India’s biggest stock-market swings in 16 months are poised to continue, boosting options prices as the prospect of reduced Federal Reserve stimulus spurs further weakness in the rupee, according to JPMorgan Chase & Co. The CNX Nifty index has retreated 10 percent during the past month and the gauge’s 30-day historical volatility reached 21.1 yesterday, the highest level since April 2012, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. […]
Airports in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) experience local disruptions – such as those that stem from fog – which, annually, affect over 200 flights and 30,000 passengers in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) alone. In addition, according to Oxford Economics, disruptions from the 2010 spread of Icelandic volcanic ash over European airspace had a $253 million net impact on the aviation sector in the Middle East […]
(Reuters) – Shares of Dubai property developer Union Properties, in which lender Emirates NBD holds a major stake, surged 11 percent in massive trading volume on Sunday – a fresh sign of growing optimism toward the emirate’s real estate. The stock, which closed at 0.46 dirham per share, saw 423.7 million shares change hands on the Dubai equities market, accounting for nearly two-thirds of the market’s entire […]
A.P. Moeller-Maersk, owner of the world’s biggest shipping line, said concern that emerging markets are losing their growth momentum is overdone. “The underlying story is very good,” Maersk Chief Executive Officer Nils Smedegaard Andersen said in an interview on Aug. 16. “Our expectation remains that the U.S. will be the key driver of growth, but we’re also relatively optimistic on emerging markets. There is growth potential, even […]
(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 […]
After inching up 0.15 percent last week, the U.S. Comex gold futures jumped 3.72 percent this week and ended at $1,361.10 on Thursday. During Asia Friday morning, the gold futures traded as high as $1,372. The Dollar Index retreated 0.72 percent in the past two days and was flat week-to-Thursday. The S&P 500 Index and the Euro Stoxx 50 Index fell 1.94 percent and 0.20 percent respectively […]
Gold may extend a rally from a two-month high as an increase in demand from jewelry buyers in China and India helps counter a drop in assets under exchange-traded funds backed by bullion. Prices may rally to as much as $1,550 an ounce by the end of the year, said Jeffrey Rhodes, managing director of the financial institutions division of the Kaloti Jewellery Group, a Dubai-based gold […]
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 […]
Saudi Arabia is currently working to develop its trade and investment laws with the intent of wooing more foreign direct investments and settling disputes between foreign investors and their local partners. Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority (SAGIA), the country’s investment facilitator, spearheads the move by adding some points of explanation in the current law in addition to putting a set of new conditions. The Kingdom encourages successful […]
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 […]
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, […]
The total value of ongoing projects in the GCC region currently stands at $2.62 trillion, with the Kingdom accounting for $875 billion. The Kingdom’s strong construction market is being driven by government spending and high oil prices, according to a recent Global Investment House report. For 2013, the Kingdom budgeted $219 billion for spending, up by 18.8 percent, year-on-year, from 2012. Out of this, almost $76 billion […]
NEW DELHI – India, the world’s biggest buyer of gold, raised duties Tuesday on bullion imports for the third time this year as it battles to narrow a record trade gap and stabilize the rupee. The government increased the customs duty on gold to a record 10 percent from eight percent as it strives to break the country’s love affair with the precious metal. The announcement boosted […]
Bloomberg By George Smith Alexander & Anto Antony – Aug 13 India’s economy is growing at the slowest pace in a decade, companies are burdened by record debt and governance is so bad that even local cement billionaire Kumar Mangalam Birla is reluctant to invest in the country. Yet some foreign entities, from Diageo Plc to Qatar’s government, are undaunted, finding buying opportunities as Indian firms look […]
By Arif Sharif Aug 12 (Bloomberg) Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank PJSC (ADIB) plans to expand in North Africa as the lender controlled by the emirate’s ruling family seeks to access more-populous markets. The bank applied for licenses in Algeria and Libya and is considering Tunisia and Morocco, Chief Executive Officer Tirad Mahmoud, said in an Aug. 4 interview. Interest in Shariah-compliant banking has increased since 2011, when […]
By Peter Schiff I’ve been emphasizing for months that the current correction in the gold price is a result of speculative money fleeing the market and not any reflection of gold’s long-term fundamentals. Unfortunately, there is so much money to be made (and lost) by day trading that my cautions have once again fallen on deaf ears. Well, it looks like the so-called “technicals” are starting to […]
Aug 8 (Reuters) – Looking beyond the problems of a region beset by regime change in Egypt, a security crisis in Yemen and civil war in Syria, international investors are seeking out well-run businesses in Middle Eastern and even some North African stock markets. The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region is a diverse investment universe which includes both energy importers and exporters, and surplus and […]
Mubadala Development Co., the Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund, is fighting to avoid losses on its $2 billion investment in Eike Batista’s companies as the former billionaire seeks to save his commodity empire from collapse. The fund is owed $1.5 billion after converting a preferred equity investment in Batista’s EBX Group Co. into debt, three people with knowledge of the matter said last month. That amount is […]
(Reuters) – Lebanon needs to spend at least $20 billion to improve its basic infrastructure otherwise the high growth the country has been witnessing will “dwindle and vanish,” the economy and trade minister said on Wednesday. Lebanon is famous for its robust service-oriented sectors, but many investors are discouraged from setting up businesses in a country where power cuts are frequent, road networks beyond the capital are […]
NEW YORK (AP) — With new public stock offerings for guitar maker Fender and travel booking website Kayak on deck next week, there are signs demand is starting to grow for IPOs after a five-week freeze triggered by a steep decline in financial markets and exacerbated by Facebook’s rocky May 18 debut. Five companies are scheduled to go public next week alone, including Fender, Kayak and Palo […]
Treasury yields fell close to all- time lows as an almost insatiable desire for the safest assets amid signs global growth is stalling helped the U.S. draw record rates at 10- and 30-year debt auctions. U.S. government debt rallied for a third consecutive week as Europe’s economy slipped toward its second recession in three years amid a worsening debt crisis, lower-than-forecast growth in China and the Federal […]
CHICAGO (Reuters) – Russell Wasendorf Sr was arrested on Friday after allegedly stealing more than $100 million from clients of his now-bankrupt brokerage PFGBest, using little more than a rented P.O. Box, Photoshop and inkjet printers to dupe regulators for decades. In the dramatic conclusion to a week-long drama that has shaken trader confidence in the trillion-dollar U.S. futures markets, FBI agents arrested Wasendorf, 64, at the […]
Europe’s debt crisis has many American investors closely watching the euro. Since the euro can impact U.S. investors, Americans should be aware of the euro’s worth. Chuck Butler, president of EverBank World Markets and author of The Daily Pfennig, explained that if the euro is trading around $1.2950 (as it was on May 9, 2012), 100 euros would be worth $129.50. If the euro falls 1 percent, […]
“This has shaken our company to the core,” CEO Jamie Dimon said. The bank said managers tied to the bad trade had been dismissed without severance pay and that it planned to revoke two years’ worth of pay from each of those executives. JPMorgan said it had lost $US4.4 billion because of the trade from April through June, and its chief financial officer said the bank had […]
