Emirates NBD’s impaired loans ratio would drop by a quarter if the biggest bank in the United Arab Emirates reclassifies its loans to Dubai World as performing, according to Arqaam Capital Ltd. The bad loans ratio would improve by 3.6 percentage points to 10.3 percent if the change was made, Arqaam said in a research report dated yesterday. That would allow funds set aside by the bank […]
The Nasdaq suffered its biggest drop in two-and-a-half years on Thursday after another sharp selloff in biotech and momentum names, including Gilead Sciences and TripAdvisor, increasing investor anxiety about a broader pullback. The Nasdaq biotechnology index .NBI shed 5.6 percent, its biggest one-day drop since August 2011, adding to recent losses since a large drop in Gilead more than two weeks ago triggered a wider selloff for […]
The rupee falls to 60.27/28 from its Wednesday close of 60.14/15, as state-run banks are spotted buying dollars, which traders say is likely for defence and oil-related payments. Gains in USD/INR come despite positive stocks, with the Sensex up 0.2 percent. The gap between the spot USD/INR and one-month NDF has widened to around 0.45 rupee on Thursday, much higher than the usual 0.20-.025 rupee spread, suggesting […]
Gold extended gains to a third session on Thursday, scaling fresh two-week highs, after minutes from the Federal Reserve’s policy meeting showed that officials were not keen on increasing interest rates anytime soon. Gold prices came under pressure last month after Fed Chair Janet Yellen said the U.S. central bank would probably end its massive bond-buying programme this fall and could start raising interest rates around six […]
Addressing the United Nations General Assembly in September, President Barack Obama declared the pursuit of Israeli-Palestinian peace one of the two main U.S. foreign policy priorities for his second term. Fast-forward to today, the Obama administration faces a stark choice: expend more energy on a faltering peace process or absorb the hit to an already-troubled record in the Middle East and walk away from negotiations. Secretary of […]
The central bank of the United Arab Emirates will introduce on April 15 a mechanism allowing the country’s banks to borrow funds from it overnight, to help their liquidity management. The Interim Marginal Lending Facility (IMLF) will let lenders use certain assets as collateral to obtain one-day loans, according to a letter to banks which was published on the central bank’s website on Tuesday. Such mechanisms, common […]
When Indian opposition leader Narendra Modi gave a speech on the virtues of smaller government and privatization on April 8 last year, supporters called him an ideological heir to former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, who died that day. Modi, favorite to form India’s next government after elections starting on Monday, has yet to unveil any detailed economic plans but it is clear that some of his […]
India’s high-profile RBI governor is likely to come under political pressure to retreat from his hawkish stance on inflation if opposition leader Narendra Modi wins power in the general election. Strategists in Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), confident that his jobs-first policy pitch will secure a strong voter mandate, suggest that they would prefer to have one of their own at the helm of the Reserve Bank […]
With a youthful, well-educated population, strong relationships with both neighbours and world powers, and a strategic location on the Gulf, major oil producer Kuwait should be as dynamic a hub for the region as Dubai or Doha. But while others in the Gulf have powered ahead, attracting foreign investment and developing infrastructure, Kuwait has stagnated, frustrating the people of a country once seen as a Middle East […]
A year after Citigroup Inc. declared the decade-long run of commodity gains over, wacky weather, dead piglets and Vladimir Putin have gotten in the way. While Citigroup rang “death bells” in April 2013 for the synchronized super cycle fueled by economic growth in China, extreme weather and supply squeezes led to surprise rallies in 2014’s first three months. Coffee hit a two-year high, cattle and hogs rose […]
Ahmad Hamad Algosaibi & Brothers Co. invited creditors including BNP Paribas SA (BNP) and Standard Chartered Plc to discuss claims on $5.9 billion of debt as it seeks to recover from the Middle East’s biggest default. The Saudi Arabian company, with interests ranging from construction to finance, will “outline proposals aimed at achieving a comprehensive settlement” with more than 70 creditors at a May 7 meeting in […]
Chinese authorities have seized assets worth at least 90 billion yuan ($14.5 billion) from family members and associates of retired domestic security tsar Zhou Yongkang, who is at the center of China’s biggest corruption scandal in more than six decades, two sources said. More than 300 of Zhou’s relatives, political allies, proteges and staff have also been taken into custody or questioned in the past four months, […]
Gold imports by India, the second-biggest consumer, will rebound in the second half as a new government may ease trade curbs while festivals and weddings spur demand, said billionaire jeweler T.S. Kalyanaraman. The pickup in shipments from mid-year will help overseas purchases over 2014 match the 825 metric tons imported in 2013, Kalyanaraman, chairman of the Thrissur-India based Kalyan Jewellers Ltd., said in an interview. The curbs […]
India’s two main political parties both broke laws barring foreign donations by accepting cash from local companies owned by London-listed mining group Vedanta Resources Plc between 2004 and 2012, the Delhi High Court said on Friday. The judgment was handed down 10 days before India holds a general election, in which the ruling Congress party and the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will go head to head […]
The rupee rose above 60 to the dollar on Friday, marking its strongest in eight months, as hopes for continued foreign investor inflows send domestic shares to a string of record highs. The partially convertible rupee was trading at 60.04/05 per dollar at 9.27 a.m., after earlier hitting 59.99, its strongest since July 30. The rupee closed at 60.31/32 on Thursday. The BSE Sensex rose 0.4 percent, […]
Microsoft Corp’s new Chief Executive Officer, Satya Nadella, finally unveiled Office for Apple Inc’s iPad in a polished debut that set him apart from his energetic predecessor while signaling his plans to make mobile apps the top priority at the world’s largest software company. At a news conference Thursday, executives demonstrated a new “touch-first” version of Office crafted for the iPad, available for download as a free […]
SpiceJet Ltd., the Indian budget carrier headed for its third straight annual loss, said it sees little chance of luring investment soon amid elevated debt and intensifying competition. Although the airline’s owners have injected more than 5 billion rupees ($83 million) in equity in recent quarters, that “has not been adequate” to reduce the carrier’s dependence on debt, S.L. Narayanan, the chief financial officer of SpiceJet’s parent […]
The rupee rallied to an eight-month high, boosted by continued foreign fund inflows into domestic shares, but suspected dollar purchases by the Reserve Bank of India prevented the currency from gaining much further. The intervention on Wednesday was aggressive, with two traders telling Reuters that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) likely bought nearly $1 billion and swapped it in forwards markets. The RBI has long been […]
Citigroup Inc.’s capital plan was among five that failed Federal Reserve stress tests, while Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Bank of America Corp. passed only after reducing their requests for buybacks and dividends. Citigroup, as well as U.S. units of Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc, HSBC Holdings Plc and Banco Santander SA, failed because of qualitative concerns about their processes, the Fed said today in a […]
The shares of indebted mortgage lender Amlak will resume trading on the Dubai bourse in the second half of this year, the United Arab Emirates’ economy minister said on Monday. Trading in shares of Amlak, which is in the process of restructuring debt that sources put at nearly $2 billion, was suspended in November 2008 as credit markets dried up and Dubai real estate prices began a […]
When a scrap metal dealer from U.S. Midwest bought a golden ornament at a junk market, it never crossed his mind that he was the owner of a $20 million Faberge egg hailing from the court of imperial Russia. In a mystery fit for the tumultuous history of Russia’s ostentatious elite, the 8-cm (3-inch) golden egg was spirited out of St Petersburg after the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution […]
| By Clyde Russel | The price of Middle East crude oils being supplied to Asia appears too high given an increase in supply from Iran, Iraq and rival Russia and muted demand from refiners. While benchmark Oman futures have declined 5 percent since the start of the year to end at $102.93 a barrel on Wednesday, the price relative to global marker Brent has been rising. […]
BlackRock Inc.’s Sam Vecht says investors are following the herd in selling emerging markets to invest in the most-developed economies, a strategy that has historically yielded “underwhelming” results. Investors “are selling emerging markets which have very low valuations, significant dividend yields but have underperformed in recent times,” Vecht, London-based manager at BlackRock Emerging Europe Trust Plc, said in e-mailed comments yesterday. In exchange, they’re buying assets in […]
Growing tension between the West and Russia ahead of Ukraine’s weekend referendum in Crimea pushed down stocks on major world markets on Friday and drove up buying of safe-haven gold and the yen. Financial markets watched nervously as the West increasingly talked about sanctions and Russia hit back with promises of retaliatory measures and displays of military prowess. The vote being held on Sunday by pro-Moscow authorities […]
