A drop in OPEC production came just as refineries began looking for supply, helping boost bullish speculative bets on crude last week by the most since July. The group, which pumps about 40 percent of the world’s oil, reduced output to the lowest for March since 2011 as a standoff between the Libyan government and rebels kept exports near the lowest level since Muammar Qaddafi was driven […]
The rupee falls to 60.27/28 from its Wednesday close of 60.14/15, as state-run banks are spotted buying dollars, which traders say is likely for defence and oil-related payments. Gains in USD/INR come despite positive stocks, with the Sensex up 0.2 percent. The gap between the spot USD/INR and one-month NDF has widened to around 0.45 rupee on Thursday, much higher than the usual 0.20-.025 rupee spread, suggesting […]
Asian shares rose in early trade on Wednesday after Wall Street reversed a three-day losing streak, but Japanese stocks dropped sharply after the yen surged on fading hopes of near-term stimulus from the Bank of Japan. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan advanced 0.9 percent, taking heart from a recovery in U.S. stocks overnight. Japanese stocks, on the other hand, had a tough day on […]
|By TAP Staff|Last year the Pay TV market in the MENA region grew 11.2 percent in terms of market share and 14.13 percent in terms of subscriber numbers, according to the findings of the latest Middle East Media Market report released by IHS, a leading global source of business information and insight. Over the last decade (2004 – 2013) the number of primary Pay TV subscribers almost […]
When Indian opposition leader Narendra Modi gave a speech on the virtues of smaller government and privatization on April 8 last year, supporters called him an ideological heir to former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, who died that day. Modi, favorite to form India’s next government after elections starting on Monday, has yet to unveil any detailed economic plans but it is clear that some of his […]
Iran said on Saturday it had useful expert-level nuclear talks with world powers in Vienna, addressing all major technical issues in the way of a final settlement. “The meetings were useful, raised mutual insight into our differing positions,” Iranian negotiator Hamid Baeedinejad told the official IRNA news agency at the end of the three-day talks in Vienna. “Everyone came well-prepared … addressing issues in minute technical details […]
India’s high-profile RBI governor is likely to come under political pressure to retreat from his hawkish stance on inflation if opposition leader Narendra Modi wins power in the general election. Strategists in Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), confident that his jobs-first policy pitch will secure a strong voter mandate, suggest that they would prefer to have one of their own at the helm of the Reserve Bank […]
Dubai will compete with London for a share of Islamic banks’ liquidity management business by offering a new platform for murabaha trading. Many Islamic banks around the world manage their short-term funds with murabaha, in which one bank acquires merchandise and another agrees to buy it at a mark-up. Traditionally, banks from the Gulf and as far afield as southeast Asia use commodities traded on the London […]
Gold traded below $1,300 an ounce on Monday, near a six-week low, and could face more pressure from weak physical demand in Asia and growing optimism about the U.S. economy. Spot gold was up slightly by 0.1 percent to $1,295.20 an ounce by 0018 GMT, but remained not far from a six-week low of $1,285.34 hit on Friday. Physical demand in top bullion buyer Asia has been […]
Asian stocks were up slightly in a cautious start to the week on Monday, with investors holding out hopes that China would take steps to stimulate the economy. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS tacked on 0.1 percent after rising to a 3-week high on Friday on the back of heightened speculation Beijing will launch new spending measures and reduced tensions in Ukraine. Australian […]
A UN panel on Monday morning released its much awaited report which assessed impacts of climate change on human lives, natural resources and marine ecosystem across the globe. It predicted a gloomy picture for Asia where most of the countries, including India and China, will not only have to face more extreme weather events but also have to experience severe stress on drinking water and food-grains by […]
As investors dump emerging-market equities at an unprecedented clip, they’re turning more and more to frontier markets in search of the next growth story. No exchange-traded fund focused on developing nations has grown faster in the past year than BlackRock Inc. (BLK)’s iShares MSCI Frontier 100 fund, whose biggest holdings are in Kuwait and Qatar. Assets under management surged nine-fold to $594 million, fueled by $465 million […]
SpiceJet Ltd., the Indian budget carrier headed for its third straight annual loss, said it sees little chance of luring investment soon amid elevated debt and intensifying competition. Although the airline’s owners have injected more than 5 billion rupees ($83 million) in equity in recent quarters, that “has not been adequate” to reduce the carrier’s dependence on debt, S.L. Narayanan, the chief financial officer of SpiceJet’s parent […]
Qatar Airways Ltd. Chief Executive Officer Akbar Al Baker said he’s pursuing acquisitions after reviving an investment strategy that saw the company offered stakes in carriers including Italy’s Alitalia SpA. The second-biggest Gulf airline is “actively discussing opportunities” with other passenger carriers, Al Baker said in an interview, without specifying where talks are focused. “I would not like to pre-empt our decision,” he said. “We would rather […]
|By K Raveendran| Samena Capital, an investment firm founded by Shirish Saraf, a former colleague of Arif Naqwi in Abraaj Capital, is in talks to buy as much as 50 percent of RAK Ceramics, the world’s biggest maker of ceramic tiles, according to two people familiar with the matter. Established in 2008, Samena Capital focuses on the Subcontinent, Asia, Middle East and North Africa, collectively the SAMENA […]
| By Clyde Russel | The price of Middle East crude oils being supplied to Asia appears too high given an increase in supply from Iran, Iraq and rival Russia and muted demand from refiners. While benchmark Oman futures have declined 5 percent since the start of the year to end at $102.93 a barrel on Wednesday, the price relative to global marker Brent has been rising. […]
Dubai’s government will consider establishing the world’s first fully sharia-compliant export-import bank to promote the emirate’s foreign trade, the Department of Economic Development said on Wednesday. The bank would provide financing to companies involved in trade while helping them to reduce their risks and gain market access, the department said in a statement without giving details of the proposed institution’s structure or financing. Noor Investment Group, which […]
Gary Dugan, chief investment officer for Asia and the Middle East at private bank Coutts, has resigned to take the CIO job at National Bank of Abu Dhabi , sources familiar with the matter told Reuters on Monday. A Coutts spokeswoman confirmed that Dugan had resigned without elaborating. NBAD declined to comment. Before Coutts, Dugan was CIO of Dubai’s Emirates NBD.-Reuters
As U.S. and European officials threaten sanctions in their face-off with Russia over Ukraine, Vladimir Putin’s $160 billion in oil and natural gas exports may be his most potent weapon to limit punitive measures. The U.S. and its European allies, set to meet today in Brussels, have few levers to deter Putin even as they warn Russia not to annex Crimea after a referendum in Ukraine’s southern […]
|By Rajhkumar K Shaaw and Santanu Chakraborty| For the first time in five years, Nilesh Dedhia is buying Indian stocks. The 48-year-old owner of a die-casting factory in Mumbai is among a growing number of local investors returning to the $1.2 trillion equity market on speculation national elections in May will deliver a government with the mandate to revive economic growth from a decade low. That optimism […]
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation sued 16 of the world’s largest banks on Friday, accusing them of colluding to suppress interest rates. The lawsuit, filed in the federal district court in New York, was the latest to accuse financial institutions of conspiring to manipulate Libor, or the London Interbank Offered Rate. The FDIC said the defendants’ conduct caused substantial losses to 38 banks that the U.S. regulator […]
Saudi Arabia’s drive to make Qatar abandon its embrace of the Muslim Brotherhood may founder because of the limited leverage the Saudis and their allies can exercise over the world’s richest country. Qatar traded more with Singapore in 2012 than it did with the three Gulf neighbors — Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain — that withdrew their ambassadors from Doha last week to protest […]
Asian shares cautiously rebounded from two-week lows on Thursday but gains were pared after disappointing retail sales and factory output data underscored investors’ concerns over slowdown in China. A standoff in Ukraine and a massive fall in copper prices in recent weeks also spooked investors, although a flat close on Wall Street and some positive data in Australia and Japan helped to cushion the blow. European shares […]
Singapore’s shrinking brokerage industry is set to get even smaller as trading restrictions planned by regulators dent profits, according to a body that represents individual brokers. The average daily value of shares traded in the city, which slumped 40 percent in the first two months of 2014 from a year earlier, will decline further should rules be implemented that include requiring collateral for some trades and shortening […]
