Saudi Arabian retailer Fawaz Abdulaziz Alhokair plans to open nearly 250 stores at home and abroad this financial year, a top executive said, as the kingdom’s booming retail sector provides a platform to expand into new markets. Alhokair has benefited in recent years from a buoyant consumer goods sector, boosted by rising incomes on the back of government efforts to improve the plight of Saudi nationals after […]
Asian stocks rose to three-week highs on Thursday as Indian shares and the rupee rallied a day after the country’s new central bank chief unveiled measures to support the currency and the banking sector. But worries the U.S. Federal Reserve will soon scale back stimulus kept markets in check. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS advanced 0.6 percent, having earlier hit a high last […]
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 […]
Residential property prices in Dubai are in the midst of another boom, but this time it’s fundamentals – and not speculation – at play, Standard Chartered Bank said in a new report, indicating that the rally will continue as long as the fundamentals remain in place. Economic growth, improving demographics, return of investor confidence and improving regulations have been cited as the primary factors fuelling a remarkable […]
Dubai’s growing population and improving economy are driving a rebound in the emirate’s housing market, rather than the type of speculation that fueled the 2008 boom, according to Standard Chartered. Residential property prices in Dubai are in the midst of another boom, but this time it’s fundamentals – and not speculation – a new report published by the bank said, indicating that the rally will continue as […]
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 […]
General Motors said it expected the automobile industry in the Middle East to show growth that is sustainable, but at a slower rate than in the last few years, hurt by uncertainty and political crisis in markets such as Egypt and Syria. The U.S. automaker temporarily closed its Egyptian assembly plant outside of Cairo last month, and shut its local office, after deadly clashes between security forces […]
MANILA: The Philippine economy posted robust expansion in the second quarter, matching the pace of China as the two fastest growing in Asia, as strong fundamentals and domestic spending buttressed the country from the region’s fund outflows. The solid growth pace lifted the peso from nearly 3-year lows and would help the Philippines keep its favoured status among investors amid more market volatility. The Philippines has overtaken […]
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 […]
DP World Ltd., the world’s third-largest ports operator, posted a 9.1 percent increase in first-half profit, beating analysts’ estimates, as it focused on fast-growing markets and monetized assets in Hong Kong. Net income rose to $264 million, or 31.8 cents a share, from $242 million, or 29.1 cents, the Dubai-based company said in a statement to Nasdaq Dubai today. The mean estimate of three analysts was for net income […]
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 […]
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 […]
Emirates is breaking out of Dubai. In what will be a curious experiment for one of the world’s fastest-growing and most respected airlines, Emirates will begin flying daily from New York’s JFK International Airport to Milan starting Oct. 1. It will be one of the very few routes in the company’s vast network that doesn’t touch its Dubai hub. The JFK-Milan route is currently served with nonstop […]
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 […]
The growth of the insurance markets within the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) will continue, albeit at a reduced pace, as economic growth remains relatively modest in 2013, according to a new report from A.M. Best Co. The report, titled “GCC Insurance Markets Brace for Competitive and Profitability Pressures”, states that all of the GCC countries—Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab […]
The heightened economic activity in Dubai has undoubtedly been supported by the recovery of the emirate’s real estate sector, with capital values in some residential submarkets quickly closing in on their Q3 2008 pre-crisis peaks, Cluttons said in its latest market analysis. During Q2 alone, villa values rose by an average of 21%, compared to 24.4% last year. Apartments on the other hand recorded capital value increases […]
The Indian rupee hit a record low and shares slumped on Tuesday after parliament’s approval of a $20 billion plan to provide cheap grain to the poor renewed doubts about the government’s resolve to control spending ahead of elections due next year. The alarm over India’s fiscal deficit eclipsed an announcement by Finance Minister P. Chidambaram that the government had approved infrastructure projects worth 1.83 trillion rupees […]
Saudi British Bank (SABB), an affiliate of HSBC Holdings, is aiming to sell an Islamic bond by year-end to strengthen its capital base, two banking sources aware of the matter said on Monday. HSBC is advising SABB on the potential riyal-denominated sukuk issue to boost its Tier 2 capital position, the sources said, declining to be identified as the matter is not public. SABB’s total capital ratio […]
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 […]
HSBC Holdings, the top arranger of debt issues in the Gulf Arab region, has named Mustafa Aziz Ata to run its debt capital markets business for the Middle East and North Africa, an internal memo from the bank showed. Aziz, who joined the bank in 2004, is currently a director in its global capital markets division. In his new role, Aziz will report to Russell Schofield-Bezer, head of EMEA debt capital markets, […]
Stock markets in the United Arab Emirates and Qatar rose to new multi-year highs on Thursday despite a sell-off in emerging markets around the world, as retail investors in the Gulf bought selected stocks viewed as laggards. Egypt’s bourse rose on the back of a reduction in street violence. “It’s a good surprise to see that the most internationally-linked markets like UAE have been resilient despite the […]
A long-awaited opening of Saudi Arabia’s stock market to direct foreign investment appears near, industry executives and fund managers say – a reform that could give equity investment in the Gulf its biggest boost for years. Hopes have been raised and dashed several times over the last few years. While the Saudi government has long considered the reform and has been making technical preparations, it has never […]
Deposits with UAE banks climbed to an all-time high at the end of the first half of 2013 while assets also peaked at their highest level and loans picked up sharply. Official data showed the UAE’s 23 national banks and 28 foreign units are pushing ahead with a provisioning drive to bolster their financial base in the wake of the 2008 global fiscal distress, with allocations for […]
