Middle East ETF News Older than One Year
Markets rebound in July, says Markaz
August 9, 2010--GCC markets turned positive in July as corporate earnings lifted sentiment in addition to positive reports from rating agencies. GCC markets gained 5% for the month, bringing the YTD gain to 4%. The MSCI GCC index underperformed emerging markets and BRIC for the month but is outperforming the indices on a yearly basis. All GCC markets saw gains, except Bahrain which shed 0.17%.
Gains were led by Kuwait's Weighted Index which was up 5.5% for the month.
As for corporate earnings, Gulf Bank swung to a profit of KD2m after posting losses in the same period of the previous year. NBK posted a 10% growth in second quarter earnings and provisions of $81m for the same period. In the UAE, NBAD and First Gulf Bank saw 1H10 earnings growths of 21% and 12%, respectively, while Emirates NBD saw earnings decline 29% in the same period. While in Saudi Arabia, Blue Chips gained despite poor results; Al Rajhi Bank and Samba Financial Group gained 6% and 5%, respectively, despite 1H10 earnings declines of 1% and 3%, respectively.
Source: AME Info
Tadawul market declines slightly
August 9, 2010-The Saudi Arabian bourse ended 0.10% lower at 6,317.67 points due to weak performing real estate developers and insurance firms. In a rare event in Riyadh, Sabic (up 0.85% at SR89.00) was not the most liquid stock but the newly listed Knowledge Economic City (KEC).
On its first day of trading, KEC ended at SR10.30, following its Sr1bn ($272m) IPO from May at SR10 per share. The Madinah-based KEC aims to be the core education centre in Saudi Arabia. Its total investment upon completion is SR30bn ($8bn).
Source: AME Info
Gulf Bank of Kuwait remains top performing stock
August 9, 2010--The Kuwait Stock Exchange (KSE) closed at 6,693.8 points (up 0.47%). Shares of Gulf Bank of Kuwait (GBK), the second largest commercial bank in the Northern Gulf state, continued its rally, ending 3.33% higher at KD0.465. GBK stocks gained 60% on a year to date basis.
The market leader Naitional Bank of Kuwait (NBK) also added 3.33% and finished at KD1.240.
Source: AME Info
Qatar Exchange stabilises
August 9, 2010--Doha-based Qatar Exchange (QE) added 0.09% and finished at 7,117.25 points. Industries Qatar (IQ) rose to a seven-week high closing at QR103.00 (up 0.49%) and finishing a chart technical w-formation.
Qatar Petrochemical Company a subsidiary of I IQ opened recently a logistics hub in Tripoli in the North of Lebanon. Trading volumes surged by 42% as 3.8m shares changed hands in Doha.
Source: AME Info
Abu Dhabi bourse decline continues
August 9. 2010-The ADX market failed to join the general positive trend at GCC markets and ended 0.64% lower at 2,511.45 points, falling for the fourth consecutive trading day. Real estate bellwether Aldar Properties weakened to Q1 2009 levels at Dhs2.15 (down3.67%).
Green Crescent Insurance Co. topped the charts, gaining 9.43% to Dhs0.58. Its rival Sorouh Real Estate added 0.60%, finishing at Dhs1.64. Abu Dhabi National Energy Co., dubbed Taqa, (Arabic for energy) bucked the trend by gaining 0.83%, ending at Dhs1.24.
Source: AME Info
Dubai Gold And Commodities Exchange Weekly Views-August 8, 2010
August 8, 2010--
Commodities Overview
Commodities prices took a clearer direction last week, following a brief period of price consolidation. A surge in investor buying, perhaps atypical of this time of the year, helped push most commodities prices to multi-week and multi-month highs. Although fundamentals remain supportive of commodities in general,
it was more an investor rush to purchase these assets and not be left out of a rallying market than a major shift in supply and demand dynamics that influenced investor activity. As usual, as markets turn direction, investors follow. A weakening U.S. dollar also should not be left out of the equation. This week market participants are likely to filter through which commodities they would like to remain in and which ones they would like to take profits on. It should not be surprising if investors sentiment shifts broadly and commodities prices follow the same pattern. Gold prices may extend their rally early this week, with silver prices following suit.
Currencies Overview
Investors are rebalancing their portfolios based on a less monochromatic view of the world economy. They have swung from being massively bearish on U.S. financial and economic prospects in the middle of 2009 to being massively negative on European debt conditions in the second quarter of 2010 to having a more equivocating view of economic prospects. Europe is doing better than many thought it would. The United States and China are slowing down as had been expected. While some worry this is the beginning of a new recession, the consensus in the mainstream market appears to be that it is instead an inter-cyclical slow down, following the post recession recovery. Investors are seeking to balance their assets globally, which means that they are not favoring any one currency over others.
Source: Dubai Gold And Commodities Exchange (DGCX)
Investor Satisfaction At ADX On Positive Drive - Survey Results Reflect The Exchange’s Endeavors For Progress And Development
“We Are Carefully Looking Into All Investors’ Remarks And Proposals,” Rashed Al Baloushi
August 6, 2010--Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange today announced that the results of the Investor Satisfaction Survey that was wrapped up last week showed a satisfaction rate of 58.64% out of a total of 801 participating investors, indicating the success of the exchange’s development and improvement efforts.
ADX has launched the survey as from June 20, 2010 for one month up to July 20, 2010, to measure the satisfaction level among its investors and to identify the services and areas that need consideration or improvement within the framework of the exchange’s strategic objectives and plans.
UAE nationals constituted 43.5 per cent of the total participants while the remaining 56.5 per cent were foreigners according to the results, reflecting a better outcome, as higher foreign participation allows for comparisons with other exchanges.
“This is one of five surveys that ADX has launched in June to identify the satisfaction levels among all our customers including listed companies, brokers, custodians and registrars, in tandem with the directives of the leadership and the objectives outlined by Abu Dhabi’s Policy Agenda and Economic Vision 2030,” commented Rashed Al Baloushi, ADX’s Deputy Chief Executive and Director of Operations.
Source: Mondovisione
Kuwaiti stocks up over Agility acquittal
August 6, 2010--All main indices of the Kuwait Stock Exchange (KSE) have gone up
with the price and weighted indexes hiking by 11.20 points, or 0.17 percent, and by 1.05 points, or 0.25 percent, respectively.
Source: AME Info
Profit-taking tactics keep TASI volatile
August 6, 2010-- Saudi shares were volatile last week due to conflicting reports about world recovery that prompted investors to resort to profit-taking tactics to avoid any unforeseen losses, analysts said.
The Tadawul All-Share Index (TASI) gained 0.54 percent last week, closing at 6,300.44 points.
Source: AME Info
Israeli ETF interest lags rest of BlackRock
Although Israelis have an affinity towards the United States, they largely prefer European products for reasons such as lower taxes, flexibility for currency trading and being in virtually the same time zone, she noted.
"Institutions are being encouraged by the government to diversify outside of Israel," Fuhr said in an interview with Reuters. "But the Israeli market and currency are doing well ... When your home market is doing well, you have a home-market bias."
Source: Reuters
August 5, 2010-- Despite the rapid global growth in exchanged traded funds globally, their popularity remains low in Israel due to strong local markets, the head of global ETF research for BlackRock
Deborah Fuhr said there are some financial products in Israel called ETFs but they aren't funds, but rather notes or certificates.
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