Jebel Ali Free Zone FZE cut the price on a 4.4 billion dirham ($1.2 billion) Islamic loan by 1.25 percentage points, reducing rates after the emirate’s default risk fell. Jebel Ali Free Zone and Dubai Duty Free, the world’s biggest’ airport retailer, are among companies in the emirate that have lowered rates on their loans. Dubai’s five-year credit default swaps, contract insuring the sheikhdom’s debt against default, […]
Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (Sabic) has mandated Citigroup, HSBC, Mizuho and RBS to arrange a series of fixed income meetings ahead of a potential US dollar denominated senior bond. The state-owned company, rated A1/A+/A+, will hold meetings in Europe, Middle East and Asia between September 22 and September 25. A Reg S only senior guaranteed note may follow subject to market conditions via a special purpose vehicle […]
Asian shares ran out of steam on Friday as investors pondered what policy the U.S. Federal Reserve will pursue after it triggered a global market rally by leaving its stimulus level unchanged. The dollar drifted off a seven-month low against a basket of major currencies and U.S. Treasury yields rose after a string of upbeat U.S. data provided a reminder to markets that the day the Fed […]
The U.S. Federal Reserve defied investor expectations on Wednesday by postponing the start of the wind down of its massive monetary stimulus, saying it wanted to wait for more evidence of solid economic growth. Investors responded by propelling U.S. stocks to record highs and driving down bond yields. Yields on U.S. Treasury debt had risen over the summer on expectations the Fed would cut back its $85 […]
Asian stocks rose, with the regional benchmark index trading near a four-month high, before the Federal Reserve decides later today whether to slow its $85 billion of monthly asset purchases. Mitsui O.S.K. Lines Ltd. and Fanuc Corp. rose at least 2.7 percent in Tokyo as industrial companies led gains on the Asia-Pacific benchmark index. Kawasaki Heavy Industries Ltd. surged 4.2 percent to a six-year high amid unconfirmed […]
The United Arab Emirates central bank is expected to announce within one or two months rules restricting the amount of exposure which banks can have to the debt of government-related entities (GREs), a top commercial banker said on Tuesday. Abdulaziz al-Ghurair, head of the national banking industry association and chief executive of Mashreq Bank, told reporters that each bank would then discuss the time frame for its […]
Gold will extend a drop into 2014 as the U.S. Federal Reserve tapers stimulus, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. said, forecasting that a decision by the central bank to start reducing bond-buying next week may spur renewed selling. The reduction of asset purchases may be the catalyst that pushes gold prices lower, analysts including Jeffrey Currie and Damien Courvalin wrote in a report today. Goldman’s economists expect that […]
Last week was a key week not only for key economic data points, but the outcome of the G20 summit in St Petersburg which centered on the U.S.’s campaign to drum up last minute support for imminent military action in Syria. Markets particularly in the MENA region have been on tenterhooks with volatility prevailing in MENA indices including Turkey. The Lira reached a record low at 2.0841 […]
By The Arabian Post Staff International retailers continue to expand into the GCC region, often using Dubai as their ‘launch’ platform into other markets such as Doha, Riyadh and Jeddah, according to real estate consultancy firm CBRE. According to CBRE research, 25 new retailers opened stores in Dubai last year. A young population, strong brand association, solid household consumption and modern retail concepts coupled with a flourishing tourism […]
Benchmark London prices for physical gold fell to US$1363 lunchtime Tuesday, down 2.3% from Monday’s high as the Assad regime in Syria accepted a Russian-backed plan to give its chemical weapons to international control. The Rupee meantime rose to a 2-session high after new Indian trade data showed gold imports falling and exports rising in August. Premiums in Asian markets, over and above London’s benchmark gold price, […]
A week of gains for world stocks petered out on Wednesday and a sell-off in oil and core government debt eased, as talks began on trying to avert a U.S. military strike on Syria against a broadly calm market backdrop. The safe-haven yen was at a seven-week low against the dollar and stood near multi-year lows against the euro and sterling, while shares in Europe inched lower […]
India’s newly installed central bank Governor Raghuram Rajan burnished his international credentials at a 2005 U.S. conference warning about the danger of a potential crisis. Now he has one of his own to contend with. Rajan, 50, joined the front lines of a battle to forestall a record slump in the rupee yesterday with a package of measures that may lure $10 billion in foreign-exchange inflows over […]
Dubai International Airport is working to increase capacity to help accommodate more of the Airbus SAS A380 super-jumbo for Emirates, the largest operator of the double-decker jet, the airline’s chairman said. The expansion may help the Middle Eastern hub become the word’s busiest airport by next year, Emirates Chairman Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum told reporters today at the airport. “We are going according to plan […]
A survey by Fund Advisors among respondents living in rented accommodation in Dubai has shown that 81 percent have no contents insurance. So events like theft, fire or damages by way of other incidents have no coverage. Furthermore, the UK’s daily newspaper The Telegraph found that, when insuring their contents, people often valued their clothes and valuables on worth at the point of valuation and not what […]
By Peter Garnry, Equity Strategist at Saxo Bank Microsoft’s acquisition of Nokia’s mobile division means three things. It is a good deal for Nokia. It has the potential to be a disaster for Microsoft. As for BlackBerry, the deal means that patent portfolio may be the only valuable asset. Nokia, the once largest mobile manufacturer in the world, has seen its mobile division deteriorate since 2007. Operating […]
Dubai Duty Free is planning to borrow $750 million from a syndicate of international banks in the coming weeks to help further finance the expansion of Dubai’s international airport, the company’s executive vice chairman Colm McLoughlin said. DDF, which operates all of the retail outlets at Dubai’s airports, raised its first international financing last year, a $1.75 billion, six-year syndicated loan with tranches in dollars and U.A.E. […]
Dubai’s Majid Al Futtaim (MAF), the operators of Carrefour stores in the Middle East which is buying out the French company’s 25 percent stake in their joint venture, is raising an extra $500 million through a revolving credit facility, a source familiar with the deal said on Tuesday. The mall operator, which delayed plans in June to raise at least $500 million from what would have been […]
A decline in Gulf Cooperation Council sovereign and state-owned corporate bonds in the event of a U.S. strike on Syria would make them a “screaming buy,” according to Sergey Dergachev at Union Investment Privatfonds. “These credits are extremely solid,” Frankfurt-based Dergachev, who helps oversee about $10 billion in emerging-market funds, said Aug. 30, singling out bonds issued by companies such as National Bank of Abu Dhabi PJSC […]
The patriotism of wealthy overseas Indians has helped the country avert economic crises in the past and it is little surprise that embattled policymakers are turning to them again to plug a record trade gap that is battering the rupee. This time, though, big investors among the more than 25-million overseas Indian community – the world’s second-largest diaspora – are staying away as the economic outlook darkens […]
India’s incoming central bank Governor Raghuram Rajan has little room to use borrowing costs to spur Asia’s third-largest economy as the rupee plummets, interest-rate swaps show. The cost to lock in rates for a year using the contracts surged 267 basis points this quarter to 10.16 percent yesterday as investors bet the Reserve Bank of India will prolong a cash crunch it created to shore up the […]
The Indian rupee rebounded on Thursday from a record low after the central bank’s move to provide dollars directly to oil companies provided relief to the currency, while a recovery in emerging market currencies also helped offer support. The central bank decision is aimed at removing a major source of dollar demand from the spot market – worth $400 million to $500 million daily – and so […]
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 goal of a single rule book for Europe’s banks is splintering even before it’s implemented as northern countries move ahead with tougher requirements to ward off the next boom-to-bust cycle. Sweden’s too-big-to-fail banks, which already face stricter capital rules than their competitors elsewhere, may be told to hold even larger reserves, Financial Markets Minister Peter Norman said yesterday. In Denmark, Business Minister Henrik Sass Larsen said […]
