Benchmark U.S. oil prices are poised to test $55 a barrel after a six-month rout pushed crude to the lowest in five years. West Texas Intermediate crude ended below $58 today for the first time since May 2009 after the International Energy Agency cut its global demand forecast for the fourth time in five months. Prices are down 46 percent from this year’s highest close of $107.26 […]
Most stock markets in the Gulf fell sharply on Tuesday after oil prices hit five-year lows, triggering a fresh wave of panic selling of shares by local retail investors, though most fund managers and analysts think the region can cope comfortably with cheaper oil. Dubai’s market, traditionally the Gulf’s most volatile, tumbled 3.5 percent to 3,889 points, though it closed well above its intra-day low of 3,761 […]
Most Gulf firms can prosper with $70 oil DUBAI, 6 days ago Plunging stock markets in the Gulf show investors are panicking about the prospect of $70 oil next year. But heavy state spending means most firms in the region, with the big exception of petrochemical producers, are likely to do just fine. The main Saudi stock index sank 4.8 per cent on Sunday, bringing its losses […]
Shuaa Capital’s executive chairman and board director, Sheikh Maktoum Hasher al-Maktoum, will step down from both roles in February, the Dubai-based investment bank said on Sunday. Maktoum will depart after the disclosure of its full-year results for 2014, Shuaa said in a statement. A member of Dubai’s ruling family, Maktoum served in his present capacity since May 2011. During his tenure, the firm underwent a significant turn-around […]
The latest entrant into Islamic finance is leading the industry in the new direction of socially responsible investment – which could even include the fight against Ebola. Last week an immunisation programme secured a $500 million issuance of Islamic bonds, or sukuk, in the largest debut issue ever by a global non-profit organisation, under a broader trend to use bond markets to fund development and humanitarian projects. […]
Oil market analysts are debating if oil will fall to $50. In North Dakota, prices are already there. Crude sold at the wellhead in the Bakken shale region in North Dakota fell to $49.69 a barrel on Nov. 28, according to the marketing arm of Plains All America (PAA) Pipeline LP. That’s down 47 percent from this year’s peak in June, and 29 percent less than the […]
Saudi Arabia will probably deepen discounts for crude supplies to Asia after leading OPEC to maintain the group’s output target amid a global battle for market share, according to a Bloomberg survey of traders. The world’s biggest oil exporter will announce January official selling prices to buyers in Asia this week, after lifting its Arab Light grade from the lowest level in almost six years a month […]
|By TAP Staff| Saudi Arabia’s bourse regulator on Tuesday suspended share trading in the shares of Mobily and Zain Saudi after a bitter money dispute between the two telecom operators snowballed into a major controversy. The decision by the Capital Market Authority follows a Mobily statement that it had asked for arbitration about money it claims it is owed by smaller rival Zain Saudi. Trading in the […]
Shares in Dubai declined to the lowest level in five months as the emirate’s largest stock traded without the right to its next dividend and Gulf markets retreated amid plunging oil prices. The DFM General Index (DFMGI) fell 2.2 percent to 4,186.11 at the close. The gauge lost 19 percent since the most recent peak on Sept. 3, leaving it less than 50 points away from a […]
Deloitte LLP may be blocked from auditing companies in Saudi Arabia after the country’s market regulator told firms registered in the kingdom to stop using its local services, according to a circular obtained by Bloomberg. The Capital Market Authority said in the circular dated Nov. 27 that publicly traded companies it regulates should avoid working with Deloitte’s Saudi Arabian practice as of June 1. The ban could […]
Plunging stock markets in the Gulf show investors are panicking about the prospect of $70 oil next year. But heavy state spending means most firms in the region, with the big exception of petrochemical producers, are likely to do just fine. The main Saudi stock index sank 4.8 percent on Sunday, bringing its losses from its September peak to 23 percent. Dubai’s index is down 21 percent […]
Middle East fund managers expect to put money back into Gulf stock markets in coming months once the shock of the plunge in oil prices fades, the latest Reuters survey of regional asset managers shows. The slide of Brent crude to $70 a barrel last week,from around $115 in June, has shifted the outlook for the oil-exporting Gulf economies. This has caused Gulf equities to underperform after […]
Arch Capital Group Ltd. (ACGL) agreed to take complete ownership of Gulf Reinsurance Ltd. after losses on a venture that was backed by oil-producing nations. Arch will also take on liabilities from insurance contracts written in prior periods, the Bermuda-based company said yesterday in a statement that didn’t disclose terms. Gulf Re’s financial strength rating was placed under review, with negative implications, by A.M. Best in September. […]
FlyDubai’s debut Islamic bonds are signaling growing appetite for sukuk from aviation companies in the Gulf as they spend on airports and fleet expansion. The budget carrier raised $500 million this month in the first sale of the debt by a regional airline after Emirates, the world’s largest operator of A380 superjumbo planes. The issue received bids for more than six times the amount offered. Gulf cities […]
Saudi Arabia’s shares retreated to the lowest level since March as the nation’s oil minister said no one should cut output to stem falling crude prices. Dubai’s measure declined. The Tadawul All Share Index (SASEIDX) lost 1.7 percent to 9,081.27 at the close in Riyadh, the lowest since March 3 and about 162 points away from entering a bear market. Samba Financial Group led the decline with […]
Three more private companies are expected to list shares on the UAE stock exchanges’ secondary market by mid-2015, the head of the stock market regulator said after the first two firms began trading on the platform on Tuesday. Announced in September, the new platform aims to encourage many of the Gulf state’s private companies, including family-owned firms who dominate the business landscape, to trade their shares through […]
Iran may propose that OPEC cut its output target by as much as 1 million barrels a day to halt the slide in crude prices when the country’s oil minister consults with his Saudi counterpart before the group gathers this week. Bijan Namdar Zanganeh and Saudi Arabia’s Oil Minister Ali Al-Naimi will talk on the sidelines of the meeting in Vienna of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting […]
Jersey Finance, the island’s financial centre which acts as custodian of 1.2 trillion pounds ($1.88 trillion), is in talks with a dozen banks from China, India and the Gulf about obtaining a licence in Jersey, its deputy chief executive said. Situated between France and Britain in the Channel, Jersey is a British Crown dependency outside of the United Kingdom and the European Union. It is jostling with […]
NEW DELHI: The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government on Thursday approved an outlay of Rs 43,033 crore to fund an ambitious initiative to supply electricity through separate feeders for agricultural and rural domestic consumption, aimed at providing round-the-clock power to village households. In addition, the cabinet also approved spending Rs 32,612 crore on an integrated power development initiative, which involves strengthening sub-transmission and distribution systems, according […]
NEW DELHI: The government will soon relax the rules so that road developers can sell their completed or stuck project, which will free them up to invest in other road projects that have found few takers in recent years. The current rules say developers have to hold at least 26 per cent stake in highway projects, tying them to projects executed by them. The road ministry […]
Mumbai: The board of Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) on Wednesday cleared big-bang market reforms, including a move to replace the two-decade-old insider-trading rules with the new prohibition of insider trading (PIT) regulations, and amending the existing delisting regulations. Additionally, Sebi approved new reforms in consent mechanism under which it will give entities found violating securities laws the option of settling the matter before the […]
NEW DELHI: The government is working on big-ticket financial package for about 1,30,000-mw thermal and hydro power plants worth over Rs 6,00,000 crore that are hit by severe funds crunch while continuing to face cost and time overruns. Officials said the Department of Financial Services will shortly recommend a series of steps to the Reserve Bank of India. These include lenders providing additional debt to […]
Bad debts in China are well underestimated because authorities persist in propping up weak companies and bailing out local investors, according to DAC Management LLC. The Chicago-based asset management and advisory firm, which focuses on distressed credit and special situations in China, says the worst is yet to come, and that means lots of opportunities for the world’s biggest distressed debt traders. Nonperforming loans at Chinese banks […]
NEW DELHI: Bids in the February 2015 spectrum auction are likely to skyrocket as the department of telecommunications (DoT) plans to auction just 800/900/1800 MHz spectrum bands, and not the vital 2100 MHz band spectrum that telcos were hoping for. Auctions for spectrum in the 2100 MHz band will take place only in May, and with no certainty about how much 2100 MHz spectrum would be available […]
