Dana Gas buoyant as Egypt outlook blooms
July 17, 2013--The ADX General Index hit 3,800.28 points (up 0.34%) Wednesday, the highest level since Oct. 1 2008.
Dana Gas rebounded by 1.70% to reach Dhs0.60. Earlier in the day, Dana said peak production of natural gas in Egypt Peak reached 39,000 barrels of oil per day, an increase of 13% over 2012. In addition, Dana Gas said the total financial support of $12bn for Egypt pledged by KSA, the UAE and Kuwait would improve the business outlook for its operations in the Nile Delta. On Oct. 31, the Sharjah-based regional energy firm missed to pay off a $1bn Islamic bond upon maturity (a first for the UAE) mainly due to delayed payments by its Egyptian clients (the sukuk was in May this year sucessfully restructured). United Arab Bank (UAB) advanced 6.72% to reach Dhs5.40. UAB said it earned in H1 a net income of Dhs260m, up 35% year-on-year.
Source: AME Info
Dubai bourse rallies ahead of Bernanke speech, Air Arabia flies up & away
July 17, 2013--The DFM General Index extended the Ramadan rally on Wednesday by closing 2% higher at 2,495.46 as trading turnover hit a multi-week high.
U. S. federal reserve chief Ben Bernanke will deliver later in the day his widely expected testimony on the U. S economy to the congress. Earlier in the week, BNY Mellon said in its weekly preview "in view of the protracted and universal influence of burgeoning USD based liquidity on markets globally, each and every sentence employed by Mr Bernanke to outline plans for its withdrawal is subject to logomachy and hence constitutes a potential catalyst for the sort of volatility that we witnessed (last) mid-week." At the DFM, shares of low cost carrier Air Arabia gained the most, ending up 8.26% at Dhs1.31, the highest level since Oct. 26 2008. Emaar edged up 1.21% to reach Dhs5.87. Some 709m shares were traded, valued at Dhs928.5m.
Source: AME Info
Al Salam Bank Bahrain back to profits, shares dip on exhausted rally
July 16, 2013--The Bahrain All-Share Index ended Tuesday trading insignificantly higher at 1,187.47 points.
Al Salam Bank Bahrain fell 1.92% to BD0.102. Al Salam reported a half-year net profit of BD6.02m, up from a loss of BD812k in the same period last year. The Islamic banks' shares rose 2.5-fold in the last 12 months.
Source: AME Info
Investors do not mind Bank Muscat's H1 profit dip
July 15, 2013-The Omani stock market index MSM-30 advanced 0.72% to reach 6,564.25 points on Monday.
The country's largest lender Bank Muscat added 1.18%, closing at OR0.598. Earlier in the day, Bank Muscat said posted a net profit of OR63.1m for the six months, down from OR68.4m for the corresponding period in 2012. "An exceptional operating loss provision of OR15m relating to the Prepaid Travel Card fraud incident (as disclosed to the market on February 25, 2013 and February 26, 2013) was considered in Q1 2013 in accordance with the IFRS." The lender added it was working on "various channels" to recover the loss arising from this exposure. Bank Muscat said further that net interest income and income from Islamic financing in the first six months was OE114, up from OR108.9m.
Source: AME Info
Lacklustre Qatari market closes even
July 15, 2013--The QE 20 Index ended unchanged at 9,399.30 points on Monday.
Trading turnover picked up slightly but remained low. United Development Company or UDC, the developer of the man-made peninsula The Pearl Qatar, gained the most (up 3.68% at QR22.84). Mannai Corporation posted the biggest deceline (down 4.61% at QR84.80).
Source: AME Info
Gulf funds to Egypt may be converted into bonds
July 13, 2013--A legal expert has said Egypt could convert part of the $12bn of loans and grants pledged by Gulf nations last week into tradable bond securities, Reuters has reported.
"The contributions from non-Qatar states are certainly capable of being represented by notes issued through the programme," said James Healy, a partner at law firm Skadden, which represented Egypt in connection with the establishment of the programme. "The key advantage is the potential tradability of these securities, which would suggest Qatar might have considered trading them before maturity," said Healy. [AMEInfo.com]
Source: AME Info
Israel's version of exchange-traded funds has become a major factor in the bourse
KSM is the segment's dominant player.
July 12, 013--KSM, Israel's biggest manager of exchange-traded funds, is celebrating its 10th anniversary this month.
The company is so closely linked to ETFs, or as they are known in Israel index-linked certificates (teudot sal in Hebrew), that for most investors KSM’s decade also marks the 10th anniversary of ILCs themselves.
Source: Haaretz.com
IMF Executive Board Concludes 2013 Article IV Consultation with Saudi Arabia
July 12, 2013--Saudi Arabia has been one of the best performing G-20 economies in recent years, and has supported the global economy through its stabilizing role in the global oil market. Generous financial support has also been provided to countries in the Middle East region.
The Saudi economy grew by 5.1 percent in 2012, benefitting from high oil prices and output, strong private sector growth, and government spending. Inflation has risen over the past year to 3.8 percent in May 2013, driven by higher food prices and housing costs. High oil prices and production led to large fiscal and current account surpluses, and international reserves rose further. Credit growth has remained strong, and the banking system is well-capitalized and profitable, with Basle III capital standards implemented in January 2013. Following an expansionary fiscal stance in 2011, government expenditure growth slowed in 2012 and the non-oil deficit began to narrow.
Source: IMF
UAE markets gain on the first day of Ramadan
July 11, 2013--The UAE markets continued their upward trend on the first day of Ramadan amid lower volumes, with Dubai's General Index gaining for the fourth straight day
and the Abu Dhabi Securities Index advancing for three consecutive days.
Source: Zawya
Bank Al Jazira joins Saudi earnings spree
July 11, 2013--The Tadawul All-Share Index lost 0.20% on Thursday, closing at 7,690.38 points.
Earlier in the day, National Bank of Abu Dhabi said annual core inflation in KSA eased to 2.9% y-o-y from 3.2% y-o-y. However, annual inflation in the food category in the Kingdom is the fastest in the GCC region, but eased to +6.1% y-o-y - still more than double the pace in other GCC economies. Bank Al-Jazira rose 0.73% to hit SR27.70. Earlier in the day, the Jeddah-based Islamic bank said the net profit for the first six month rose 14.71% to hit SR312m. The reason for the surge was growth in the core banking activities and increase in operating income, said Al Jazira (not related to the Qatari news channel). The realatively volatile share gained around 20 percent in the last 12 months. Sabic, the petrochem giant, stood for the second day steadfast at SR95.
Source: AME Info