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Standard & Poors Dow Jones Launch a Stand Alone County Index for Palestine and The Palestine Exchange is under the radar of FTSE Indices
December 23, 2013--S&P Dow Jones announced on 18 December 2013 that it has added coverage of Palestine to its suite of frontier market indices.
The Palestine index is currently a standalone country index. Palestine will remain on S&P Dow Jones Indices watch-list for potential future inclusion in the S&P Frontier BMI and Dow Jones Global Total Stock Market.
In the same context, FTSE Indices informed the PEX that in 2014, FTSE will be reviewing the eligibility of including Palestine as a Frontier market within the FTSE Country Classification scheme.
Bourse witnesses mild bearish pressure as real estate stocks fall
December 20, 2013--Qatar Exchange witnessed mild bearish pressure in the week, which saw only three trading sessions in view of National Day holidays.
Of the three sessions,, two of them were in the negative turf in the week that saw a meeting of Supreme Council of Economic Affairs where a presentation was made regarding offering of shares worth QR50bn of several state-owned companies to Qataris over a period of 10 years.
Fed stimulus cut back
December 19, 2013--There will be no dramatic changes to UAE and Gulf markets in response to the US Federal Reserve announcement that it will start tapering next month as their positive drive is largely being driven by their own economies.
A taper of some degree was expected in first quarter 2014 and so Gulf markets, who are already performing well, will be largely unaffected as the US Fed moves to cut monthly bond purchases to $75 billion from $85 billion. The UAE indices climbed 1.10 per cent on Thursday amid an ongoing uptrend post Expo 2020 win.
TADAWUL: Agriculture sector crosses 9,000-mark
December 19, 2013--The Saudi stock market continued its positive movement, marking another gain of 0.34 percent Wednesday.
The Tadawul All-Share Index (TASI) jumped (+40 points) into the green territory earlier Wednesday and spending almost entire session in the same region closed higher to 8,440.53 points, up nearly 28 points from its previous close.
On a year-to-date basis, the index crossed a positive return of 24 percent. All market cap indices ended in the safe area. Real estate and bank shares lift Dubai index Kuwait bourse resumes slide; sheds 46.99 pts TADAWUL: Banks & financial sector gains 1.26%
Banks & Financial Services sector posted the biggest gains among sectoral indices, surging 1.3 percent or 223 points to close at 17,867.80. Energy & Utilities sector followed it, adding more than one percent. UAE shares end on a positive note
Among the gainers on Dubai bourse, Al Salam Sudan rose 7.56 per cent to Dh1.85, followed by Emirates NBD by 3.60 per cent to Dh5.75 and Mashreq Bank by 3.49 per cent to Dh89.
Dubai shares decline as investors book profits IMF Concluding Statement of the 2013 Article IV Consultations with Israel
House prices, however, continue to increase despite policy measures aimed at curbing such rise. The external position is strong. The shekel has been under intermittent appreciation pressure-owing to an easing of geopolitical risks, prospects of a natural resources bonanza, and large FDI inflows-contributing to weakening the competitiveness of the tradable sector. 2. Risks to the economic outlook are tilted to the downside. Externally, the main risks pertain to a prolonged period of sluggish growth in Europe and the United States and growth disappointments in emerging economies. Domestic risks include a further weakening of the tradable sector, a correction in the housing market, and the reemergence of regional geopolitical tensions, which would bear upon sentiment. Risks to the upside could arise from faster-than-expected recovery in Israel’s major trading partners and growth spillovers from the emerging natural gas sector.
December 18, 2013--Dubai's benchmark index closed more than two per cent higher on Wednesday, fuelled by banks and real estate shares.
Real estate shares are in the limelight as the property market will see higher growth next year and many projects are set to see light due to Expo 2020. The new initiatives on holiday homes market, doubling transfer fees on sales and mortgage caps are to fuel growth in the property market.
December 18, 2013--Kuwait stocks retreated on Tuesday after eking modest rebound in the previous session.
The index dropped 46.99 pts in choppy trade to close at 7,609.17 pts as sentiment turned weak. The mid and low caps paced the decline whereas some of the banks bucked the trend to close higher. The bourse has closed lower in 6 of the last 7 sessions. The KSX 15 gauge however climbed 3.6 pts to 1,079 points taking the year's gains to 70 pts whereas the weighted index edged 0.32 points higher to 452.77 points.
The volume turnover meanwhile receded slightly to slip below the 200 million mark. 183.48 million shares changed hands - a 8.82 percent fall from the day before.
December 18, 2013--The Saudi stock market turned green on Tuesday, achieving 0.32 percent growth for the day. The benchmark Tadawul All-Share Index (TASI) dug in at 8,412.32 and ended its trading up over 27 points. It wavered within a trading range of 35.2 points.
Sectoral indices performed in a mixed fashion, with six sectors accumulating an aggregate of 536.3 points and nine six sectors trimming 147.5 points collectively.
December 17, 2013--Banks, investment and financial shares lifted the UAE indices higher on Tuesday.
Dubai's benchmark index -DFM -closed 0.28 per cent up at 3144.04 points while Abu Dhabi's ADX index closed 1.28 per cent up at 4103.59 points.
December 16, 2013--Dubai shares dropped close to two per cent on Monday as investors booked profits after the gains in the past two weeks led the benchmark surge to more than 95 per cent on the year.
Also, concerns about Emaar Properties’ possible equity dilution is a factor in today's sell-off. The DFM General Index closed 1.61 per cent lower to 3135.17 led by real estate and construction stocks, which were among the major gainers during the latest rally.
December 16, 2013--
1. The Israeli economy is growing at a moderate pace. Overall growth is projected to remain flat in 2013 at 3½ percent and moderate slightly to around 3¼ percent in 2014. Inflation pressures remain contained, with both headline and underlying inflation (CPI excluding energy) at the middle of the target range, and unemployment is low.
Concluding Statement of the 2013 Article IV Consultations with Israel
December 16, 2013
1. The Israeli economy is growing at a moderate pace. Overall growth is projected to remain flat in 2013 at 3½ percent and moderate slightly to around 3¼ percent in 2014. Inflation pressures remain contained, with both headline and underlying inflation (CPI excluding energy) at the middle of the target range, and unemployment is low. House prices, however, continue to increase despite policy measures aimed at curbing such rise. The external position is strong. The shekel has been under intermittent appreciation pressure—owing to an easing of geopolitical risks, prospects of a natural resources bonanza, and large FDI inflows—contributing to weakening the competitiveness of the tradable sector. Abstracting from the impact of new large-scale gas production, growth in 2013 is projected to be only 2½ percent.
