KARACHI (Dunya News) – Gold prices took another dip on Tuesday as both global and local markets saw a downward trend.
In the international bullion market, the price of gold per ounce slipped by $11, landing at $3,339. This slide in global rates once again dragged local prices down.
In Pakistan’s local bullion market, the price of 24-karat gold per tola dropped by Rs1,100, settling at Rs356,600. Likewise, the price of 10 grams of gold went down by Rs943, closing at Rs305,727.
Read also: Gold prices in Pakistan takes another dip
On the flip side, silver prices stood their ground. The rate of silver per tola remained unchanged at Rs4,031, while 10 grams of silver also held steady at Rs3,455.
Market watchers say the tide may continue to turn if global pressure keeps weighing on bullion rates.
(Bloomberg) — US stock futures drifted as earnings from the nation’s biggest retailers kicked off on Tuesday, putting the focus on the strength of American consumers as markets hover near record highs.
S&P 500 contracts dropped less than 0.1%. Intel Corp. advanced more than 5% in early trading, with the Trump administration in talks to take a stake of about 10%. Home Depot Inc. fluctuated as consumers avoided big-ticket purchases last quarter. With Target Corp. and Walmart Inc. also set to report this week, traders will parse the results for clues on consumer sentiment and tariff effects.
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Europe’s Stoxx 600 rose 0.5% as signs of progress toward a peace settlement in Ukraine lifted sentiment. A Goldman Sachs Group Inc. basket of European defense stocks dropped as much as 5.7%, with the move amplified by Hamas’s agreement to a truce proposal in Gaza. The euro rose 0.2%.
Treasuries eked out gains after S&P Global Ratings affirmed its AA+ long-term rating for the US, with the 10-year rate falling less than one basis point to 4.33%. The dollar was little changed.
Traders will turn their gaze later this week on the Federal Reserve, with Chair Jerome Powell set to unveil a new policy framework at the Jackson Hole gathering on the central bank’s inflation and employment goals.
Money markets are currently betting the Fed will deliver its first rate cut for the year in September, as labor-market weakness outweighs inflation risks, with another move expected before year-end.
“With much of it priced in already, equities may need a new catalyst,” said Ipek Ozkardeskaya, a senior analyst at Swissquote Bank. “August through October is seasonally soft, and rising long-term bond yields could tempt investors to pocket recent gains.”
Oil slipped as traders weighed the outlook for an end to the conflict in Ukraine and a potential future supply increase of Russian crude. Brent fell below $66 a barrel, remaining within the narrow band seen for the last two weeks.
“Even if the US were to ease restrictions, Moscow would remain heavily reliant on buyers like India and China to absorb the majority of its crude exports,” cautioned Ole Hvalbye, an analyst at SEB AB. “Any unwind would likely be gradual and uneven.”
What Bloomberg Strategists Say…
“We have moved closer to a Ukraine peace deal in the past 24 hours — but only marginally so. And almost certainly not enough to offer any lasting support to European stocks which are running into technical resistance that capped gains earlier this year.”
—Conor Cooper, Macro Strategist. Click here for the full analysis.
Corporate News:
Anglo American Plc suffered a major setback to its restructuring plans after Peabody Energy Corp. decided to walk away from a $3.8 billion deal to buy its steelmaking coal business following a fire at an Australian mine. A key Home Depot Inc. sales metric disappointed in the latest quarter, a sign that consumers are staying away from big purchases as interest rates remain high and inflation uncertainties linger. SoftBank Group Corp. agreed to buy $2 billion of Intel Corp. stock, a surprise deal to shore up a struggling US name while boosting its own chip ambitions. BHP Group’s full-year underlying profit fell by more than a quarter to its lowest level since the pandemic, broadly in line with market expectations, as prices of its key earners — iron ore and coking coal — came under pressure from softer Chinese demand. Nvidia Corp. is developing an AI chip specifically for China which will be more powerful than the H20 model, Reuters reports, citing people familiar with the matter. Shein Group Ltd. has considered moving its base back to China in the hopes that it would help sway Beijing authorities to sign off on the fast-fashion retailer’s plans to go public in Hong Kong, according to people familiar with the matter. Apple Inc. is expanding iPhone production in India at five factories, including a pair of recently opened plants, as it seeks to lessen its reliance on China for US-bound models. An increasing number of Mediobanca SpA shareholders are taking up Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena SpA’s hostile takeover offer, providing a tailwind ahead of the bid’s end on Sept. 8. Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
S&P 500 futures fell 0.1% as of 7:40 a.m. New York time Nasdaq 100 futures fell 0.2% Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were unchanged The Stoxx Europe 600 rose 0.5% The MSCI World Index was little changed Currencies
The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was little changed The euro rose 0.2% to $1.1683 The British pound rose 0.1% to $1.3519 The Japanese yen was little changed at 147.77 per dollar Cryptocurrencies
Bitcoin fell 0.8% to $115,546.69 Ether fell 0.7% to $4,302.02 Bonds
The yield on 10-year Treasuries was little changed at 4.33% Germany’s 10-year yield was little changed at 2.76% Britain’s 10-year yield was little changed at 4.74% Commodities
West Texas Intermediate crude fell 1.3% to $62.62 a barrel Spot gold rose 0.2% to $3,340.78 an ounce This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.
Volatility in benchmark Indian bonds jumped to a three-year high, as a plan to cut consumption taxes stoked concerns that the government may sell more debt to make up for any revenue shortfall.
A Bloomberg gauge of swings in India’s 10-year bonds reached the highest since October 2022 on Tuesday, after recent ructions in the nation’s debt. Benchmark bonds suffered the biggest selloff in almost two years this week, reversing a rally Thursday that was triggered by a rare sovereign rating upgrade.
Flight crew at Air Canada have ended a dispute with the airline which had grounded flights and stranded thousands of passengers since Saturday.
A tentative agreement was announced by the union representing flight attendants and confirmed by the airline, which said flights will resume later on Tuesday.
More than 10,000 staff had walked out in protest at pay and scheduling. The deal approved by the union has not been disclosed – it will now be presented to members to be ratified.
The breakthrough came nine hours after talks began with the help of an approved mediator appointed by the government.
The dispute had escalated when the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) rejected an order to return to work issued by the Canadian Industrial Relations Board.
After Tuesday morning’s news, the airline said the first flights would restart on Tuesday evening but it may take days to return to a full service because aircraft and crew are out of position.
It added that it would not comment on the terms of the agreed deal until it had been ratified.
In contract negotiations, Air Canada said it had offered flight attendants a 38% increase in total compensation over four years, with a 25% raise in the first year.
CUPE said the offer was “below inflation, below market value, below minimum wage” and would still leave flight attendants unpaid for some hours of work, including boarding and waiting at airports ahead of flights.
The U.S. government on Monday announced the U.K. would drop its demand for Apple to provide a “back door” to user data.
The move represents a triumph for the iPhone maker and, more broadly, for end-to-end encryption.
Tech companies say that building an encryption “back door” would not only undermine user privacy, but also expose them to possible cyberattacks.
Apple clinched a major win Monday after the U.S. government announced that the U.K. had agreed to drop its demand for the company to provide a “back door” granting officials access to users’ encrypted data. The iPhone maker won’t be alone to rejoice in the outcome. The development came after extensive talks between Britain and the U.S., which had raised national security concerns over the request. At the root of the row was end-to-end encryption, a technology which secures communications between two devices in a way that means not even the company providing a chat service can view any messages. How did we get here? The story of Apple’s U.K. privacy battle started earlier this year, when it was reported that the British government had demanded access to the company’s encrypted cloud service via a technical “back door.” Such a back door has long been contested by Apple. In 2016, the Federal Bureau of Investigation tried to get Apple to create software that would enable it to unlock an iPhone it recovered from one of the shooters involved in the 2015 terror attack in San Bernardino, California. Other companies have also had to fend off government attempts to undermine end-to-end encryption. For example, when Meta announced plans to encrypt all messages on its Facebook Messenger app, the move drew condemnation from the U.K. Home Office. Meta had already offered encryption on WhatsApp. Global encryption debate The Monday news could have broader implications for the debate around end-to-end encryption globally. Governments and law enforcement agencies have long pushed for methods to break such encryption systems to assist with criminal investigations into terrorism and child sexual abuse. However, tech companies have said that building an encryption back door would not only undermine user privacy, but also expose them to possible cyberattacks. Cybersecurity experts say that any back door built for a government would eventually be found and exploited by hackers. U.S. national intelligence officials were also worried by the ramifications of Apple offering such a back door. For Apple, the U.K.’s concession over encryption could mean that the company can bring back its most secure service for users’ cloud data, Advanced Data Protection (ADP), which the company stopped offering to Brits in February. It is not yet clear if Apple will reintroduce its ADP service to the U.K. market. CNBC has reached out to Apple and the U.K. government for comment.
Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif on Tuesday expressed satisfaction over the performance of the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX), as the benchmark KSE-100 Index surged past the historic 150,000-point milestone.
In a statement issued by the Prime Minister’s Office, Shehbaz Sharif said the bullish trend in the stock market was a strong reflection of investor confidence in the government’s economic policies.
By the grace of Allah, economic improvement has restored the confidence of investors and the business community, the prime minister said adding that the country was on the path to progress. However, he stressed that more hard work was required.
He said the economic team worked tirelessly day and night to steer the economy out of difficulties.
The investors and business community continued economic activities in Pakistan even during tough times, which is commendable, PM Shehbaz added.
He hoped that with the growth of business and increase in investment in the country, more employment opportunities would also be created.
