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Bahrain GDP grew 0.7% in Q3
December 4, 2012--Bahrain's Central Informatics Organisation has said the Gulf country's economic growth has picked up again in the third quarter of 2012, after shrinking in April-June, Reuters has reported.
Gross domestic product (GDP), adjusted for inflation, grew 0.7% quarter-on-quarter in July-September, compared with a 1.3% fall in the second quarter, which was the first quarterly decline since a 6.6% slump in the first three months of 2011. On an annual basis, Bahrain's real GDP expanded 3.1% in the third quarter, despite ongoing political turmoil weighing on the regional financial hub, down from a 4.3% growth in the previous three months. The GDP increase was mainly attributed to non-oil economic activities, which grew 5.9% in constant prices in the third quarter, although construction and real estate still expanded at lower single digit rates.
Egypt: EGX Gains EGP 3.7 Billion-Main Index Up 1.8 Percent
December 4, 2012--The Egyptian Exchange (EGX) achieved 7.3 billion pounds in profit at the closing of trading on Sunday 2/12/2012 prompted by purchases by foreign, Egyptian and Arab investors.
The gains came amidst optimism over completing the transitional period in the country after the vote on the constitution in December 15 referendum.
The EGX 30 benchmark index increased by 1.8 percent to reach 4,894.64 points.
Tadawul market bull run continues as construction-related shares surge
December 3, 2012--The Tadawul All-Share Index gained for the third day straight, ending 0.36% higher at 6,732.46 points.
The sentiment in Riyadh was supported by rising oil prices (up $0.62 at $108.31, DME Oman crude). The cement sector index (up 1.14%) gained the most among the Tasi sub-indices. Shares of Dar Al-Arkan Real Estate Development surged 0.63% to hit SR8.00. Earlier in the day, Arab News said the kingdom was in need of a SR1.3trillion ($346bn) housing investment by 2020 to satify the rising demand. Around 60% of the 28m Saudi nationals are younger than 30 years. Thorsten Schneider, business unit manager Gulf region at Germany's industrial giant Henkel Group said in an interview with Xinhua last month he was more bullish on Saudi Arabia than on the UAE in relation to construction and real estate. "The kingdom has a housing gap of 5 million homes, while residential construction in the UAE is much more volatile and speculative," said Schneider.
Kuwait's Zain Telecom gains as new CEO takes over
December 3, 2012--The KSE Market Index made a new attempt to capture 6,000 points by advancing 0.23% to reach 5,956.14 Monday.
Zain Telecom closed 1.22% higher at KD0.830 after the firm appointed Scott Gegenheimer CEO. Gegenheimer left Zain's competitor Wataniya six months ago and replaces Nabeel bin Salama who resigned in October.
Bahrain Bourse stabilises near 1,050
November 29, 2012--The Bahrain All-Share Index closed 0.10% higher at 1,048.81 points Thursday as Bank of Bahrain and Kuwait or BBK jumped 4.74% to reach BD0.398.
Bahrain Middle East Investemnt Bank, known as BMB, closed unchanged. Earlier in the day, Fitch Ratings has affirmed BMB's long-term issuer default rating at "B-". Fitch also revised BMB's outlook to "positive" from stable. The lender said this success reflects its de-leveraging efforts.
Dubai market soars ahead of UAE 41st National Day
November 29, 2012--The DFM General Index closed 1.20% higher at 1,607.90 points as most real estate shares and financials rebounded.
Emaar and Arabtec gained 1.60% and 1.80%, respectively. Emirates NBD and Ajmanbank soared 4.26% and 2.80%. Earlier in the day, Ashok Aram, the CEO MENA at Deutsche Bank said he was optimistic that GCC capital markets are becoming increasingly attractive and that they will continue to increase its market share in the region's financing and investments. He urged the private industry in the GCC to value human capital higher "as the U. S. is still willing to pay more for talents across all industries and this leads many Middle Eastern talents to seek a career abroad." Some 97.9m shares valued at Dhs111.72m changed hands. On the occasion of the 41st UAE National Day, the DFM will remain closed on Dec.2 and Dec.3.
NBAD hits multi-year high on bullish GCC prospects
November 29, 2012--The ADX General Index closed 1.04% higher at 2,674.56 as shares gained across the board on Thursday.
The UAE's second lender National Bank of Abu Dhabi or NBAD jumped 4% to hit Dhs10.50, representing the highest price level since August 2008, the month before U. S. investment bank Lehman Brothers went bankrupt. Earlier in the day, Deutsche Bank CEO for the MENA region Ashok Aram said at the 7th annual summit of the Gulf Petrochems & Chemicals Association (GPCA) that GCC banks were today better off than their counterparts in the West as GCC lenders had a low cost income ratio of below 40% on average and their return on equity was between 12% to 15%compared to 60%/5% - 7% at banks in Europe and the U. S. "GCC capital markets will continue to expand in the coming years," said Aram. Abu Dhabi National Energy Co, known as Taqa, closed unchanged. Earlier in the day, Taqa said t hired 5 banks, NBAD being one of them, to arrange global investors meetings in order to raise bonds of half a billion U. S. dollars under its existing Global Medium Term Note program. On Wednesday, Taqa said it acquired oil and gas assets in the North Sea form BP worth $1bn.
Bahrain Bourse stabilises near 1,050
November 29, 2012-The Bahrain All-Share Index closed 0.10% higher at 1,048.81 points Thursday as Bank of Bahrain and Kuwait or BBK jumped 4.74% to reach BD0.398.
Bahrain Middle East Investemnt Bank, known as BMB, closed unchanged. Earlier in the day, Fitch Ratings has affirmed BMB's long-term issuer default rating at "B-". Fitch also revised BMB's outlook to "positive" from stable. The lender said this success reflects its de-leveraging efforts.
DP World jumps to three-week high at NASDAQ Dubai
November 29, 2012--The FTSE NASDAQ Dubai UAE 20 Index closed Thursday 2.57% higher at 1806.98 points.
Shares of global port operator DP World surged 5.40% to hit $12.49. Interior designer Depa Ltd. fell 5.6% to $0.36.
Real estate euphoria loses steam at Dubai market
November 28, 2012--The new optimism on the development of a new city within a city in Dubai which was fuelled at the start of the week was fading away Wednesday as construction-related shares weighed on the DFM General Index, closing down 0.17% at 1,588.77.
Arabtec Construction (0.90% lower), Emaar Properties (off 0.80%) and MEP-specialist Drake and Scull International (losing 0.70%) were the most liquid shares. Budget carrier Air Arabia and district cooling provider Tabreed (both up 1.71%) topped the charts. Trading volumes remained low ahead of the 41st UAE National Day as 76.4m shares were traded, valued at Dhs110.4m.
