A surge in lending to investors by brokerages in the United Arab Emirates has helped make Dubai the world’s second-best performing market this year, but has left it prey to volatility. Some investors have been able to make profits in the range of 40 to 60 percent this year on local stock markets but the question is whether such margin lending – borrowing with cash or holdings […]
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 […]
Gulf stock markets stabilised by the close on Wednesday after plunging in early trade on the prospect of an escalation of Syria’s civil war, as the United States threatened a military strike on Damascus over the use of chemical weapons. Stocks had also tumbled on Tuesday and selling resumed on Wednesday morning as local retail investors, who have dominated trade in recent weeks, scrambled to lock in […]
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 […]
A Dubai court has dismissed a Kuwaiti sheikh’s $21.4 million claim against UBS in which he alleged the Swiss bank failed to pay him for helping it become lead arranger on a $9 billion asset sale by Kuwaiti telecom operator Zain. The case highlighted the complexity of doing business in the Gulf, where personal connections to high-ranking officials or executives are often valued in deal making. But […]
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 […]
Investors are favoring U.S. stocks over emerging markets by the most ever as fund flows and volatility measures show institutions are increasingly seeking the relative safety of American equities. Almost $95 billion was poured into exchange-traded funds of American shares this year, while developing-nation ETFs saw withdrawals of $8.4 billion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index (SPX) trades at 16 times […]
NATASHA LOMAS – Trying to raise $32 million via crowdfunding always looked overly ambitious. And indeed it has proved to be so. Canonical’s Ubuntu Edge Indiegogo campaign to build a smartphone designed for converged computing has fallen considerably short of its target, ending with the fixed funding project receiving nothing at all — which, when you’ve got pledges worth around $12 million, has got to hurt. The campaign ran from July […]
At least two major global investment banks are maintaining that the beleaguered Indian rupee, which is already down about 15 per cent since the beginning of 2013, could see a further deterioration of about 10.5 per cent in the near future and slump to Rs70 against the US dollar. That would equate to a level of Rs19 against the UAE dirham, and if attained, this exchange rate […]
Gold fell for a second session on Thursday after minutes from a Federal Reserve policy meeting failed to ease fears the U.S. central bank would begin tapering its economic stimulus from next month. The minutes of the Fed’s July 30-31 meeting, released on Wednesday, showed that a few officials thought last month it would soon be time to slow the pace of their bond buying “somewhat” but […]
A climate of fear that kept Egyptians compliant during the 30-year rule of Hosni Mubarak is creeping back into daily life, less than three years after the revolt that toppled him. Ordinary people like Mohamed, who runs a tiny Cairo shop selling mobile phone accessories, now lower their voices if they oppose the army’s overthrow last month of their first freely-elected president, Mohamed Mursi. “It is about […]
The rupee fell past 65 to the dollar to a record low on Thursday, after Federal Reserve minutes hinted that the U.S. was on course to begin tapering stimulus as early as next month and as foreign investors become sellers of Indian stocks. In an ominous sign for Asia’s worst-performing currency this year, overseas investors who had been net buyers of Indian stocks so far in 2013 […]
India’s central bank has said that it will inject 80 billion rupees ($1.3 billion) into the country’s banking system by buying long-term government bonds. It comes just days after the central bank tightened the money supply in an attempt to stem the rupee’s decline. The move is expected to make more credit available and also bring down borrowing costs for the government. On Tuesday, the bond yield […]
NEW DELHI—As India’s economy shifted into low gear earlier this year, sales at the country’s largest car manufacturer also lost steam, falling nearly 7% in the second quarter from a year earlier. Now the auto maker, Maruti Suzuki India Ltd., faces trouble on a new front: the rapid drop in the Indian currency. The rupee has slumped nearly 3% against the dollar since last Wednesday and roughly […]
By Asa Fitch and Rory Jones Thousands of people are on the move in the United Arab Emirates as a deadline approaches for employees of the Abu Dhabi government to live in the city or risk losing a portion of their salaries. The move-or-lose requirement was announced in an unusual edict last year that said government workers would have to give up housing allowances built into their […]
(Reuters) – In his full-throated cry of support for the Egyptian authorities, Saudi King Abdullah on Friday described street protests by the Muslim Brotherhood as representing “terrorism and sedition”. That stark view of a crisis that has killed hundreds in the past week shows why the world’s top oil exporter will continue to back Egypt’s crackdown on the Brotherhood even while its Western allies try to convince […]
(Reuters) – India’s currency cartwheeled to historic lows on Monday while markets in Indonesia took a spill, evidence of how rising U.S. yields are making it harder for emerging nations to fund their current account deficits. The turbulence heightened investor caution ahead of Wednesday’s minutes of the Federal Reserve’s last policy meeting, with many fearing they might only add to the confusion about when it might scale […]
Qatar has reiterated there is no going back on its currency’s peg to the US dollar and said the riyal’s rate to the greenback is to be maintained at QR3.64. Local banks and exchange houses involved in foreign exchange dealings must use this rate with a margin of 0.24 percent. While converting the riyal to other currencies, they must use the above riyal-dollar rate as the basis […]
Gold rose to the highest in almost two months and silver capped the biggest weekly rally since 2008 on signs of higher physical demand for precious metals. Global bar and coin purchases reached a record last quarter and jewelry usage rose to the most since 2008, World Gold Council figures showed this week. Thirteen analysts surveyed by Bloomberg expect the metal to rise next week, four were […]
Gold traders are the most bullish in five months on signs that demand for coins and jewelry increased during a plunge in prices that prompted billionaire investor John Paulson to cut his holding for the first time since 2011. Thirteen analysts surveyed by Bloomberg expect prices to rise next week, four were bearish and five neutral, the highest proportion of bulls since March 8. Consumer buying of […]
The commodities sector looks set for a relatively benign near-term future according to Saxo Bank, the multi-asset trading and investment specialist. Gold and silver should see a mild recovery over the next quarter and oil looks set to remain at current levels, struggling to push past previous highs. Any expectation that WTI crude will re-establish its historical premium over Brent looks improbable. Saxo Bank believes that changing […]
Small businesses are more prone to be attacked by cyber attacks, according to a study. Many small businesses b server from inside their own networks, without much awareness about how to secure them properly. Their primary concerned is the daily running of their business, which makes insecure servers a prime target for cyber attacks. A recent case is a good example of how these attacks work. On […]
By Jeanette Rodrigues & Ye Xie – Aug 14 Bloomberg: India increased efforts to stem the rupee’s plunge and stop capital outflows that are pushing the economy towards its biggest crisis in more than two decades. The Reserve Bank of India, whose Governor Duvvuri Subbarao steps down next month, cut the amount local companies can invest overseas without seeking approval to 100 percent of their net worth, […]
