Tag: Hope

  • Pakistani rupee bounces back after steep decline against dollar

    Pakistani rupee bounces back after steep decline against dollar

    During the early hours of trading on Friday, the Pakistani rupee (PKR) saw a significant recovery against the US dollar, with an increase of 4.51 per cent. The inter-bank market quoted the PKR at Rs272.78 by 11:50 am, representing an increase of Rs12.31 against the US dollar.

    This follows a steep decline of 6.66 per cent or nearly Rs19 to settle at an all-time low of Rs285.09 against the US dollar on Thursday.

    On Thursday, the State Bank of Pakistan’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) raised the key policy rate by 300 basis points (bps) to 20 per cent, aiming to curb inflation.

    The committee also emphasized the need for energy conservation measures to ease pressure on the external account and meet import requirements. The MPC expects this decision to stabilize inflation expectations and bring it to a medium-term target of 5 per cent-7 per cent by end-FY25.

    Globally, the US dollar eased back from a 2-1/2-month high against the yen on Friday, and weakened toward its first weekly loss since January against major peers. This comes as traders tried to gauge the path for Federal Reserve policy.

    According to Geo, the dollar index, which measures the currency against the yen, euro, and four other major peers, fell 0.11 per cent to 104.85, from its peak of 105.36 earlier this week. The index has decreased by 0.36 per cent since last Friday.

    Meanwhile, oil prices, a critical currency parity indicator, dropped on Friday, but remained poised for a weekly gain due to renewed optimism regarding China’s demand recovery, outweighing concerns over growing crude inventories in the US and tighter monetary policy in Europe.

    This is an intraday update.

  • UAE’s Hope returns with first image of Mars

    UAE’s Hope returns with first image of Mars

    The spacecraft Hope sent by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to the orbit of Mars has returned with stunning pictures.

    The spacecraft entered into the orbit on Tuesday and made UAE the first Arab nation in history to create a scientific presence on the Earth’s near neighbour.

    The spacecraft was sent to study the weather and climate system and other areas of astronomy.

    The state of the art Hope is performing two jobs including capturing high-resolution pictures of the surface of Mars and acting as a telecommunications reply station for landed robots in contact with Earth.

    The picture is captured by Hope’s EXI instrument from the distance of 24,700 Kilometers (km) above the Martian surface on Wednesday, one day after entering the orbit of the Red Planet.

    “The transmission of the Hope Probe’s first image of Mars is a defining moment in our history and marks the UAE joining advanced nations involved in space exploration,” the mission’s Twitter account stated. “We hope this mission will lead to discoveries about Mars which will benefit humanity.”

    Hope is now orbiting around Mars as close as 1,000km from the planet and goes out to almost 50,000km.

    Hope will be carrying high-level research on Mars like monitoring how energy moves through the atmosphere from the bottom to the very top.

    Out of several, one of the main things Hope was to study is the leakage of hydrogen and oxygen neutral atoms in space.

    This research will open wonders that will help the scientists to understand how Mars has turned from a wet, water abundant planet to a cold and dusty ball.

    This coming week, it is the turn of the Americans. Their Perseverance rover reaches Mars on Thursday and will try immediately to land in a near-equatorial crater called Jezero.