Middle East ETF News Older than One Year
Yemen currency hits record low
July 28, 2010--Mohammed Awad bin Hamam, governor of Yemen's central bank, has said that injecting more cash in the exchange market is possible after an $80m injection failed to raise the country's rial currency, Reuters has reported.
The rial has fallen about 12% from a level of 208 versus the dollar in mid-January. He said that demand is expected to decrease as supply of foreign currencies like the dollar, increase in coming days when remittances would be sent to Yemen by expatriates.
Source: AME Info
Kuwait inflation holds steady
July 28, 2010--According to figures by Kuwait's central bank, the Gulf state posted annual inflation of 2.8% in April, in line with levels since the start of the year as food and transport costs remained steady, Reuters has reported.
Food prices, which account for 18 percent of the basket, fell by 0.1% from the previous month, following a 0.8% rise in March, while transport prices, the third biggest component, rose 0.1% after remaining unchanged in March.
Source: AME Info
Yemen wants to raise prices to Korea Gas
July 27, 2010--The Yemeni foreign minister has said the government is seeking to increase the prices at which Yemen LNG has contracted to sell liquefied natural gas to one of its shareholders, Korea Gas Corp, Bloomberg has reported.
The prices set in a 20-year contract between the companies are "unfair" to Yemen because they are below those that regional suppliers Qatar and Oman charge for their liquefied gas, Abu Bakr al-Qirbi said, without giving a price target. The government will take "any legal steps" to try to ensure that Yemen LNG negotiates higher prices with Korea Gas, he said.
Source: AME Info
Kuwait Finance House launches e-trading hall for women
July 27, 2010--Kuwait Finance House "KFH" has announced starting the special arrangements for the establishment of a special trading hall for its female clients to help them trade electronically in the Kuwaiti Stock Exchange as the first local bank taking the initiative towards this achievement.
In in an extension of a series of activities and services provided by "KFH" to its female clients meeting the needs and aspirations of this growing important sector of the society and giving them more privacy and benefits.
Source: AME Info
BFX Announces Key Index Products
Region’s first multi-asset exchange licensed by FTSE Group to list and trade a range of derivatives based
on its indices
July 27, 2010-The Bahrain Financial Exchange (BFX), the first multi?asset exchange in
the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, today announced a new licensing agreement with FTSE roup, the award?winning global index provider, to list, trade and market a number of derivatives
products based on a range of FTSE’s regional and international indices.
The derivatives, which are part of the BFX’s first phase product launch in October this year will be listed and traded through the BFX’s internationally?accessible trading platform. They will be based on the following indices: FTSE Emerging, FTSE Europe, FTSE BRIC 50, and FTSE Coast Kuwait 40.
By using FTSE indices, the BFX offers regional investors the advantage of gaining exposure and diversifying their portfolios with products based on international indices from developed and emerging economies which are traded and settled in US dollars on the same integrated platform.
Commenting on the announcement, Arshad Khan, Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer of the BFX and BCDC, said, “This is a significant addition to the BFX product portfolio and further enhances the BFX’s position as the preferred choice for the financial services sector by providing liquid futures contracts based on these regional and international indices.”
FTSE indices provide ready access to investors in the region to profit from the growing markets of the Emerging Nations, Middle East and Europe. As well as allowing participants to take exposure in multiple geographies through a single currency, the indices not only enable investors to diversify their portfolios but to also include some of the best performing stocks in the underlying market. More importantly, as each index covers a wide range of underlying markets, investors have the opportunity to reduce volatile conditions often experienced in the underlying cash markets without compromising on returns.
The BFX agreement with FTSE creates an innovative value proposition in the region, which has generated a lot of interest during the BFX’s ongoing MENA?wide membership campaign since its inception in June. To date, the BFX has received interest from over 50 leading financial institutions and brokerage houses.
Jonathan Cooper Managing Director, Middle East & Africa, FTSE Group said of the launch “We are delighted to work with the BFX, one of the key financial institutions in the region. By extending the range of our innovative and transparent index solutions in the region, we can give investors new opportunities to access local and international markets.”
This new development will go a long way in widening and deepening the capital markets in the GCC. The BFX and FTSE have worked hard to provide investors in the region with access to some of the best performing stock markets globally. The product line?up has been selected as a result of a robust research process covering the value chain of investors in the region.
Retail participation is also expected to account for a considerable proportion of trade volume due to low margin payments and as the indices enable individuals who have limited funds to participate and trade in the Index market – be it locally or internationally.
Source: BFX and FTSE
Tehran Exchange Trades Futures to Attract Investors
July 26, 2010--The Tehran Stock Exchange, home of the world’s second-best performing equity index, began offering derivatives based on local banks to diversify and attract foreign investors.
Four futures contracts were “symbolically” traded at an opening ceremony yesterday, Hassan Ghalibaf-Asl, the exchange’s managing director, said in a phone interview today. The exchange is introducing six futures contracts based on Parsian Bank and Karafarin Bank, which will expire in two, four and six months, he said. The exchange hopes to increase the number of companies covered by futures contracts to at least 10 by March.
“This new product will attract the foreign investors to Iran’s capital market, which isn’t very well known to them,” Ali Karamad, owner of Tehran-based asset management company Karamad Group, said by telephone July 23. “It gives them security, knowing that Iran’s market is introducing instruments similar to those in international markets.”
Source:Bloomberg Business Week
NASDAQ Dubai Monthly Trading Report: June 2010
July 26, 2010--The value of equities traded on NASDAQ Dubai rose by 52% in the first six months of 2010 to 728 million dollars, from 479 million dollars in the same period of 2009. Equities volumes fell by 10% to 1.58 billion shares in the same period, from 1.75 billion.
Measured by percentage change, both the value and volume figures were the best performing of any UAE stock exchange in the six-month period, compared to the same period in 2009.
Traded equities value on NASDAQ in the month of June 2010 fell by 19%, reaching 61 million dollars, compared to 75 million dollars in June 2009. Equities volumes in June 2010 were 123 million, 35% lower than the total of 189 million in June 2009. The June 2010 figures were also the best performing of the UAE's stock exchanges, measured by percentage change from the year before.
Citigroup was the most active Member of the exchange by equities volume in the first six months of 2010, followed by Deutsche Bank and then HSBC. EFG Hermes was the most active regional Member during the period, followed by Arqaam Capital and then Shuaa Capital.
The FTSE Nasdaq Dubai UAE 20 index ended June 2010 at 1,516, down 8% from the end of May 2010 and 18% lower than at the start of the year.
The index tracks 20 stocks listed on Dubai Financial Market, the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange and NASDAQ Dubai.
It has been designed as a hedging and investment mechanism for GCC and international investors.
Source: NASDAQ Dubai
Saudi construction sector to total 10% of real GDP
July 26, 2010--Saudi Arabia's National Commercial Bank (NCB) has said that increased government investments are expected to drive the expansion of the non-oil GDP growth of the kingdom's construction sector to an all-time high of 10.41% by the end of this year, Zawya Dow Jones has reported.
The kingdom has 687 current projects, 22% of which are in the execution phase, that are valued at approximately SR2.6trillion. According to NCB, contracts awarded in 2010 and 2011 are forecast to reach $64bn and $86bn, respectively.
Source: AME Info
Tadawul market weakens 0.2%
July 26, 2010--The Saudi Arabian stock market could not sustain its positive momentum from Saturday, as WTI oil prices may head lower later this week, possibly moving back toward $77, research firm CPM Group says. Petrochemical leader Sabic ended flat at $88.25.
"Last week crude oil fell after EIA data revealed United States crude oil inventories had unexpectedly increased 360,000 barrels. Later in the week crude oil rose toward $80 on concerns over adverse weather conditions possibly disrupting offshore oil production in the Gulf of Mexico", CPM research writes. Nevertheless, the Saudi economy strengthened. According to Amman-based Jordinvest, non-oil Exports in Saudi Arabia surged by 39% to SR11.9bn ($3.2bn) in May 2010 compared with SR8.5bn ($2.3bn) in May 2009. Saudi Arabia's main non-oil exports were plastics, petrochemicals and metals comprising 32% of the total non-oil exports.
Source: AME Info
Tadawul market starts the week positively
July 25, 2010--GGC market, opening trading the week on Sunday, received positive inputs from the Saudi Arabian stock market Tadawul, which starts trading on Saturday. Its main index Tasi advanced 1.6% to 6,187.39 points, thanks to rising energy, petrochemical and insurance shares. Shares of Zamil Industrial Investment Co. (Zamil Industrial) surged 2.55%, ending at SR44.20.
The Board of Zamil Industrial announces that it has approved distributing SR45m as bi-annual dividends for the first half of 2010 at SR0.75 per share (representing 7.5% of the paid-up capital).
Source: AME Info
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