(Reuters) – Qatar’s central bank has sent a draft circular on new Basel III capital rules to conventional and Islamic banks that includes requirements for issuance of instruments such as hybrid bonds, it said on Thursday. “This is a consultative circular. The final version is slated to be completed once a QIS (quantitative impact study) is undertaken for national banks,” the central bank said in a written […]
Global investors have become significantly more confident in the outlook for growth, according to the BofA Merrill Lynch Fund Manager Survey for August. A net 72 percent of respondents now expect the world’s economy to pick up over the next 12 months – the survey’s strongest reading on this measure in nearly four years and a striking rise from July’s net 52 percent. Investors remain concerned over […]
(Reuters) – Saudi Telecom’s (STC) Indonesian unit has picked Moelis & Co to advise it on negotiations with lenders as the operator steps up efforts to restructure a $1.2 billion Islamic loan, two sources familiar with the matter said. STC backed the loan for Axis Telekom, its Indonesian arm, in 2011. But Axis’s poor performance has put the company in breach of some of the terms, four […]
The UAE executive spearheading efforts to develop a series of eye-catching ‘underwater hotels’ at locations around the world has revealed the project has attracted ‘huge’ interest, including an offer to develop several properties for the Chinese market. Khamis Juma Buamim, chairman of Dubai industrial giant Drydocks World and Maritime World, says the collaboration between his firm and European company Deep Ocean Technology on new properties dubbed ‘water […]
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, […]
Now might be a good time to become accustomed with Windows 8 if you’re still a holdover Windows XP user. Computerworld reports that hackers have started storing up any fresh Windows XP exploits they find and are preparing to unleash them on unsuspecting XP users as soon as Microsoft stops supporting the operating system next year. Microsoft security expert Jason Fossen tells Computerworld that hackers who discover […]
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 […]
(Reuters) – The Dubai arm of Australian contractor Leighton Holdings is seeking more than 1 billion dirhams ($272 million) from a prominent member of Qatar’s royal family in compensation for late payments on a hotel project in the Qatari capital. Dubai-based Al Habtoor Leighton Group (HLG) said it had launched a series of suits against Sheikh Faisal Bin Qassim al-Thani’s Al Faisal Holding in relation to the […]
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 Asa Fitch As Dubai’s economy rebounds, the number of commercial disputes in one of its main courts appears to be waning, too. Perhaps taking a cue from rising real estate prices and an influx of tourists, lawyers say many people are trying to settle their differences and move on. The courts of the Dubai International Financial Centre, Dubai’s main financial free zone, have seen just nine […]
BEIJING/MOSCOW (Reuters) – China’s biggest energy firm PetroChina will join Exxon Mobil in developing Iraq’s giant West Qurna oilfield and is in talks with Lukoil to buy into a second project at the field, industry sources said on Friday. China is already the top foreign player in Iraq’s southern oilfields and a deal at West Qurna would boost its dominance and could make PetroChina the biggest single […]
Dubai: Emirates, Etihad Airways and Gulf Air experienced delays on Tuesday morning after their passenger check-in and reservation system crashed. The passenger check-in and reservation system, designed by Sabre, experienced a worldwide outage at around 8am local time and lasted for two hours. Sabre software is used by more than 300 airlines around the world and some 100 airports worldwide were affected by the outage. Sabre is […]
Another UAE bank has been targeted by an international hacking ring. American prosecutors say it is the largest computer hacking case ever uncovered in the US. According to an indictment released this week, the group hacked into an Abu Dhabi bank for two years and stole thousands of credit card numbers. They then sold the card numbers to criminals around the world. One defendant, Alexsandr Kalinin of […]
Aug 9 (Reuters) – North America’s shale boom is insulating the world from steep oil price spikes as several OPEC members struggle to maintain production due to unrest and infrastructure problems, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said on Friday. The agency, consulting developed nations on energy policies, said key among those disruptions were Libya and Iraq where violence has already steeply curtailed output. Upcoming work on key […]
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 […]
Riyadh (Reuters): The Saudi Arabian government awarded $22.5 billion (Dh82.6 billion) in contracts to three foreign-led consortia on Sunday for the design and construction of the first metro rail system in the capital, Riyadh. The project, which will involve six rail lines extending 176 kilometres and carrying electric, driverless trains, is the world’s largest public transport system currently under development, Saudi officials said. US construction giant Bechtel […]
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 […]
The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries will cut shipments by the most since December as refiners in the U.S. and Europe conduct seasonal maintenance, tanker-tracker Oil Movements said. The group, which supplies about 40 percent of the world’s oil, will cut exports by 740,000 barrels a day, or 3 percent, to about 23.7 million barrels a day in the four weeks to Aug. 24 from the period […]
By Gerald Al Fil While the comeback of stock market rallies investment banking, the Shari’ah-compliant industry faces its toughest test since it entered its boom phase a decade ago. I got puzzled when I received a tweet from @Worldmuslimnews on May 11 saying “Islamic finance is out”. Are issuances of Islamic bonds (sukuk) not going through the roof as we can read day by day? Could first […]
Siemens said it will supply the key components for a major combined-cycle power plant in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The power station is designed to deliver electricity to the Jazan Industrial city area in the southwest of the country and to the refinery of Jazan, which will additionally be supplied with process steam. The plant will be fueled with gasified refinery residues, which contributes greatly to […]
CHICAGO (MarketWatch) — In a world where financial rescues dominate headlines, U.S. government bond funds played hero yet again, rescuing portfolios in a tough second quarter. Sound familiar? Analysts have been pegging the end of the decades-long (and surely stretched?) Treasury rally ad nauseam. But Europe’s festering credit crisis, weakening Chinese economic growth, and a bumpy U.S. recovery combine to pressure the Federal Reserve and its counterparts […]
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 […]
