|By TAP Staff| Residential rents in Abu Dhabi may be reaching an affordability ceiling, particularly at the higher end of the market, the latest Abu Dhabi Real Estate Market Overview report by Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank (ADIB) and its real estate advisory subsidiary MPM Properties said. But given year on year growth, tenants in this segment are still seeing sizeable rental increases at lease renewal, the report […]
|By Matein Khalid| I was in a pensive-philosophic mood last week as I decompressed from a trip to a hauntingly beautiful post Soviet country in the Caucasus, the land that produced Koba from Gori and Prince Pyotr Bagration, the fallen hero of Tsar Alexander’s imperial guard at Borodino. Yet Georgia gave me time and perspective to think about the financial firestorms on Wall Street, Marounuchi, the Gulf […]
|By TAP Staff| The GFMS Gold Survey for the third quarter is bearish on the short term prospects of gold and expects the metal to trade back down below $1,100/oz for the remaining months of the 2015. According to the survey, published by Thomson Reuters, gold is set to remain under pressure until there is more clarity on the timing and the scale of US rates normalisation. […]
The price range for mobile payments company Square Inc’s initial public offering will be set this week and its shares will start trading in the week before Thanksgiving, CNBC said in a tweet on Monday, citing sources. The company, headed by Twitter Inc (TWTR.N) Chief Executive Jack Dorsey, filed for an IPO on Oct. 14. Square’s roadshow, which will likely take Dorsey across the globe to drum […]
|By TAP Staff| Emaar Malls, the shopping malls and retail business majority-owned by global property developer Emaar Properties, recorded net profit of AED 1.22 billion (US$ 332 million) during the first nine months (January to September) of 2015. This is 30 per cent higher than the net profit for the same period last year. Net profit during the third quarter (Jul to Sep) 2015 was AED 376 […]
|By TAP Staff| The UAE banking sector has lost AED56 billion ($15.25 billion) in government deposits since September last year, NBAD Chief Executive Alex Thursby disclosed. Out of this, NBAD alone lost AED48 billion he said. According to a bank statement, deposits fell to AED31.2 billion last month from 69.6 billion at the end of December. The decline in oil prices is forcing countries from Saudi Arabia […]
|By Matein Khalid| Saudi Arabia has fascinated me since I first met Hani AZ Yamani as a teenage student all those years ago at Wharton. Hani’s father was Sheikh Ahmed Zaki Yamani, legendary Saudi Oil Minister (1962-86) under Kings Faisal, Khalid and Fahd. Sheikh Yamani managed the 1973 and 1979 oil shocks, survived a terrorist assault in Vienna by Carlos the Jackal, midwifed the birth of Saudi […]
|By TAP Staff|Dubai Financial Market (DFM) reported a 70 percent fall in third-quarter net profit on Monday as trading activity plunged, tracking a slump in oil prices. DFM made a net profit of 45.4 million dirhams ($12.4 million) in the three months to Sept. 30, down from a net profit of 153.5 million dirhams in the year-ago period, a statement said. Trading commissions are the main source […]
|TAP Special by K Raveendran| Landmark events about the development of a shopping mall generally involve major leasing deals or signing up flagship brands, or the launch of the mall itself. But Qatar’s Tawar Mall, coming up in a prime Doha locality, was the scene of a bit of fanfare this week for none of the above. The mall owners, belonging to the leading Qatari business family […]
|TAP Special by K Raveendran| Landmark events about the development of a shopping mall generally involve major leasing deals or signing up flagship brands, or the launch of the mall itself. But Qatar’s Tawar Mall, coming up in a prime Doha locality, was the scene of a bit of fanfare this week for none of the above. The mall owners, belonging to the leading Qatari business family […]
The world is awash in crude, but big oil companies are lining up to develop new fields in Iran even as they slash spending and abandon exploration elsewhere. One thing explains this paradox: cost. The Middle Eastern country is one of the cheapest places in the world to tap new oil fields and pump from existing wells. The slump in crude prices makes Iran even more attractive […]
|By TAP Staff| The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries has forecast the first fall in U.S. oil production in eight years. Total output of crude and natural gas liquids is forecast to fall 0.5 percent to 12.47 million barrels a day next year, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries said in its monthly market report Monday. The decline is being driven by the fall in prices, which has […]
|By TAP Staff| Global oil prices have bottomed out, with signs of a recovery seen in 2016, Qatar’s Energy Minister Mohammed Al Sada was quoted as saying. Growth in non-OPEC oil supply slowed “substantially” this year and is likely to remain flat or turn negative in the next, Al Sada said in a statement. “Call on OPEC oil is expected to become healthier,” to 30.5 million barrels […]
|By Matein Khalid| 2015 has been a horror story for emerging markets and Asian shares have not escaped the fallout from the 40% plunge in Shanghai/Shenzhen since June. Yet financial markets discount the future while UAE investors invariably extrapolate the recent past. So even while I resurrect the ghosts of 1998 when Suharto’s regime fell amid anti-Chinese riots in Jakarta, South Korea was forced to accept a […]
|By TAP Staff| The downward trend in Dubai’s residential market continued in the third quarter with sale prices falling further and rents registering marginal declines, real estate consultancy JLL said in its report for the third quarter. While the general REIDIN sales index dropped 10% Y-o-Y in August, the rental index points to a 1% decline in rental values. This comes as tighter government regulations, higher inflation […]
BEIRUT, Lebanon — Another landmark structure in Syria’s ancient city of Palmyra has been deliberately destroyed by Islamic State militants, according to local antigovernment activists and Syrian officials. The building involved this time was a set of triumphal arches, erected in the second century. Since seizing Palmyra from government forces in May, Islamic State fighters have destroyed some of the most beautiful and historically significant monuments in […]
UAE. In times of economic uncertainty, cold-hearted international investors seek more diversification of their property portfolios; as London provides opportunity for property capital appreciation with prices continuously on the rise in the last five years, reasonable prices and growing yields in Dubai market make an equally attractive income generating opportunity. Mutual InterestFor Middle Eastern investors, London has always been regarded as a strong investment complementary to their […]
UAE. A recent report surveying 150 financial advisors in the UAE – part of a larger Natixis global study of 2,400 advisers in 14 countries across the globe – has revealed that investors making emotional investment decisions in turbulent markets is the top mistake advisors see among individual investors. Advisers are concerned that individual investors tend to be too focused on short-term market events, leading them to […]
An attendee at the Microsoft Ignite technology conference walks past the Hewlett-Packard (HP) logo in Chicago, Illinois, May 4, 2015. Reuters/Jim Young/Files REUTERS – Hewlett-Packard Co said its board had approved the previously announced split of the company into two separate listed entities – computers and printers, and corporate hardware and services. Hewlett-Packard said on Thursday that it expected its split into Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co and […]
QATAR. Broadband Internet is failing to reach those who could benefit most, with Internet access reaching near-saturation in the world’s rich nations but not advancing fast enough to benefit the billions of people living in the developing world, according to the 2015 edition of the “State of Broadband” report. The report reveals that 57% of the world’s people remain offline and unable to take advantage of the […]
A Microsoft logo is seen on an office building in New York City, July 28, 2015. The global launch of the Microsoft Windows 10 operating system will take place on July 29. Reuters/Mike Segar Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) joined Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O) and Intel Corp (INTC.O) in tweaking the way it reports results, a move that will help the software giant show off its growing cloud and mobile […]
|By Matein Khalid| Even as China’s President meets the capo di tutti capi in Seattle, its manufacturing PMI falls to 47, a post Lehman low, with new export orders in a slump. I found it significant that the offshore yuan fell 200 pips to 6.4346 after the PMI. This proves my core argument, outlined a month ago. The Middle Kingdom will respond to its economic decline and […]
Saudi Arabia has withdrawn as much as $70 billion from global asset managers as OPEC’s largest oil producer seeks to plug its budget deficit, according to financial services market intelligence company Insight Discovery. “Fund managers we’ve spoken to estimate SAMA has pulled out between $50 billion to $70 billion from global asset managers over the past six months,” Nigel Sillitoe, chief executive officer of the Dubai-based firm, […]
Janet Yellen may have unwittingly helped the Indian dollar-loan market rebound from a three-year low. Less than a week after the Federal Reserve Chair delayed raising U.S. interest rates, billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries Ltd. hired 16 banks for a $1.5 billion loan and Rural Electrification Corp. also approached lenders. That takes the pipeline of local dollar-denominated loans planned, mandated or in syndication to more than $5 […]
