power in 2021, and implemented their austere version of Islam.
Since last year, however, Islamabad has waged a campaign to evict huge numbers of undocumented Afghans, as relations with Kabul soured over security.
Pakistan reach 256-4 as Shakeel and Rizwan defy Bangladesh
- Pakistan resumed at precarious 158-4 before middle-order duo added 98 runs in two-hour and 15-minute session
- Shakeel was unbeaten 86 and Rizwan 89 in an unbeaten 142-run fifth-wicket stand that has held off Bangladesh
RAWALPINDI: Saud Shakeel and Mohammad Rizwan blunted the Bangladesh bowling attack on Thursday, guiding Pakistan to 256-4 at lunch on the second day of the first Test in Rawalpindi.
Pakistan resumed at a precarious 158-4, before the middle-order duo added 98 runs in an extended two-hour and 15-minute session after play on the first day was delayed by a wet outfield.
Shakeel was unbeaten 86 and Rizwan 89 in an unbeaten 142-run fifth-wicket stand that has held off the Bangladesh pace and spin attacks.
Looking for early wickets to take control of the match, Bangladesh skipper Najmul Hossain Shanto used all his bowlers but failed to find a way through after making early inroads on Wednesday that saw Pakistan reeling at 16-3.
Express pacer Nahid Rana proved expensive with his 15 wicket-less overs leaking 80 runs as the pitch eased out under bright sunshine.
Shakeel hit five boundaries in his steady 169-ball innings, while Rizwan hammered one six and seven boundaries off 131 deliveries.
Pacers Shoriful Islam (2-43) and Hasan Mahmud (2-55) were the wicket-takers for Bangladesh on day one but failed to replicate their heroics before lunch on Thursday.
The two-match series is part of the World Test Championship’s third cycle with Pakistan currently sixth and Bangladesh eighth on the nine-team table.
Russian climbers reach hospital after rescue in Pakistani Himalayas
- Five-member team of Russian climbers was attempting to climb Gasherbrum to retrieve body of fellow climber who died there last year
- Hundreds try to scale mountains in northern Pakistan every year, and accidents are common because of avalanches, weather changes
PESHAWAR: Two Russian climbers who were injured on the slopes of one of northern Pakistan’s highest mountains reached a hospital in Peshawar on Thursday, a week after they were stranded after being hit by falling ice.
The climbers were part of a five-member team of Russian climbers that was attempting to climb one of Gasherbrum’s peaks to retrieve the body of a fellow climber who died there last year when it was hit by a pile of ice on Friday.
Rescuers airlifted two of the mountaineers Monday, but two others remained stuck on the base camp because of their injuries and bad weather until Wednesday. Akhtar Hussain, a police official in Skardu, a city in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces, said the Russians were transported to a hospital by ambulance, and were in stable condition.
Karrar Haidri, the secretary of the Alpine Club of Pakistan, told The Associated Press that climbers Mikhail Mironov and Sergei Mironov are getting the best medical care at a hospital in Skardu. He said the search for the fifth climber, Sergei Nilov, had been called off as he is presumed dead.
Hussain said doctors provided medical care to the two injured climbers. “They are sad over the death of their fifth colleague, but are thankful to the Pakistani rescuers and the army for making efforts to save their life,” he said.
He said one needed only minor medical care, while the other had bruises on his arms and legs because he was hit by the pile of ice on Friday
Haidri said the climbers were fully aware of the dangers linked to the mission when they began expedition to retrieve the body of their colleague whodied in 2023 on the same mountain while trying to scale it.
Hundreds of climbers try to scale mountains in northern Pakistan every year, and accidents are common because of avalanches and sudden weather changes. This month, a Pakistani climber Murad Sadpara, 35, known for taking part in high-altitude rescue missions died during a descent from one of the country’s tallest mountains in the north.
Pakistani father-son duo make Guinness world record for ‘fastest time to climb around a person’
- Multi Guinness World Records title holder Irfan Mehsood made new record with son Sufiyan
- MMA athlete Mehsood holds the title of first Pakistani to hold 100 Guinness World Records
PESHAWAR: Pakistani Multi Guinness World Records title holder Irfan Mehsood and his son Sufiyan Mehsood have made a new record this year for fastest time to climb around a person, the website for the awards said.
Mehsood, a mixed martial arts athlete from the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, this month attained the title of becoming the first Pakistani to hold 100 Guinness World Records.
This June, he also made a new record with his son Sufiyan, breaking the record of India’s K. Gokulnath and MV Arjun Priyan.
“The fastest time to climb around a person is 7.87 seconds and was achieved by Irfan Mehsood and Sufiyan Mehsood (both Pakistan) in Dera Ismail Khan, Pakistan, on 19 June 2024,” the Guinness World Records website said. “Irfan is a multiple Guinness World Records title holder.”
Mehsood, a 33-year-old native of the South Waziristan tribal district, holds records for the most push-ups, squats, jumping jacks, squat thrusts, step-ups, knee strikes, elbow strikes, side jumps and high jumps.
Italian weightlifter Marcello Ferri had set a world record by lifting a 40-pound weight with his toe for a minute and 32 seconds. This was broken by Mehsood by lifting the same weight for three minutes and 20 seconds.
Mehsood has broken the records of 16 countries so far including the United States, Britain, India, China, Norway, Germany, France, Finland, Philippines, Spain, Italy, Lebanon, Egypt, Iraq, Pakistan and Syria. He also received a presidential award in 2023.
“Irfan Mehsud is the first Pakistani athlete to achieve 100 Guinness World Records,” All Pakistan MMA President Babar Raja told Arab News earlier this month. “There is no limelight in the district he hails from but he is still able to get widespread fame in MMA as an athlete.”
Raja said the All Pakistan MMA Federation was working to award Mehsood a senior role in the body so that others could benefit from his experience.
Pakistan implements project to link Raast cross-border payment system with Arab world
- Pakistan’s Raast portal has been interlinked with the Arab Monetary Fund’s Buna cross-border payment system
- Annual cross border retail payments, remittances between Arab region and Pakistan amount to over $20 billion
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Thursday implemented a project to link its Raast instant payment system with Buna, a cross-border payment system of the Arab Monetary Fund (AMF), to facilitate remittances in real-time between Pakistan and the Arab world, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said.
The AMF and the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) signed a memorandum of understanding in Abu Dhabi last November to establish a framework of cooperation between Rasst and Buna, which is operated by the Arab Regional Payments Clearing and Settlement Organization (ARPCSO) and supported by all central banks in the Arab region. The development enables the inclusion of the Pakistani Rupee (PKR) as a settlement currency in Buna, in addition to existing international and Arab currencies.
Cross border retail payments and remittances between the Arab region and Pakistan amount to over $20 billion annually, according to government data.
“Under the project, the digital payment system of Pakistan is being directly linked to Buna established under the Arab Monetary Fund,” the prime minister’s office (PMO) said in a statement after Sharif launched the project. “The implementation of a fast, effective and low-cost plan to send money to overseas Pakistanis has started.”
The PMO said the Buna-Raast system would increase remittance transfers and enable millions of Pakistanis living in Arab countries to send money home “quickly, effectively and at a low cost.”
“This landmark initiative aims to facilitate our fellow Pakistanis living abroad and ensure that their efforts translate seamlessly as well as timely to support for their families back home in Pakistan,” Sharif said as he addressed the launch ceremony.
“It is Pakistan’s first cross border real time payment systems linkage that will make remittances more affordable and accessible. Additionally, it also holds the potential to accelerate our connectivity into a future model of vital payment connectivity where transactions will take place region to region.”
Pakistan receives its highest contribution of remittances every month from Saudi Arabia and the UAE, with the two Gulf countries being the most preferred destinations for Pakistani laborers.
The Buna-Raast project envisions bringing more flows to the formal channels by addressing the critical challenges faced in cross-border remittances which are often affected by inefficiencies and high costs, according to officials on both the Pakistani and AMF sides.
“By leveraging the strengths of Buna and Raast, remittances will reach their intended recipients swiftly and securely. Our joint efforts are a testament to our shared vision of advancing financial inclusion and creating lasting values for our economies,” Fahad M. Alturki, Director General Chairman of the AMF Board and Chairman of the Board of ARPCSO, had said in a statement in July about the Buna-Raast collaboration.
“Raast and Buna integration and addition of the Pakistani rupee in Buna as a settlement currency is a strategic milestone aimed at increasing the speed, safety, and cost-effectiveness of remittances and other cross border payments between Pakistan and Arab countries,” Jameel Ahmad, Governor State Bank of Pakistan, had said.
“The collaboration will increase remittances to Pakistan through formal channels, with enhanced customer convenience and efficiency.”
