Plunging iron ore prices are providing a lifeline for some of China’s biggest steel mills, but raising the prospect of a rising tide of exports and increased friction with the European Union and countries such as India. Even as China’s domestic steel demand shrinks and the industry battles chronic overcapacity, lower iron ore prices have helped many large mills post better earnings in 2014 than a year […]
|By TAP Staff| The Middle East is set to witness $640 billion worth of construction projects, with each one exceeding $1 billion in the next five years, according to organizers of the Leaders in Architecture MENA 2015, being held in Dubai from today. These projects are spread across a combination of retail, real estate, leisure, health and education asset developments as well as transport, communication and supporting […]
Dubai’s drive to develop its Islamic finance sector is fuelling growth of sharia-compliant banking but the benefits are unevenly distributed, with some lenders struggling to compete against burgeoning competition. In 2013, Dubai’s government announced plans to turn the emirate into a centre for an “Islamic economy” with sharia-compliant businesses ranging from banking to asset management, trade, food preparation and certification, fashion, education and tourism. This looked like […]
The specter of an atomic arms race in the world’s most volatile region has heightened the stakes in Iran’s nuclear talks after Saudi Arabia’s repeated hints it would seek its own atomic weapons if Tehran ever did the same. Riyadh’s unprecedented action in assembling a coalition of other Sunni Muslim countries to bomb Tehran’s Houthi allies in Yemen this week has shown how seriously it takes the […]
As chairman of Emaar Properties, Mohamed Alabbar has shaped much of Dubai’s skyline, but rapid growth in his outside real estate interests is raising the possibility of a rarity in the Gulf – open shareholder dissent. Speculation persists that Alabbar and Emaar, the company he founded in 1997, could soon part ways despite a categorical denial from the firm last month. His involvement in other firms’ projects, […]
India has bought the first oil for its strategic petroleum reserve (SPR), trade sources said on Monday, marking the start of a round of purchases by the world’s fourth-biggest oil consumer to build up emergency stockpiles. Oil prices have almost halved in the past year due to excess global production, leaving traders looking for any signs of new demand to help absorb the surplus. The sources said […]
QATAR. Notwithstanding the weak start for the global economy, Asian economies are expected to continue to grow rapidly in 2015. We expect economic growth to average 5.7% in 2015, the same rate as in 2014. However this masks significant differences across Asian countries that mainly depend on their exposure to global headwinds. India and Myanmar stand out as bright spots for 2015, while China, Indonesia, Malaysia and […]
|By TAP Staff| Dubai’s stock exchange operators Borse Dubai Ltd said it was selling its remaining stake of 17.4 percent in the London Stock Exchange Group. Borse Dubai holds the biggest shareholder in the premier global exchange, valued at about $2.2 billion. Borse Dubai is the holding company for Dubai Financial Market (DFM) and NASDAQ Dubai. Borse Dubai was created 6 August, 2007 to consolidate the Government […]
Brent crude oil held below $56 a barrel on Tuesday on signs of slowing growth in China and as Saudi Arabia said its production was close to an all-time high. Factory activity in China, the world’s second-largest economy and top oil importer, slipped in March with the flash HSBC/Markit Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) reading at 49.2, below the 50-point level that separates growth from contraction. Economists polled […]
The next big threat to oil prices isn’t from OPEC or Bakken shale. It’s Russian samovars, or teapots. Simple refineries that process crude into fuel oil are scaling back, because when oil prices slump, the government reduces the discount that these refiners — known as teapots to those in the industry — get for exporting fuel. They use less crude, freeing it up for sale abroad, which […]
DOHA, 23 hours, 10 minutes ago Kuwait’s real gross domestic product (GDP) has been projected to slow this year as the government cuts subsidies before recovering in the next two year as major development projects get underway, according to a report. QNB Group’s ‘Kuwait Economic Insight 2015,’ examined recent developments and the outlook for Kuwait’s economy. Kuwait is well placed to withstand lower international oil prices with […]
DIFC posts 18pc growth in companies DUBAI, 23 hours, 54 minutes ago Dubai International Financial Centre, a leading financial hub connecting the Middle East, Africa and South Asia (Measa) markets with the economies of Europe, Asia and the Americas, has posted an 18 per cent growth in the number of active registered companies. More than 240 new companies were licensed during the last year, compared with 199 […]
| By Michael Sasso| If you have to fly from New York to New Delhi on April 1, you can book through one of the three big U.S. airlines for at least $1,100 round trip. Or you can take one of Emirates’ luxurious Airbus A380s for less than $900. That choice is at the heart of the complaint raised by Delta, American, and United Continental with U.S. […]
As OPEC ‘s refusal to curb oil production contributes to a nine-month plunge in prices, a new paper suggests the group’s days may be numbered. OPEC, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, has vowed to defend its market share against higher-cost producers such as U.S. shale drillers and companies developing Canada’s oil sands. Its strategy hinges on the odds that an extended period of low prices will lead other producers to […]
Hundreds of foreign construction workers staged a rare public protest outside the opulent Dubai Mall on Tuesday in a pay dispute with their company, witnesses said. Dubai authorities deployed riot police to Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Boulevard in downtown Dubai, where the world’s tallest building is located, blocking some roads while negotiators tried to settle a dispute about overtime pay. The workers, from south Asia, said the […]
Traders who have been storing oil since the start of the year are selling some supplies back into the market, completing a trade-play that made oil storage profitable, and re-injecting fuel into an already oversupplied market. The selling signals a winding down of a strategy that has seen at least 50 million barrels of oil stored in tankers, equivalent to about one month’s consumption in Britain, although […]
The proposal by Dubai Municipality to introduce mandatory affordable housing quotas for all new residential developments in Dubai is long overdue and is expected to bring a wide range of benefits to the emirate, while driving further maturity in the market, according to leading international real estate consultants, Cluttons. With the residential market in Dubai now meandering through the second half of the current property cycle and […]
Arabtec’s chairman will meet officials of Egypt’s housing ministry on Wednesday to renegotiate the terms of a $40 billion plan to build one million homes in that country, a source familiar with the matter said. Dubai-listed Arabtec announced last March that it had reached agreement in principle with Egypt’s army to build the homes at 13 locations around the country, on land provided by the armed forces. […]
The BBC’s headquarters in London Photo: AP The BBC’s director-general, Tony Hall, is a man in a hurry. As one of the oldest DGs to be appointed, and already in receipt of his BBC pension, the 64-year-old is acutely aware that the corporation’s charter has less than two years to run, and that the licence fee – the BBC’s bedrock for the 93 years of its existence – […]
Gold imports by India, the world’s biggest consumer, are poised to surge after Finance Minister Arun Jaitley belied industry expectations for a reduction in tax. Overseas purchases may jump to 100 metric tons in March from about 25 tons in February as jewelers and traders, who delayed purchases in anticipation of the tax cut, replenish stockpiles, Rajesh Mehta, chairman of Rajesh Exports Ltd., said by phone from […]
By Edward Taylor and Jan Schwartz GENEVA Sun Mar 1, 2015 11:43pm IST Customers gather for the opening of an Apple Store in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, January 24, 2015. Credit: Reuters/Stringer/Files GENEVA (Reuters) – The main talking point at this week’s Geneva car show is likely to be a vehicle that may never be built: the Apple car. The world’s automakers will gather in the Swiss city […]
The tide may be turning in the retreat of the U.S. oil explorers. Rigs targeting oil fell by 33 to 986, the smallest decline since Jan. 2, Baker Hughes Inc. said on its website Friday. Energy rigs in the Permian Basin shale region dropped by seven to 355 after dropping by as much as 49 earlier in the month. The Eagle Ford in Texas lost three rigs. […]
DUBAI, 2 days ago STME, a leading IT solutions provider, has upgraded the infrastructure and software requirements of Dubai-based wasl properties, a UAE semi-government property development entity, by adopting an efficient storage reclamation approach. “We understand that organisations today are struggling to accommodate growing volumes of data on a limited, if not declining, budget,” said Ayman Al Bayaa, CEO of STME. “However, by using a more […]
After an extensive and sometimes contentious public and politcal debate, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) voted February 26, with a 3 to 2 split along party lines, in favor of new regulations intended to preserve Net neutrality. The vote is seen as a win both for the Obama administration and a large Net roots activist campaign that has been pushing for this outcome for several years. Under […]
