Latest news with #ShigeruIshiba
Business Recorder
3 hours ago
- Business
- Business Recorder
KSE-100 gains over 500 points on Pakistan's credit rating upgrade
The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) closed on a positive note on Friday, as investors cheered S&P Global's upgrade of Pakistan's sovereign credit rating to 'B—' from 'CCC+'. At close, the benchmark index settled at 139,207.29, up by 514.62 points or 0.37%. Top positive contribution to the index came from ENGROH, UBL, LUCK, MEBL, NBP, ATLH & SYS, as they cumulatively contributed 541 points to the index, brokerage house Topline Securities said in its post-market report. In a key development, S&P Global raised Pakistan's sovereign credit rating to 'B-' from 'CCC+' and placed it on a 'stable' outlook on Thursday, saying the country's finances and reserves had been stabilised by International Monetary Fund support. 'The S&P upgrade, coming shortly after Fitch raised its rating in Apr'25, is expected to enhance investor confidence, reduce external borrowing costs, and improve Pakistan's prospects of re-entering international bond markets,' said Arif Habib Limited (AHL). Moreover, the market anticipates a policy rate cut in the upcoming Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) scheduled to be held on Wednesday. 'As the SBP meets on July 30, 2025, we expect a 50bps rate cut to bring the policy rate down to 10.5%,' said AHL. 'With inflation down, the external position currently in a manageable zone, and yields already on a downward slope, conditions seem ripe for further monetary easing, though some risks cast a shadow,' it said. On Thursday, PSX witnessed a bearish trend as investor confidence took a hit due to mounting macroeconomic concerns. Surging inflation, coupled with the expected rupee slide on higher imports, further fueled the negative sentiments. The KSE-100 lost 561.69 points, or 0.40%, to settle at 138,692.67 points. The KSE-100 Index increased by 0.44% on week-on-week (WoW) basis. Internationally, Asian shares eased from highs on Friday, with Japanese markets retreating from a record peak, as investors locked in profits ahead of a crucial week that includes US President Donald Trump's tariff deadline and a host of central bank meetings. The dollar gained against the yen after bouncing off a two-week low on Thursday, helped by some firm US economic data, while Japan's currency was weighed down by political uncertainty amid media reports Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba will step down. Benchmark Japanese government bond yields hovered just below the highest since 2008. Japan's broad Topix index, which had jumped more than 5% over the previous two sessions to reach an all-time high, pulled back 0.7%. The Nikkei slipped 0.5% from Thursday's one-year high. Hong Kong's Hang Seng lost 0.5% and mainland Chinese blue chips declined 0.2%. Australia's equity benchmark declined 0.5%. At the same time, US S&P 500 futures added 0.2%, after the cash index edged up slightly to a new record closing high overnight, buoyed by robust earnings from Google parent Alphabet. The tech-heavy Nasdaq also marked a record high. MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe edged down 0.1%, but remained just below an all-time peak from Thursday.
5 hours ago
- Business
Japan-U.S. Tariff Deal to Carry No Joint Paper: Ishiba
Tokyo, July 25 (Jiji Press)--There is no plan to issue a joint document on a tariff agreement reached between Japan and the United States earlier this week, Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said Friday. Ishiba made the comment in a meeting among leaders of Japanese ruling and opposition parties that was held following the agreement, including a 15 pct U.S. reciprocal tariff on imports from Japan, cut from 25 pct announced earlier. The opposition parties criticized the Japanese government for failing to issue a joint statement on the agreement. They also urged the government to compile a supplementary budget plan, citing the need for economic measures to cushion the tariff impact. The meeting was attended by Tetsuo Saito, leader of Komeito, the coalition partner of Ishiba's ruling Liberal Democratic Party, and opposition party heads, including Yoshihiko Noda of the leading opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan. "We achieved an agreement that serves both countries' national interests while protecting what we should protect," Ishiba said at the beginning of the meeting. [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]
South China Morning Post
5 hours ago
- Politics
- South China Morning Post
Japan's Ishiba finds unlikely support to stay in power, and prevent far-right shift
Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba 's future is uncertain , but an unlikely campaign for him to stay was growing online this week, including from people who are his natural political opponents. The life raft has emerged since upper house elections on Sunday deprived Ishiba's coalition of an upper house majority, months after it suffered a similar disaster in the lower chamber. Despite Ishiba, 68, insisting that he has not discussed his resignation with members of his Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), multiple reports say that it is just a matter of time. Some conservative members of the LDP are collecting signatures to hold a special meeting to discuss a leadership election to oust Ishiba, Fuji TV reported on Friday. One reported signee is Sanae Takaichi, a hardline nationalist and one-time heavy metal drummer who lost a leadership contest to Ishiba in September. Takaichi, 64, would likely run again to lead the party – and become Japan's first woman prime minister if she wins – if Ishiba does depart.
Japan Times
7 hours ago
- Politics
- Japan Times
Various tactics to force Ishiba out of power emerge within the LDP
Liberal Democratic Party lawmakers — fuming over Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba staying on despite losing a majority in the Upper House election — are coming up with various tactics to force him out of his post as soon as possible. The party has been thrown into a political power game between those who want Ishiba ousted immediately and those supporting the prime minister, who denied reports Wednesday that he will resign. One of the two tactics under discussion is to hold an official decision-making meeting of party lawmakers that requires the support of a third of them or more to be held. Currently, the party is expected to hold a less formal meeting of party lawmakers on Monday to discuss the outcome of the Upper House election. If Monday's meeting becomes an official one, it could give further momentum to the anti-Ishiba camp and a petition to hold an LDP leadership race could be submitted, among other options. On Friday, LDP lawmaker Hiroyoshi Sasagawa told reporters that he was able to gather enough signatures to hold an official meeting. The anti-Ishiba camp hopes that getting at least a third of the party lawmakers on board for the official meeting will pressure Ishiba to step down. A petition to hold the meeting has reportedly been signed by former members of the now-defunct factions that were led by party heavyweights Shinzo Abe and Toshimitsu Motegi, as well as those in the existing faction led by former Prime Minister Taro Aso. Meanwhile, some LDP lawmakers are going door to door in the political center of Nagatacho, collecting their colleagues' signatures for a petition to move the date for the party's presidential election forward from September 2027, when Ishiba's three-year term ends. Often described as the "recall provision,' a presidential race can be held if more than half of the combined number of LDP lawmakers and one representative from each local chapter asks for one. The provision, however, has never been invoked since it was introduced in 2002. The key would be how widely anti-Ishiba sentiment is spread within the party across the nation. Calls for Ishiba to resign, however, are already spreading among younger LDP lawmakers. The LDP's youth bureau submitted a letter to LDP Secretary-General Hiroshi Moriyama on Friday demanding that Ishiba and the party's executive members take responsibility for the Upper House election results, effectively urging them to resign. The letter was submitted after 46 out of 47 LDP prefectural chapters participated in an online meeting with the party's youth bureau on Wednesday, in which the majority of participants agreed to submit a joint statement to party headquarters demanding the 'immediate' resignation and replacement of Ishiba and other party executives. Ishiba is set to make a decision on what to do once key events in August are over, including a commemoration of the 80th anniversary of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the anniversary of the end of World War II on Aug. 15 and an international conference on African development in Yokohama from Aug. 20 to 22. On Friday, Ishiba met with ruling and opposition party leaders to update them on the tariff deal with the United States. But the meeting was overshadowed by a flood of news reports and speculation on what might happen to Ishiba. Yoshihiko Noda, leader of the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, told reporters that Ishiba did not mention anything about his current standing in the Friday meeting. On Wednesday, Ishiba denied reports that he would resign at the end of August after an unusual meeting at party headquarters with three former prime ministers — Aso, Yoshihide Suga and Fumio Kishida — hours after Japan and the United States reached the surprise trade agreement . Ishiba said the party heavyweights did not discuss his resignation, but one of the former prime ministers at the meeting revealed that none of them were supportive of Ishiba's continued leadership. Information from Jiji added
NDTV
8 hours ago
- Politics
- NDTV
#IshibaDon'tQuit: Unlikely Support Grows for Japanese PM Ishiba To Stay
Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba's future is uncertain but an unlikely campaign for him to stay was growing online this week, including from people who are his natural political opponents. The life raft has emerged since upper house elections on Sunday deprived Ishiba's coalition of an upper house majority, months after it suffered a similar disaster in the lower chamber. Despite Ishiba, 68, insisting that he has not discussed his resignation with members of his Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), multiple reports say that it is just a matter of time. Some conservative members of the LDP are collecting signatures to hold a special meeting to discuss a leadership election to oust Ishiba, Fuji TV reported on Friday. One reported signee is Sanae Takaichi, a hardline nationalist and onetime heavy metal drummer who lost a leadership contest to Ishiba in September. Takaichi, 64, would likely run again to lead the party -- and become Japan's first woman prime minister if she wins -- if Ishiba does depart. The prospect of someone as premier with hawkish views on Japanese history and China has fuelled online calls for the moderate Ishiba to remain in power under the hashtag "#Ishiba Don't quit". Some of the calls came from opposition politicians to the left of the LDP, including even from a Communist Party member of a local ward assembly. Ishiba "is the most reasonable LDP leader in recent memory", LaSalle Ishii, a newly elected lawmaker for the Social Democratic Party, said on X. "If he resigns, a far-right government will be born," the well-known comedian and voice actor said. Taro Yamamoto, the leader of small opposition party Reiwa Shinsengumi, was among the first to voice concern about Ishiba's replacement. "The question is, if he were not to continue, who is going to replace him instead?" he told reporters during a Monday news conference. "His economic policies are no good, but for Ishiba-san to continue, I think it's a safe choice." A rally is also planned for Friday evening in front of the prime minister's office to urge him to stay, although it was uncertain how many would attend. Boomeranging tariffs Shortly after the Sunday election, a Kyodo News survey put the approval rating for the Ishiba government at just 22.9 percent. But in that same poll, 45.8 percent of the public believed there was no need for him to resign. The LDP has governed almost non-stop since 1955, but voters have been deserting the party, including towards fringe groups like the "Japanese first" Sanseito. Factors include rising prices, notably for rice, falling living standards, and anger at corruption scandals within the LDP. The opposition is seen as too fragmented to form an alternative government. But being in a minority in both houses of parliament means Ishiba's coalition needs support from other parties to pass legislation. This comes just as Japan faces multiple challenges including a ballooning social security budget to pay pensions for its rapidly ageing and shrinking population. A new trade deal announced this week with US President Donald Trump will see Japanese imports face a painful 15 percent tariff, although this was lower than a threatened 25 percent. "We'll evaluate it every quarter, and if the president is unhappy then they will boomerang back to the 25 percent tariff rates," US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said afterwards.
