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Oil price goes above $74, Opec to keep production
December 18, 2009--Saudi Arabia: Oil price rose above $74 per barrel on Friday after an Iraqi official said in reports that Iranian troops briefly entered an Iraqi oilfield on Thursday,
Reuters has reported. Iraq's deputy interior minister has denied any incursion. Meanwhile, Saudi's oil minister Ali Al Naimi has said that the upcoming Opec meeting on Tuesday will not lead in change of production.
Dubai government revises financial laws
December 18, 2009-A number of economic and financial laws to add to the legislative system in Dubai has been issued by HH Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, Gulf News has reported.
Law No 35 of 2009 concerns about the administration of Dubai's government public funds. The new rulings include regulation of the preparation of annual budgets of all governmental bodies. These include those whose annual budgets are listed in the government's budget, those who enjoy fiscal independence or those entities who receive financial support from the government.
Dow Jones Corporate Bond Index to Underlie First Fixed Income Exchange-Traded Note in Israel
December 17, 2009-- Dow Jones Indexes, a leading global index provider, today announced that the Dow Jones Corporate Bond Index will serve as the basis of the first fixed-income exchange-traded note (ETN) available in Israel. This is the first time the index has been licensed as the basis for an exchange-traded product globally. The ETN is sponsored by Harel SAL, a subsidiary of Harel Finance, and is available on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange.
In addition to the Dow Jones Corporate Bond Index, Dow Jones Indexes licensed the Dow Jones Brazil Titans 20 Index as the basis for an ETN that was listed at the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange last week.
“The Dow Jones Corporate Bond Index measures the market performance of a small, diversified and readily tradable basket of investment-grade bonds issued by U.S. companies. The equal weighting of the basket prevents large borrowers from significantly impacting the index. For the first time, Israeli investors will have access to a reliable and consistent portfolio of high-quality U.S. corporate debt instruments through Harel’s new ETN,” said Michael A. Petronella, president, Dow Jones Indexes.
The Dow Jones Corporate Bond Index is an equal-weighted index of 96 investment-grade corporate bonds with laddered maturities. It measures the performance of readily tradeable, high-grade corporate bonds on a total-return basis. The index can be further subdivided into sector indexes for Financials, Industrials, and Utilities/Telecom, each of which has a yield curve index series. All issues in the index are equally weighted in the maturity cells, sectors and the composite index. The maturity cells are 2, 5, 10 and 30-year cells.
The Dow Jones Corporate Bond Index is calculated by Ryan Labs, a New York-based fixed income asset manager. The index is rebalanced monthly and daily historical data is available back to December 31, 1996.
More information on the Dow Jones Corporate Bond Index can be found at http://www.djindexes.com.
Moody's downgrades two Bahrain banks
December 17, 2009-Moody's Investors Service has downgraded the long-term local currency deposit rating of National Bank of Bahrain (NBB) to 'A2', and BBK's local and foreign currency deposit ratings to 'A3/Prime-2'.
BBK's senior and subordinated debt ratings were also downgraded to 'A3' and 'Baa1', respectively. All ratings now have a 'Stable' outlook.
Moody's downgrades three Dubai bank ratings
December 17, 2009--Moody's has downgraded the ratings of three Dubai-based banks - Emirates NBD, Mashreqbank PSC and Dubai Islamic Bank. Emirates NBD's deposit ratings was downgraded to A2/P-1 from A1/P-1, while Mashreqbank's debt and deposit ratings came down to Baa1/P-2 from A2/P-1 and changed the outlook to negative.
Meanwhile, Dubai Islamic Bank's issuer ratings were downgraded to Baa1/P-2 from A1/P-1 and changed the outlook to negative.
HSBC launches international Islamic premium
December 17, 2009--The global Islamic financial services division of the HSBC Group, HSBC Amanah has announced the launch of the world's first Islamic banking service aimed at internationally mobile, affluent consumers.
HSBC Amanah Premier is a cross-border Islamic banking and wealth management service that offers customers access to HSBC Premier benefits with Shariah compliant products. The new product is available in the UAE, Saudi Arabia (through SABB Amanah as SABB Amanah Premier), Qatar, Bahrain, Malaysia and Indonesia.
Foreign investors purchase Dhs1.852bn worth of shares on DFM during the last week, and sold Dhs1.756bn
December 16, 2009--Dubai Financial Market announced today that the value of shares bought by foreign investors, or non-UAE nationals, during last week (13 - 17 Dec.) reached Dhs1.852bn comprising 46.3% of the total value of stocks traded during the period.
The value of stocks sold by foreign investors during the same period reached Dhs1.756bn comprising 43.9% of the total value of stocks traded during the period. Net foreign investment on the market reached Dhs96.7m during the same period, as aggregate buy.
Oman budget in $39m deficit
December 16, 2009--According to official data, Oman's state budget shows a deficit of RO15m between January and October. The Sultanate had a surplus of RO1.55bn a year ago, but lower oil prices hit income, Reuters reported.
The country's revenue fell 20% in the first 10 months to RO5.452bn from the previous year, while expenditure rose 3.3% to RO5.467bn, data from the ministry of national economy showed. Net oil income dropped to RO3.56bn in January - October, from RO4.75bn a year earlier, the data showed.
Dubai bailout provided a $10bn bond
December 16, 2009--The $10bn of financial aid from Abu Dhabi for Dubai to meet debt obligations was in the form of bonds, on similar terms to a $10bn bond issue to the UAE central bank in February, Reuters has reported.
"The loan is based on the same terms as the first tranche of the $20bn bond," a source close to Dubai's government, who did not wish to be identified, told the news service. That bond was for five years, paying a coupon of 5% a year. "The fact that the $10bn is in the form of loan is a normal, healthy development," Philippe Dauba-Pantanacce, senior economist at Standard Chartered in Dubai told Reuters.
Moody's places four UAE banks on review for possible downgrade
December 15, 2009--Moody's Investors Service has today placed on review for possible downgrade the ratings of four UAE banks.
- Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank and its subsidiary ADCB Finance (Cayman)Limited,
- Commercial Bank of Dubai,
- Dubai Bank and
- HSBC Bank Middle East Limited, HSBC Bank Middle East Limited (UAE Branch) and HBME Sukuk Company Ltd.
The purpose of Moody's rating review is to assess the resilience of these banks' ratings to the potential continued deterioration in Dubai's operating environment, including their exposure to the ongoing restructuring of Dubai World companies' debt. (Moody's recently downgraded three other UAE banks, Emirates NBD, Mashreqbank PSC and Dubai Islamic Bank PJSC which had been on review since August 2009.
