CEOs of 73 percent of companies in the UAE say prepared to lose profit in the short term for the sake of protecting long-term reputation. Once the sole remit of the marketing and PR departments, reputational risk is now seen as a critical company-wide concern, according to a global survey by the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) and the American Institute of CPAs (AICPA). The survey […]
DP World Ltd., the world’s third-largest ports operator, posted a 9.1 percent increase in first-half profit, beating analysts’ estimates, as it focused on fast-growing markets and monetized assets in Hong Kong. Net income rose to $264 million, or 31.8 cents a share, from $242 million, or 29.1 cents, the Dubai-based company said in a statement to Nasdaq Dubai today. The mean estimate of three analysts was for net income […]
Gulf stock markets stabilised by the close on Wednesday after plunging in early trade on the prospect of an escalation of Syria’s civil war, as the United States threatened a military strike on Damascus over the use of chemical weapons. Stocks had also tumbled on Tuesday and selling resumed on Wednesday morning as local retail investors, who have dominated trade in recent weeks, scrambled to lock in […]
Dubai’s stock market reputation as a safe haven in the Middle East was jolted this week as the possibility of a U.S. military strike against Syria spooked all global asset classes. The benchmark DFM stock index slumped 7% on Aug. 27, making it the worst global stock market performer that day. It fell another 1% today as the prospect of Syria’s woes spreading to the wider region, […]
India’s rupee plummeted more than 3 percent to a record on concern a surge in oil prices will worsen the current account and push the economy toward its biggest crisis in more than two decades. Stocks and bonds plunged. The U.S., France and the U.K. are considering limited military action against Syria after concluding the regime used chemical weapons against civilians, fanning concern unrest will disrupt Middle […]
Jitters over a possible U.S.-led military strike against the Syrian government knocked Asian equities to a seven-week low on Wednesday and pushed oil prices and safe-haven gold to multi-month highs. An acute ‘risk-off’ mode also boosted the appeal of the Japanese yen, which held near a one-week high against the dollar and euro after having posted its biggest rally in more than two months. Washington and its […]
The United States and its allies geared up for a probable military strike against Syria that could come within days and would be the most aggressive action by Western powers in the Middle Eastern nation’s two-and-a-half-year civil war. Western envoys have told the Syrian opposition to expect a military response soon against President Bashar al-Assad’s forces as punishment for a chemical weapons attack last week, according to […]
Dubai’s stock index plunged the most in the world as the Obama administration vowed to hold Syria’s government liable for chemical weapons attacks. The DFM General Index slid 5.2 percent, the most August 2011 and the steepest slump among more than 90 global benchmarks tracked by Bloomberg, to 2,600.81 at 12:27 p.m. in Dubai. Emaar Properties , the United Arab Emirates’ biggest publicly traded developer, retreated to […]
The heightened economic activity in Dubai has undoubtedly been supported by the recovery of the emirate’s real estate sector, with capital values in some residential submarkets quickly closing in on their Q3 2008 pre-crisis peaks, Cluttons said in its latest market analysis. During Q2 alone, villa values rose by an average of 21%, compared to 24.4% last year. Apartments on the other hand recorded capital value increases […]
Investors are favoring U.S. stocks over emerging markets by the most ever as fund flows and volatility measures show institutions are increasingly seeking the relative safety of American equities. Almost $95 billion was poured into exchange-traded funds of American shares this year, while developing-nation ETFs saw withdrawals of $8.4 billion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index (SPX) trades at 16 times […]
HSBC Holdings, the top arranger of debt issues in the Gulf Arab region, has named Mustafa Aziz Ata to run its debt capital markets business for the Middle East and North Africa, an internal memo from the bank showed. Aziz, who joined the bank in 2004, is currently a director in its global capital markets division. In his new role, Aziz will report to Russell Schofield-Bezer, head of EMEA debt capital markets, […]
The Arabian Post Special As India’s currency plummeted against the U.S. dollar, Gulf-based Indians are avoiding gold purchases or selling their gold to raise cash for property bargains back home. “Since early 2013 when the Rupee started tumbling, we have been receiving ample demand from Indian residents for property loans,” said Shabbir Gunerwala, a loan officer working for Indian bank ICICI in Dubai. Santosh Tandel, the regional […]
Deposits with UAE banks climbed to an all-time high at the end of the first half of 2013 while assets also peaked at their highest level and loans picked up sharply. Official data showed the UAE’s 23 national banks and 28 foreign units are pushing ahead with a provisioning drive to bolster their financial base in the wake of the 2008 global fiscal distress, with allocations for […]
By Steen Jakobsen, Saxo Bank Commenting on Egypt is not something I take lightly, particularly when the death toll there continues to rise. The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) is a difficult region to comment on in general. You cannot apply the usual economic models when doing your research, but have to make a careful assessment of evidence on the ground and by observing the evolution […]
Experts have welcomed the creation of International Property Measurement Standards Coalition, the the first global standard for measuring property. Commenting on the recent announcement that 19 leading property professionals from around the world have been appointed to create the International Property Measurement Standards Coalition (IPMSC), Alan Robertson, CEO of Jones Lang LaSalle Middle East & North Africa said: “This is good news for the Middle East and […]
Saudi Arabia and India topped the charts for sending the most tourists to Dubai in the first half of this year as a new report by Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM) revealed record-breaking figures. More than 5.5 million tourists visited Dubai from January to June this year, representing an increase of 11.1 per cent over the previous year. Director-General of DTCM Helal Saeed Almarri said: […]
U.S. investment bank Lazard Ltd’s most senior banker in Dubai, Ali Asghar, has left to set up his own emerging markets-focused boutique firm, three sources familiar with the matter said. Asghar, who headed Lazard’s Dubai office as a director, joined the bank in 2007 and focused on mergers and acquisitions advisory, restructuring and capital raising in the Gulf Arab region. Global investment banks scaled back their Middle […]
The United States on Tuesday adopted a harder line toward Egypt’s military-backed government, stressing that its bloody crackdown on protesters could influence U.S. aid to Cairo but denying reports that it has suspended the assistance. The army’s clampdown on supporters of deposed Islamist President Mohamed Mursi over the past week, the “suspicious deaths” of 37 prisoners in custody and the detention of Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohamed Badie […]
New cable network Al Jazeera America introduced itself to viewers on Tuesday with reports on political strife in Egypt and the impact of climate change on U.S. cities, shortly after a major pay TV distributor declined to carry the channelThe decision by AT&T’s U-verse pay-TV service stemmed from a contract dispute over terms to carry the new network, AT&T spokesman Mark Siegel said. Al Jazeera responded by […]
By Asa Fitch and Rory Jones Thousands of people are on the move in the United Arab Emirates as a deadline approaches for employees of the Abu Dhabi government to live in the city or risk losing a portion of their salaries. The move-or-lose requirement was announced in an unusual edict last year that said government workers would have to give up housing allowances built into their […]
(Reuters) – In his full-throated cry of support for the Egyptian authorities, Saudi King Abdullah on Friday described street protests by the Muslim Brotherhood as representing “terrorism and sedition”. That stark view of a crisis that has killed hundreds in the past week shows why the world’s top oil exporter will continue to back Egypt’s crackdown on the Brotherhood even while its Western allies try to convince […]
Airports in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) experience local disruptions – such as those that stem from fog – which, annually, affect over 200 flights and 30,000 passengers in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) alone. In addition, according to Oxford Economics, disruptions from the 2010 spread of Icelandic volcanic ash over European airspace had a $253 million net impact on the aviation sector in the Middle East […]
RIYADH – Healthcare spending in Saudi Arabia is expected to grow by 10.3 percent this year to SR98 billion over 2012’s SR88.9 billion. The Saudi government has announced that major projects involving healthcare, along with other key sectors such as education, will get additional funding and strong governmental focus in the coming months. At the same time, the Kingdom’s IT expenditure is projected to increase by around […]
Gold may extend a rally from a two-month high as an increase in demand from jewelry buyers in China and India helps counter a drop in assets under exchange-traded funds backed by bullion. Prices may rally to as much as $1,550 an ounce by the end of the year, said Jeffrey Rhodes, managing director of the financial institutions division of the Kaloti Jewellery Group, a Dubai-based gold […]
