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Hong Kong and mainland Chinese stocks are set to close out 2025 with annual gains for the second year in a row, as a tariff truce between Beijing and Washington mitigated geopolitical risks and China’s growth held up.The Hang Seng Index has risen 28 per cent this year, putting the 89-member benchmark on track for its best yearly performance since 2017, when it gained 36 per cent. The CSI 300 Index of the mainland’s yuan-denominated stocks has climbed 18 per cent, heading for the biggest gain since 2020.The blistering gains caught most market participants flat-footed, with many global money managers…

Hong Kong and mainland Chinese stocks are set to close out 2025 with annual gains for the second year in a row, as a tariff truce between Beijing and Washington mitigated geopolitical risks and China’s growth held up.The Hang Seng Index has risen 28 per cent this year, putting the 89-member benchmark on track for its best yearly performance since 2017, when it gained 36 per cent. The CSI 300 Index of the mainland’s yuan-denominated stocks has climbed 18 per cent, heading for the biggest gain since 2020.The blistering gains caught most market participants flat-footed, with many global money managers…

ByteDance plans to spend about 100 billion yuan (US$14 billion) on artificial intelligence chips from Nvidia in 2026, a hefty increase from roughly 85 billion yuan in 2025, if the US company is allowed to sell its H200 graphic processing units in China, according to people familiar with the matter.The budget, which could change, is part of the Beijing-based unicorn’s ambitious capital spending plan in AI for 2026. The company, with a private market capitalisation of US$500 billion, has built up a chip design unit that employed around 1,000 staff, one of the people briefed on the situation said.ByteDance’s internal…

The US Federal Reserve on Tuesday released the minutes of its sharply divided meeting earlier this month, which concluded with a vote to cut interest rates again — a decision that appears to have been far closer than the final vote suggested.   The minutes, published a day earlier than usual due to the New Year holiday, showed that officials expressed a wide range of views during the December 9–10 meeting.   Ultimately, the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) voted 9–3 to cut the policy rate by a quarter of a percentage point, marking the largest number of dissenting votes…

President Xi Jinping has issued a mandate to expand grain production as China moves to shield its food supply from global volatility, calling for renewed efforts to modernise agriculture and rural areas over the coming year.Speaking at a two-day work conference in Beijing that ended on Tuesday, Xi urged a “no-relaxation” approach to grain output and called for higher overall production capacity and efficiency by integrating high-quality land, seeds, machinery and farming techniques.“We must improve the effectiveness of policies to strengthen agriculture, benefit rural areas and enrich farmers, and promote the maintenance of grain and other key agricultural products at…

LAHORE: The year 2025 proved to be a satisfactory one for Pakistan’s hydropower and water sectors as WAPDA consistently supplied clean, green and low-cost hydel electricity to the national grid. Despite diverse and serious challenges, the authority also achieved several key milestones on its under-construction mega projects. According to the WAPDA, its 22 hydel power stations collectively generated 33.12 billion units of electricity in 2025, accounting for nearly 30 percent of total power generation in the national system. With an average tariff of just Rs 3.83 per unit, WAPDA’s hydel electricity continued to subsidize the country’s overall power sector, making…

ISLAMABAD: The Cabinet Committee on Privatization (CCoP) on Tuesday approved the Rs 135 billion bid of the Arif Habib-led consortium for acquiring 75 percent shares of PIA and recommended its approval by the Cabinet. The CCoP met here with Deputy Prime Minister/Foreign Minister Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar in the chair. The Secretary, Ministry of Privatisation, provided a detailed briefing on the future course of action of PIACL’s Privatization. The Deputy Prime Minister urged all concerned to take timely action to ensure early finalisation of the privatisation, with the hope and desire that this will lead to PIA regaining its past…

KARACHI: Adviser to the Prime Minister of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) on Commerce, Industry and Labour, Sardar Fahad Yaqoob Khan has said that the establishment of industrial units in Azad Kashmir will facilitate access to markets as far as Central Asian countries and significantly enhance bilateral and regional trade. He stated that Azad Kashmir offers vast potential in industry and commerce, and the government is fully committed to providing all possible facilities to investors coming from within the country and abroad. He expressed these views while addressing industrialists at a ceremony held at the Korangi Association of Trade and…

ISLAMABAD: The failure of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to effectively deal with the traders’ community resulted in another massive protest on Tuesday against the installation of Point of Sale (POS) devices on small businesses in the federal capital. Traders have demanded the immediate withdrawal of what they described as the “black law” regarding the installation of Point of Sale (POS) devices, warning of nationwide protests if their demands are not accepted. A protest rally was organized by the All Pakistan Anjuman-e-Tajran (APAT) and the Traders Action Committee, Islamabad, which was led by APAT Ajmal Baloch. The rally marched…

ISLAMABAD: The government has unveiled a compact yet ambitious business plan for 2026–2030 to revive the Pakistan National Shipping Corporation (PNSC), under which the national fleet will be expanded to 54 vessels over the next five years, with the National Logistics Cell (NLC) set to play a role in shipping-related operations to boost national cargo capacity by 2030. According to official details, PNSC operates only 10 vessels and carries around 11 percent of Pakistan’s seaborne trade currently, forcing the country to rely on foreign shipping companies for nearly 90 percent of its imports and exports. This dependence results in an…