Category: 3. Business

KARACHI – The UK Pound witnessed further decline in its buying rate against Pakistani rupee on Friday as it stood at 388.08 in open market.

The selling rates for the Pound also recorded downward trend and stood at Rs394.5, according to the currency exchange association.

UK Pound to PKR Rate Today

Rate Old Rate New Rate

Buying Rs389.18 Rs388.08

Selling Rs393.35 Rs392.4

In Pakistan, exchange rates influence the value of the rupee compared to major currencies like the US dollar and UAE dirham. A stronger exchange rate makes imports cheaper and helps control inflation, while a weaker rate can boost exports. For overseas Pakistanis, currency exchange is essential for sending remittances. Keeping track of exchange rates supports informed decisions in business, travel, and economic planning.

Thousands of British-Pakistanis contribute to Pakistan’s economy through regular remittances. In May 2025, remittances from the UK recorded at $588.1 million.

Overall, the workers’ remittances from overseas to Pakistan, recording a significant growth of 28.8 percent during eleven months of fiscal year 2024-25, reached nearly US$ 35 billion in the period from July to May while monthly inflows in May increased to $ 3.69 billion.

“Cumulatively, with an inflow of US$ 34.9 billion, workers’ remittances increased by 28.8 percent during Jul-May FY25 compared to US$ 27.1 billion received during Jul-May FY24,” the State Bank of Pakistan reported on Wednesday.

During May 2025, the workers’ remittances recorded an inflow of US$ 3.686 billion, depicting 16 percent growth over April 25 and 13.7 percent yearly increase against May 2024, the statistics showed.

The Personal Data Protection Commission and the Cyber Security Agency of Singapore made the warning in a formal advisory posted on their websites on 26 June 2025.

“NRIC numbers should not be used as passwords to authenticate a person. This is because they are issued to uniquely identify a person and must be assumed to have been disclosed to at least a few other persons,” the advisory said.

“Organisations that are using full or partial NRIC numbers to authenticate persons should stop this practice as soon as possible. They should not set NRIC numbers as default passwords, nor should they use full or partial NRIC numbers together with other easily obtainable personal data for authentication.”

The advisory encouraged against using passwords that could be easily guessed, including those that contain information that can be obtained easily, such as names, NRIC numbers and birthdates, following a rise in data leaks in recent years.

Mayumi Soh, an expert in technology in the workplace at Pinsent Masons, said: “This new advisory reflects the Singapore government’s continued commitment to enhancing data protection by urging the private sector to use identity card numbers responsibly.”

“It is essential that businesses review their authentication protocols and adopt robust methods and solutions, such as multi-factor authentication or biometric verification,” she commented.

The move is part of a broader effort to enhance data security and prevent identity theft, and is especially relevant to private sector organisations, its IT and cybersecurity departments, and compliance officers responsible for ensuring adherence to the advisory, according to Soh.

Gold rose — putting it on track for a 2% weekly gain — as President Donald Trump said some US trading partners would face tariffs from August 1.

Bullion rose 0.5% to around $3,340 an ounce on Friday as investors weighed the latest trade comments from the president, who said the administration will start sending letters on Friday that set new levy rates for several nations.

It’s not looking great for the smartwatch industry as analysts from Counterpoint have recorded a fifth consecutive quarter of decline with 2% year-on-year slip. However, China is experiencing a surge in smartwatch shipments, with a whopping 37% year-on-year growth.

Experts point out two major reasons for the global smartwatch market decline. The first is the waning of Apple smartwatch sales, accompanied by a significant and persistent deceleration in India’s once-booming smartwatch market.

Still, Apple retains the top spot with 20% global share, while recording 9% decline in shipments. Apple is followed by Huawei, which grew 53%, and so did Xiaomi, from 6% last year to 10%, recording the same 53% growth as Huawei. Samsung lost nearly 23% of its market share year-over-year, dropping from 9% to 7% of the global share.

Consumer preferences are seeing notable changes as people are looking for more expensive and feature-rich devices. The $100-$200 segment experienced a 21% growth, while the sub-$100 category saw a 17% decline in shipments.

Looking ahead, Counterpoint believes that the smartwatch market will see a modest uptick in sales by the end of 2025, with around 3% growth.

Source

(Bloomberg) — Stocks fell along with equity-index futures as President Donald Trump ratcheted up trade tensions again ahead of next week’s deadline for higher tariffs.

A gauge of Asian equities retreated 0.3%, with South Korean shares leading with a 1.6% drop. Trump said his administration may begin sending out letters to trading partners as soon as Friday, setting unilateral tariff rates, ahead of the July 9 deadline for negotiations. Equity-index futures for the US and Europe both declined by 0.3%. Gold rose 0.5% while the dollar dipped 0.2%. There’s no cash trading in Treasuries due to a holiday in the US Friday.

Investors are staying on the sidelines awaiting outcomes from various trade negotiations amid the current pause on Trump’s April tariffs, which he put on hold for 90 days to allow time for talks. Stocks have rallied to record highs as initial concerns that the levies will push the US into a recession have eased. On Thursday, the US jobs growth exceeded expectations and all but erased bets for a July rate cut.

“There is still uncertainty out there, but one thing we do know is the US economy seems to be holding up relatively well,” said Tony Sycamore, market analyst at IG Australia.

 

Trump has long threatened that if countries fail to reach deals with the US before next week’s deadline, he would simply impose rates on them, raising the stakes for trading partners who have rushed to secure agreements with his administration.

“We’re probably going to be sending some letters out, starting probably tomorrow, maybe 10 a day to various countries saying what they’re going to pay to do business with the US,” Trump said.

In separate remarks, Trump said the countries will start paying tariffs on Aug. 1, but declined to comment on which nations will get the letter.

Investors such as Jung In Yun, chief executive officer at Fibonacci Asset Management Global Pte. in Singapore, are holding more cash and waiting for Monday to see how the market reacts.

“Portfolio has more cash than normal times for now,” he said. “I find too much optimism among other managers a bit uncomfortable,” he said about trimming some equities exposure to shield from potential drop in the market.

Meanwhile, Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba pushed back against the idea there has been little progress in negotiations with the US on a trade deal as a deadline looms for a 24% across-the-board tariff to take force.

Investors are cautious about the US sending out letters to trading partners, said Yugo Tsuboi, chief strategist at Daiwa Securities.

“The reason why market sentiment has not been as strong as it should have been is because of the trade negotiations,” Tsuboi said. Japanese stocks dipped 0.1%.

Treasuries fell and the dollar rose Thursday in a sign traders see less pressure on the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates after US jobs in June. Swap traders saw almost no chance of a July Fed cut, compared with a roughly 25% probability seen before the data. The chance of a move in September ebbed to about 70%.

Meanwhile, Trump secured a sweeping shift in US domestic policy as the House passed a $3.4 trillion fiscal package that cuts taxes, curtails spending on safety-net programs. A $5 trillion increase in the US debt limit in the package eliminates the risk of a market-rattling payment default the Treasury had forecast could come as soon as mid-August without congressional action.

The president said he plans to sign the bill on Friday at a 4 p.m. ceremony at the White House.

Separately, the Chinese government intends to cancel part of a two-day summit with European Union leaders planned for later this month, in the latest sign of the tensions between Brussels and Beijing.

In commodities, oil steadied before an OPEC+ meeting that’s set to deliver another oversized production hike, threatening to swell a glut forecast for later this year.

Corporate Highlights:

• India’s regulator temporarily barred Jane Street Group from accessing the local securities market. Jane Street disputed the regulator’s findings.
• Singapore introduced fresh measures to tame housing prices.
• Hong Kong developer New World Development Co. is returning to the spotlight this month as investors’ focus turns to its plan to raise as much as $2 billion through a new loan

Some of the main moves in markets:

Stocks

• S&P 500 futures fell 0.3% as of 1:32 p.m. Tokyo time
• Japan’s Topix fell 0.3%
• Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 was little changed
• Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 0.6%
• The Shanghai Composite rose 0.4%
• Euro Stoxx 50 futures fell 0.4%

Currencies

• The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell 0.1%
• The euro rose 0.1% to $1.1774
• The Japanese yen rose 0.3% to 144.44 per dollar
• The offshore yuan rose 0.1% to 7.1629 per dollar

Cryptocurrencies

• Bitcoin fell 0.7% to $109,242.01
• Ether fell 0.8% to $2,579.58

Bonds

• Japan’s 10-year yield advanced one basis point to 1.450%
• Australia’s 10-year yield advanced two basis points to 4.20%

Commodities

• West Texas Intermediate crude fell 0.2% to $66.86 a barrel
• Spot gold rose 0.4% to $3,340.86 an ounce

This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.

–With assistance from Joanne Wong, Winnie Hsu and Momoka Yokoyama.

©2025 Bloomberg L.P.

Tokyo, July 4, 2025 – Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Engine & Turbocharger, Ltd. (MHIET), a part of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) Group, announces a new lineup to SGP M450, a gas cogeneration system jointly developed with Toho Gas Co., Ltd., capable of hydrogen co-firing at a maximum of 15 vol%, with power output of 450kW. It is launched for Japan market at present.

To allow for hydrogen co-firing, the two companies modified the fuel gas and engine control systems of the GS6R2 city gas mono-firing engine to develop a hydrogen co-firing engine. More than 500 hours of demonstration testing was conducted at the Toho Gas Technology Research Institute (Tokai, Aichi Prefecture), confirming the reliability of hydrogen mixing and the reduction in CO₂ emissions.
In the demonstration testing, various simulated operating patterns were applied to verify capabilities required for power generation equipment to respond to fluctuations in power demand and maintain stable operation. The tests confirmed that there is no risk of abnormal combustion, and that the system can be operated in the same manner as the city gas mono-firing model.

The hydrogen blend ratio has been set at a maximum of 15 vol% to minimize the scope of change from conventional natural gas engines. The system has two operating modes, city gas 13A mono-firing mode and hydrogen co-firing mode, and can be switched between modes at any point during loaded operation. In hydrogen co-firing mode, only city gas is used for starting the engine, which means the same amount of initial load as city gas mono-firing mode can be accepted even in the event of a power outage, making the system highly reliable for business continuity plans (BCP).

In addition, for customers who are considering the use of hydrogen in the future, MHIET is also offering the “Hydrogen Ready” package. The system is configured for city gas mono-firing at the time of installation, but some equipment and functions necessary for hydrogen co-firing are also pre-incorporated, allowing for a shortened work period when the site is converted for hydrogen co-firing.

Cogeneration systems, owing to the expected reduction in the environmental load through energy conservation, are considered one of the distributed energy resources that should be pursued further to achieve carbon neutrality. Moreover, since they are power sources able to respond to power outages resulting from large-scale disasters or other emergencies, they are also expected to play a role in strengthening resilience.(Note) Going forward, MHIET will continue to promote the greater use of hydrogen and the widespread adoption of distributed power generation, contributing to the realization of a low-carbon and decarbonized world, and improving the resilience of society as a whole.

• Resilience denotes toughness, recuperative power, and flexibility. It specifically refers to such initiatives as development of disaster-resilient infrastructure, expanding cooperation with businesses to support quick recovery, and strengthening information dissemination.