|By TAP Staff| The Saudi stock market, the largest market in the GCC with a total market capitalisation of approximately$550 billion, is drawing interest from a large number of potential foreign investors. The Saudi Stock Exchange opened to qualified foreign investors (QFI) for the first time one month ago. Increased participation from international financial institutions is primarily designed to help enhance the sophistication and stability of the […]
UAE. Retailers in the UAE experience some of the best conditions in the world in which to operate in, benefitting from a strong quality of infrastructure and a robust economic environment, says Arcadis in its Retail Operation Index. The UAE ranks eighth place in the overall rankings and first place in the Middle East, while quality of transportation and ease of getting up-and-running is holding many other […]
ABU DHABI // In less than 30 minutes on Thursday, the hashtag #Signs_of_victory_from_Aden was tweeted more than 18 million times. Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed said on Twitter: “#Signs_of_victory_from_Aden comes in these blessed days thanks first to the Lord and then to the Saudi-led Arab coalition and the heroic Yemeni fighters.” The Minister of Foreign Affairs’ message was retweeted 7,347 times. * The National staff This entry passed […]
ABU DHABI // A UAE serviceman died while “performing his national duty” with Saudi-led coalition forces, state news agency Wam announced on Thursday. Lt Abdul Aziz Sarhan Saleh Al Ka’abi was killed while participating in Operation Restoring Hope, in support of the internationally-recognised Yemen government of president Abdrabu Mansur Hadi, said the UAE General Command of the Armed Forces. Prayers over the body of Lt Al Ka’abi […]
Anti-Houthi militiamen on Tuesday at the entrance to Aden’s international airport, which they recaptured from Shiite Houthi rebels. By SAEED AL-BATATI and KAREEM FAHIM July 14, 2015 AL MUKALLA, Yemen — Southern fighters battling Houthi rebels seized control of the international airport in Yemen’s port city of Aden on Tuesday, dealing the Houthis their most significant defeat in the city since they stormed it more than three months ago, witnesses and […]
Video | Accord is ‘Bad Mistake,’ Netanyahu Says Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel said the nuclear agreement would enable Iran to continue its “aggression and terror” throughout the region. By ISABEL KERSHNER July 14, 2015 JERUSALEM — Furiously denouncing the accord to limit Iran’s nuclear program on Tuesday as “a historic mistake,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israel would not be bound by the agreement and warned […]
|By TAP Staff| The end of sanctions could bring a rapid economic boom Iran, which had its oil exports halved by sanctions, and its economy cut by about 20 percent. The prospect of a deal has already helped push down global oil prices because of the possibility that Iranian supply could return to the market. Oil prices tumbled more than a dollar on Tuesday after the deal […]
Shiite fighters launched a rocket on Sunday toward Islamic State militants from the outskirts of Fallujah, in Anbar Province, Iraq. By OMAR AL-JAWOSHY and ANNE BARNARD July 13, 2015 BAGHDAD — The Iraqi government declared on Monday that it was beginning a major military operation to retake the western province of Anbar from the Islamic State, which occupies much of the area including its major cities, Ramadi and Falluja. It was […]
Iranian stocks climbed to the highest level in three months as diplomats from the Persian Gulf country and six negotiating powers moved closer to reaching a nuclear accord. The Tehran Stock Exchange’s benchmark index advanced 1.2 percent on Sunday to 67,646.4, the highest level since April 15, as officials sought to clinch a deal that would help lift sanctions crippling Iran’s economy. Bank Saderat Iran was the […]
Rulers and ministers from the UAE have attended the funeral of Prince Saud Al Faisal, who served as foreign minister of Saudi Arabia for four decades. Prince Saud’s body arrived on Saturday morning at King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah from the US, where he died on Thursday aged 75. His body was taken to Al Adel Cemetery in Mecca. A delegation including Sheikh Hamdan bin Zayed, […]
By SAEED AL-BATATI and KAREEM FAHIM July 11, 2015 AL MUKALLA, Yemen — A cease-fire brokered by the United Nations that was intended to allow the delivery of relief supplies failed to take hold in Yemen on Saturday, as a military coalition led by Saudi Arabia carried out airstrikes, and fighting continued between the Houthis rebels and rival militias in several cities. The “pause” in the fighting had been scheduled to […]
UAE. Private sector businesses in Dubai signalled further strong increases in business activity and new orders in June, though the rates of expansion moderated to 27- and 53-month lows, respectively. Despite softer increases in activity and new work, Dubai private sector companies were increasingly optimistic towards the year-ahead, with the degree of positive sentiment reaching a 19-month high. Furthermore, increased confidence towards the business outlook underpinned the […]
Oil prices may fall further as the world remains “massively oversupplied,” before markets tighten in 2016 when output growth outside OPEC grinds to a halt, according to the International Energy Agency. There will be no overall production growth outside the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries next year for the first time since 2008, according to the IEA. Growth in U.S. shale oil supplies will stagnate to the […]
A brief period of high profitability for the world’s oil refineries is likely to come to an end as quickly as it began, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said on Friday. Weak crude oil and relatively high prices for gasoline, diesel and petrochemical feedstock have pushed up refining profits sharply over the last six months, helping oil companies cope with much lower profits from upstream production. In […]
A black-market fuel sale in Sana, Yemen, where food and fuel are in short supply because of the fighting. By SOMINI SENGUPTA July 9, 2015 UNITED NATIONS — The Saudi-backed government of Yemen has agreed to a “pause” in fighting, starting Friday, so that humanitarian relief can be delivered in the country, United Nations officials said Thursday. The Houthi rebels who control large parts of Yemen have agreed to […]
Dubai has overtaken other financial centres in listing Islamic bonds on its exchanges, and is mounting a global drive to attract more listings while developing new channels to trade sukuk, the chief executive of Nasdaq Dubai said. “Demand for Islamic financial products still exceeds supply — there are very few financial products for which this is true,” said Hamed Ahmed Ali. The exchange is working on ways […]
JERUSALEM — Robert Turner is recognized everywhere in the Gaza Strip, jokingly called its governor. To most people there, he is known simply as “Mr. Bob.” He departs on Thursday after serving as Gaza director of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for three years — or, put another way, through two wars between Israel and Hamas, the militant group that controls the coastal enclave. Mr. […]
DUBAI — Three Saudi brothers have been arrested in connection with the suicide bombing of a Shiite mosque in Kuwait last month, the Saudi and Kuwaiti authorities said Tuesday. The attack on June 26 during Friday Prayer killed 26 people, plus the bomber, and was Kuwait’s deadliest militant attack. Two of the suspects, Majed and Mohammed al-Zahrani, transported the explosives across the border into Kuwait in an […]
Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund is to invest up to $10 billion in Russia over the next five years, in a move signalling a thawing in relations between the two countries. Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), the country’s sovereign wealth investment vehicle, agreed on Monday to invest $10 billion over the next five years approximately in the Russia Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), a government-run investment fund. […]
LONDON — Last week, the State Department announced the resumption of “security assistance” to Bahrain. This ended a four-year ban on the transfer of arms that the United States put into effect in 2011, after the Bahraini government’s harsh crackdown on Arab Spring protests. In a statement, the State Department argued that Bahrain had made enough progress in human rights reform to be rewarded by ending the […]
UAE. Non-oil private sector firms in the UAE reported the weakest improvement in business conditions since August 2013 during June. Marked slowdowns in growth of output and new business were at the forefront of the overall deceleration, while employment continued to rise at a solid pace. Meanwhile, inflationary pressures from both input costs and output charges were negligible. The survey, sponsored by Emirates NBD and produced by […]
|TAP Staff| Iran’s oil biggest shipping company has amassed the world’s largest fleet of super tankers and is in talks to sail back into western waters should the Islamic Republic strike a nuclear deal, according to senior officials, the Wall Street Journal reported. The report quotes privatised Iranian shipping company NITC as saying it has 42 very large crude carriers, known as VLCCs, after buying 20 such […]
ME property market among world’s fastest growing NEW DELHI, 2 days ago Middle East real estate market revenues have augmented at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 4.7 per cent between 2009 and 2014, making it one of the fastest growing sectors across the world, a report said. Foreign real estate developers have infused billions of dollars into places such as Oman, Qatar, Dubai (UAE), Saudi […]
INTERNATIONAL. Greece’s seeming hour-by-hour descent into chaos at the end of the second quarter has fashioned an intensely uncertain framework casting markets at the mercy of headline risk. It is with that ever-changing caveat that Saxo Bank publishes its Q3 Outlook ahead of the Greek referendum on EU membership which, as things stand, will take place July 5. The outlook for Q3, therefore hangs in the balance, […]
