Gulf stock markets rose on Sunday despite oil’s weakness as Saudi Arabia’s plan to maintain government spending at a high level boosted investor confidence. The Saudi government released a 2015 state budget last Thursday that provides for a 0.6 percent increase in spending from this year’s plan. That cheered the retail investors who dominate Gulf stock markets; they had feared falling oil revenues would trigger spending cuts […]
Marka, a retailing and restaurants start-up, has agreed to buy a sporting goods retail firm from state-owned conglomerate Dubai World for 220 million dirhams ($60 million), in a move that will make Marka operationally profitable in 2015, it said on Sunday. The acquisition of Retailcorp, a subsidiary of Dubai World’s investment unit Istithmar World, will be funded by the Marka’s own funds and bank facilities, said the […]
India’s long-held position as the world’s top diamond polisher is being challenged by soaring output from China, compelling the south Asian country to seek help from ally and top rough diamond supplier Russia to defend its market share. India has traditionally relied on the middlemen in trading hubs of Antwerp, Tel Aviv and Dubai for its supply of rough diamonds, which mainly come from Russia or Africa. […]
In Saudi Arabia, where the currency has been fixed at about the same rate for 28 years, even the tiniest swings in the futures market reflect concern the peg will be broken. So the 0.2 percent drop that traders see by next year shows this is the most worried they’ve been about it since 2009. For Standard Chartered Plc and Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank PJSC, that speculation […]
Women in the Mena region mostly seek employmentin order to be more financially independent. Majority of Mena women see gender equality in jobs DUBAI, 2 days ago While 51 per cent of women in the Mena region consider recruitment and selection opportunities are regardless of gender, 31 per cent believe that women are treated less favourably in terms of salary, a report said. Women in the Mena […]
Gulf governments seek to improve the livesof citizens and create jobs. Oil slump won’t derail $500bn Gulf infrastructure plan DUBAI, 2 days ago Slumping oil prices will not halt a massive ramp-up in Gulf infrastructure spending, as rich nations deploy huge reserves to maintain a breakneck development pace and the rest turn to buoyant funding markets. However, states are being urged to consider the most effective funding […]
Already well recognized for its efforts to develop self-driving cars, Google is reportedly also working on getting its Android mobile operating system built directly into a variety of vehicles. Such a system would allow drivers to use mobile apps without having to connect their cellphones to their cars, according to a Reuters article published Thursday. Google rolled out its preview of Android Auto in June. Designed to […]
Globally, banks will continue to make progressin restoring their financial fundamentals. Financial profiles of banks to strengthen in 2015 NEW YORK, 1 days ago The standalone creditworthiness of banks across the globe will continue to stabilise in 2015, a report said. At the same time, the number of negative banking system outlooks has risen, primarily reflecting the potential for a decline in systemic support, particularly in Europe, […]
Family firms… ouperforming non-family companies Family firms ‘key driver of GCC growth’ DUBAI, 1 days ago Family firms, which represent around 75 per cent of the private sector economy in GCC, outperform non-family firms by 15 per cent, and their continued success is a vital contributor to overall GCC growth, a report said. Family firms, which represent around 75 per cent of the private sector economy in […]
Microsoft on Monday made available the first public preview of Skype Translator, its service for real-time language translation. The preview program will kick off with two spoken languages, Spanish and English, according to Skype. Additionally, more than 40 instant messaging languages will be available to Skype customers who have signed-up via the Skype Translator sign-up page and are using Windows 8.1 on their desktops or mobile devices. […]
|By TAP Staff| A shortage of prime office space in Dubai, which is being underpinned by robust demand, has translated into strong upward pressure on rents across the city, and a rapidly diminishing supply of Grade A space in more centrally located submarkets and freezones, according to the latest research from international real estate consultancy Cluttons. Cluttons’ Dubai Winter 2014 Commercial Market Outlook report shows that during […]
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 […]
Thriving UAE means plenty of opportunity for job seekers UAE firms plan big time hiring as economy looks up DUBAI, 7 days ago Seventy-four per cent of UAE companies claim they will either ‘definitely’ or ‘probably’ be hiring in a year’s time, suggesting long-term growth and a positive outlook for the country’s economy, a report said. Meanwhile, 66 per cent of UAE firms have hired new employees […]
Visitors walk past by the Ilissos statue, a part of the collection of ‘The Parthenon Marbles’, also known as the ‘Elgin Marbles’ in the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg Photo: ANATOLY MALTSEV/EPA By Boris Johnson 6:10AM GMT 08 Dec 2014 Follow The other day, I saw at close hand the bravery and professionalism of a Malaysia Airlines cabin crew as they grappled with a passenger who was being, […]
Just days after Stephen Hawking, a preeminent British physicist, warned artificial intelligence (AI) could end mankind, MetaMind announced its new AI platform and an initial $8 million in funding from Khosla Ventures and Salesforce Chairman and CEO Marc Benioff. MetaMind has developed what it calls “deep learning” software that combines natural language processing and computer vision to solve complex data problems. The technology’s goal is to pave […]
If you’ve been waiting to get your hands on Microsoft’s new polling data application, this is your lucky day. The company announced this week that it is opening up Bing Pulse 2.0, its experimental polling analytics technology, to anyone who wants to use it — free of charge — for part of its beta test. “Bing Pulse 2.0 beta brings an easy-to-use, self-service version of this voting […]
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 […]
If you have an Xbox and you’re having a hard time signing on to Xbox Live, there may be a nefarious reason for that. A hacker group that made a name for itself by attacking online gaming services has apparently struck again. In a Twitter post, Lizard Squad claims it took Xbox Live down. This is the same Lizard Squad that executed a distributed denial of service […]
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 […]
When Google recently rolled out the new Android 5.0 Lollipop operating system, it touted the release as its biggest Android update yet, with an emphasis on delivering an integrated experience across multiple devices. However, early users are fuming mad over Lollipop, with bugs and problems souring the Lollipop experience. What’s the problem? As one of our commenters wrote, “Where do I begin?” Batteries that drain too fast, […]
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 […]
Herman von Rumpuy Photo: REX Tomorrow, Herman Van Rompuy (which, lest we forget, rhymes with ‘Pumpy’) steps down as President of the European Council. He may look like Sven-Göran Eriksson’s less exciting older brother, but for five years this unelected eminence very grise has dominated European politics. So what do you know about this human riddle wrapped in a mystery inside a bland, Belgian enigma? 1 The man […]
|By TAP Staff| Within the tech industry this year, several companies from Amazon to Facebook to Twitter have publicly released their workforce diversity demographics. A Glassdoor report based on its salary and company ratings database on comparison of compensation and employee satisfaction between men and women at a sample of 25 of the largest tech companies shows that at most of these companies, men report earning a higher base salary than […]
