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Kuwaiti bourse closes on mixed note
May 19, 2011--Kuwait Stock Exchange (KSE) closed yesterday's session on mixed note. It is the third session in a row that the market indices are seen moving within a narrow range. Investors were seen concentrating on medium and small cap stocks during the session. Global Small Cap Index (Low 10) closed the day up by 2.12 percent.
While heavy weights sectors almost balanced their overall performance as they saw counter directions. The eyes were away from trading monitors and was focusing on the lawmakers fought with fists in Kuwait's parliament yesterday during a heated debate over inmates in the US Guantanamo detention center, amid rising sectarian tension in the Gulf state.
Saudi Arabia looks to double GDP by 2025
May 19, 2011--Khaled Al-Qusaibi, Saudi economy minister has said the kingdom is aiming to double its GDP per capita by 2025 and achieve an annual average growth rate in non-oil producing sectors of 7%,
Saudi Gazette has reported. Of non-oil sectors, industry has the highest target of 8.1% growth, while the country's long-term economic strategy aims for 7.4% growth in the services sector, Al-Qusaibi said.
Tamweel shares dip on profit booking
May 19, 2011--The Dubai Financial Market (DFM) ended the third week of May with a loss of 0.42% and closed at 1,583.01 points. After rising over 10% during the week, Islamic home financing company Tamweel dipped 0.42%, finishing at Dhs0.937.
Emaar lost 0.94%, finishing at Dhs3.17. The DFM, the only Arab market which is listed publicly, added 0.80% to reach Dhs1.26. Some 178.8m shares valued at Dhs151.6m changed hands.
OPEC Monthly Oil Report May 2011
May 18, 2011--Oil Market Highlights
The OPEC Reference Basket rose further in April to average $118.09/b, up $8.25 from the previous month and $35.76 from a year earlier. The continued upward trend was supported by ongoing developments in some MENA countries and improving economic sentiment.
The front month Nymex WTI and ICE Brent contracts averaged $110.04/b and $123.10/b, respectively, which were their highest level since the onset of the financial crisis. However, prices experienced extreme volatility and a sharp correction in the first week of May, dropping by almost $17, as profit-taking triggered a technical sell-off. Since then, prices have rebounded, with the OPEC Basket standing at $111.48/b
on 10 May.
The world economic growth forecast for 2011 remains unchanged at 3.9%, although there have been some offsetting revisions. The US economy has shown some slowdown recently and, while it is expected to regain momentum, the forecast has been reduced to 2.6% from 2.9%. Euro-zone growth has been increased to 1.7% from 1.5%, backed by continued expansion in the manufacturing sector and improving domestic demand. Japan’s economy is still forecast to decline by 0.1% following the recent tragic events. Developing Asia is expected to contribute the most to global growth in 2011, with China growing by 9.0% and India by 8.1%. Risks still appear to be skewed downward due to sovereign debt concerns, rising inflation across the globe leading to higher interest rates and potential overheating in developing Asia.
World oil demand is forecast to grow by 1.4 mb/d in 2011, broadly unchanged from the previous report, following an increase of 2.1 mb/d last year. The Japanese earthquake, along with economic uncertainty in the US is keeping oil demand estimates in an adjustment mode and is imposing a downside risk for the year’s forecasts. At the same time, China’s economy is roaring ahead of all expectations, which has implications on the country’s consumption. As a result of the offsetting demand trends, the risks look to be nearly balanced at the present time.
Saudi pension body invests $533m in stock market
May 18, 2011--Mohamed al-Kharashi, governor of Saudi Arabia's Public Pension Agency has said the agency has invested SR2bn ($533.3m) in the kingdom's stock market in March, Reuters has reported.
The agency invested in the bank, telecom, pharmaceutical and cement sectors, he said. "We will keep investing. The market is promising," he told the news service. "Our asset management strategy is 47% external and 53% internal. Our investment strategy is open both ways but we focus on maximising internal investments," he said.
Dubai market ends three-day loss series
May 18, 2011--The DFM Index gained 0.74% to reach 1,589.73 points.
Shares of Islamic home financier Tamweel were the most liquid stocks, jumping 8.29% to close at Dhs0.94. Emaar added 1.28%, closing at Dhs3.20. Seventeen stocks gained, seven declined and three ended flat
Bahrain's BFX delays launch of conventional training
May 18, 2011--Bahrain Financial Exchange (BFX), which started operations this year, has postponed the launch of its conventional trading platform and is relocating some of its staff to other parts of the group, Reuters has reported.
Arshad Khan, the exchange's chief executive, said the bourse plans to start trading for conventional products, including derivatives, after the slow summer period in the Gulf region when business activity remains subdued. "On the conventional side, we have postponed the launch. We will wait for business conditions to improve," Khan said. [AMEInfo.com]
Qatar starts selling monthly treasury bills
May 17, 2011--The central bank of Qatar is to start selling treasury bills monthly for the first time, adding a new tool to manage liquidity in the Gulf state where credit growth has slowed in the last six months, Bloomberg has reported.
The central bank plans to sell QR2bn ($550m) in bills each month after completing its first sale last week. The central bank will sell three-month maturity bills in June and July and may consider different maturities in future auctions, governor Sheikh Abdullah bin Saud Al Thani said.
Tadawul bourse adds a quarter percent
May 17, 2011--The Saudi Stock Exchange's Tadawul market closed 0.26% higher on Wednesday at 6,651.37 points. Market bellwether SABIC dipped 0.23% to SR106.25. Credit Suisse has set the target price for Sabic at SR120, while Rajhi Capital sees SABIC even at SR131.2.
According to Dr. Said Al-Shaikh, Group Chief Economist at National Commercial Bank (NCB), the Tadawul market's performance does currently not correlate with the overall increase profitability of Saudi listed firms. "Although listed firms have achieved net profit increases in 2010, the Saudi Stock market has not responded positively as in the years before the financial crisis,", Dr. Said said at the two-day Euromoney Conference Saudi Arabia in Riyadh on Tuesday.
New Abu Dhabi brokerage plans FX trading
May 16, 2011--Mahmood Ebraheem Al Mahmood, chairman of new Abu Dhabi-based brokerage, ADS Securities has said the firm is eyeing a share of the rapidly growing trade in commodities and foreign exchange by bridging the time gap between Asian and European markets,
Reuters has reported. "When you look at where we are situated, we are open here and there is no body to serve (investors). That's where the opportunity is and hence the decision to operate out of Abu Dhabi," Al Mahmood told the news service.
