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Kuwaiti shares lose across the board
June 13, 2013--The KSE Market Index declined by half a percentage point on Thursday, closing at 7,931.09 points.
National Bank of Kuwait (NBK) closed even, while the northern Gulf state's biggest Islamic bank Kuwait Finance House lost 2.90%. Telecom Giant Zain declined by 2.81%. Islamic insurer First Takaful Insurance Co. posted the biggest advance (up 9%).
Qatar Exchange drops as market heayvweights lose steam
June 13, 2013--The QE 20 Index closed 0.40% lower at 9,479.80 points on Thursday.
Qatar Electricity and Water dived 2.42% to QR153.30. Ooredoo (formerly Qatar Telecom) ended down 2.34% to QR125, while the country's biggest lender Qatar National Bank finished 1.16% lower at QR153.60. Qatar Islamic Bank bucked the trend by gaining 2.31% to reach QR70.90. Earlier in the day, QIB invited its shareholders to its extraoridnary general meeting on Sunday, June 30 regarding the bank's owenership rights.
Aldar, Sorouh soar as developers announce period when merger will be sealed
June 13, 2013--As the euphoria about MSCI's upgrade of the UAE to Emerging Market status waned, the Abu Dhabi market index ADXGI closed unchanged at 3,661.39 points.
Aldar Properties surged 4.31% to Dhs2.42, while Sorouh Real Estate jumped 8.33% to close at Dhs2.99. Earlier in the day, the 2 merging developers, partly owned by the Abu Dhabi government, said the merger would become effective between June 20 to June 30. Sorouh shares will only be de-listed after the period and for Sorouh investors would share 1.288 Adlar shares. the entity would continue to be floated on the ADX and called Aldar Properties with a combined real estate asset portfolios worth $15bn.
Dubai bourse stabilises on a high level
June 13, 2013--Despite very nagtive input from Japan, where the Nikkei index dived 6.35% after the Yen rallied, the DFM General Index closed 0.16% higher at 2,399.58 points on Thursday.
District cooling speacialist Tabreed jumped 8.15% to reach Dhs1.99. The DFM, the only Arab bourse being listed, added 1.52% to hit Dhs2.01. Emaar a the most liquid share, slipped 0.34% to Dhs5.78. Takaful Emarat lost the most, heading down 6.12% to Dhs0.69. Some 515m shares were traded valued at Dhs726m.
MSCI Upgrades UAE & Qatar
June 12, 2013--UAE and Qatar's upgrade to membership in the index is expected to take effect around May 31, 2014. Qatar would account for 0.45% of the weighting of the Emerging Markets index, with the UAE accounting for 0.4%.
The said exchanges had first sought index inclusion in the emerging markets index in 2008 and had been denied entry to the grouping five times since the first review in 2009. The move is a major sign of approval from institutional investors for the countries' stock markets, and is expected to attract more stable sources of capital to local equities. Dubai and Abu Dhabi have been the top performing markets in 2013. The major reason for such an exceptional growth has been the rebound in real estate and construction market. Not only Real Estate stocks have rallied but the same has been witnessed in Banking and Construction companies as both the sectors are highly associated with Real Estate. On the other hand Qatar has been a late starter but has recently picked up pace and currently stands at low end of the table amongst GCC in terms of return. MSCI upgrade has also been a prime reason for the run up in both the countries. Although the news would be taken very positively by the investors, foreign funds tracking the MSCI benchmarks will likely start to invest only after the reclassification takes effect in May next year. The market seems to have given a thumps up to the news evident by the 2%+ opening jump today. Although this is related particularly to UAE and Qatar, the upgrade will also bring other regional markets into the focus of EM fund managers leading to a positive sentiment overall.
Saudi market ends trading week positively
June 12, 2013--Despite market bellwether Sabic falling 0.53% to SR93.75, the Tadawul All-Share Index rose 0.54% to reach 7,623.89 points on Wednesday.
The last trading day of the Saudi Arabian working week witnessed ample interest in shares of Dar Al Arkan Alarkan Real Estate Development Company, closing 3.94% higher at SR10.50. Dairy food producer Almarai Company gained 0.36% to reach SR70.25. Earlier in the day, Almarai said following to the announcement dated March 30th 2013, regarding the agreement of the boards of United Farmers Holding Co. (UFHC) the terms of a recommended cash offer to acquire all the share capital of CFG, "Almarai is pleased to announce to its shareholders that ,at a hearing on June 11th 2013 in the High Court of Justice of the Isle of man, which is common practice in dealing with this type of transactions, the Court granted an order sanctioning the scheme of arrangement under section 157 of the Isle of Man Companies Act 2006 to effect the recommended cash acquisition by UFHC of the entire issued and to be issued ordinary share capital of CFG on the terms set out in a circular dispatched by CFG to its shareholders on April 25th 2013."
Egypt Stocks Drop as MSCI Says FX Shortage May Trigger Downgrade
June 12, 2013--Egypt's shares headed for a year low after MSCI Inc. said it may review the nation's emerging-market status if the foreign-currency situation worsens.
Morocco’s index was little changed as it was cut to frontier status.
The EGX 30 Index tumbled 3.8 percent to 4,662.94 as of 12:32 p.m. in Cairo, poised for the lowest close since June 2012. The measure, the second-worst performer today among 94 indexes tracked by Bloomberg, has fallen 22 percent since a September 26 peak. A drop of 20 percent or more signals a so-called bear market to some investors.
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Kuwait Stock Exchange climbs over 8,000
June 11, 2013--The KSE Market Index advanced 1.30% to close at 8,029.31 points.
Financials were mostoy driving the surge as National Bank of Kuwait (up 1.05%), Burgan Bank (gaining 3.17%) and Kuwait Finance House (1.47% higher). The telecommunications sector and the healthcare segment were the sole sectors which ended in the red.
MSCI may exclude Egypt from Emerging Market Index
June 11, 2013--MSCI Inc. has said it is closely monitoring the situation in Egypt, in particular the negative developments in the foreign exchange market.
"MSCI may launch a public consultation on a potential exclusion of the MSCI Egypt Index from the MSCI Emerging Markets Index were the situation to worsen in the coming months," it said.
United Arab Emirates-2013 Article IV Consultation Concluding Statement of the IMF Mission
June 11, 2013--I. Introduction
An International Monetary Fund (IMF) mission visited the United Arab Emirates from April 30 to May 15, 2013, to hold discussions for the 2013 Article IV consultation.1Against the backdrop of a strengthening economy, discussions focused on: pursuing appropriate near-term macroeconomic policies; managing old and new risks stemming from Government-Related Entities (GRE); and pursuing policies to support financial sector stability.
The mission would like to thank the authorities for the open and fruitful discussions and for their hospitality.
II. Recent Developments
1. The economic recovery has continued to strengthen amid favorable oil prices and capital inflows. Supported by a perceived safe haven status amid regional political and social unrest, capital flows have strengthened, demand from expatriates from the broader region has increased, and the real estate sector, which had been impaired since the 2009 crisis, has stabilized in Abu Dhabi and started to recover in Dubai. Oil prices remained high and economic confidence strengthened. The repair of balance sheets of government-related entities (GRE) that were at the center of the 2009 crisis continued but is not yet complete.
2. Economic growth is estimated to have reached 4.3 percent in 2012. Hydrocarbon production expanded by around 5.2 percent, and non-oil growth continued to accelerate to 3.8 percent, driven by growth in services sectors. Backed by high oil prices and production, as well as buoyant non-hydrocarbon exports, the external current account surplus rose to almost 17 percent of GDP in 2012.
