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KFH-Bahrain Joint Lead Manager and Bookrunner for Landmark Sukuk issue for the International Finance Corporation
November 17, 2009--Kuwait Finance House - Bahrain (KFH-Bahrain) acted as a Joint Lead Manager and a Bookrunner for the $100m Sukuk issue for the International Finance Corporation (IFC; S&P AAA; Moody's Aaa), the private sector arm of the World Bank Group.
The five year Sukuk was oversubscribed and rated Aaa by Moody's, in line with IFC's issuer ratings.The deal marks another step forward in KFH-Bahrain and enhances its contribution in the capital markets throughout the GCC. The $100m Sukuk issue will be used to support IFC's plans to increase funding for development activities in emerging markets, including the MENA region.
"We are proud to be jointly managing the Sukuk issue with HSBC, Dubai Islamic Bank and Liquidity House for IFC. This issuance has seen strong interest from the investor community in Bahrain and the GCC. This interest is reflective of the high esteem with which IFC is regarded and also recognizes our credentials as a leader in the Sukuk and capital markets. KFH-Bahrain's name is synonymous with leadership, innovation and professional delivery and this issuance confirms our position as the premier Islamic finance provider in the region."
Mr. Lilian Le Falher, Executive Manager at KFH-Bahrain commented, "We at KFH are happy to lead another successful Sukuk offering for such a reputable international name and are proud to be associated and working with such prominent financial institutions in promoting this Sukuk issue. By managing this issue, KFH-Bahrain confirms its commitment to develop the Islamic Sukuk market and attract more international attention to the Kingdom and GCC markets."ing the MENA region.
DGCX Weekly Market Views Sunday 15 November 2009
November 15, 2009--Commodities Overview
Commodity prices could be choppy this week. Gold and silver prices could be strong, while crude oil could bounce sharply in both directions. Gold and silver had been expected to experience some price weakness in early November, but then to rise later in the month.
The increase in late November was expected to reflect tight market conditions, including the need of shorts to roll large volumes of December futures positions into forward months in advance of the December delivery period. The weakness that was thought to posibly procede this has yet to appear, seemingly over-ridden by strong investment demand fueled by cur economic concerns.
Currencies Overview
The currency markets may be preparing to enter into a new period in which the dollar’s fate relative to various currencies diverges even more, making it even more difficult to forecast currency exchange rate trends. This coming week the dollar may benefit from some good-will toward the United States economy during President Obama’s Asian tour. While his visits to Japan and China may provide short-term support for the dollar, longer term it appears that the Chinese government is moving toward a significant revaluation of the yuan against the dollar. While this would be negative for the dollar’s exchange rate against the yuan, it actually could serve as a benefit for the dollar against the euro and other currencies. This could happen if a revaluation of the dollar-yuan exchange rate were interpreted by the currency markets and broader financial community as representing a significant positive development for longer term economic growth and stability across major economies.
DME Launches Four Inter-Exchange Spreads on CME Globex®
November 15, 2009--Effective today, Sunday, November 15, 2009 (for trade date Monday, November 16), four NYMEX-DME Implied Inter-Exchange Spreads will be listed for trading on CME Globex® platform.
The following spreads will be available for trading:
NYMEX Brent Crude Oil Last Day - DME Oman Crude Oil Futures IES (BZ-OQD)
NYMEX Light 'Sweet' Crude Oil - DME Oman Crude Oil Futures IES (CL-OQD)
NYMEX Brent Crude Oil Last Day - DME Oman Crude Oil Financial Futures IES (BZ-ZGD)
NYMEX Light 'Sweet' Crude Oil - DME Oman Crude Oil Financial Futures IES (CL-ZGD)
In order to trade these Inter-Exchange Implied Spreads, DME customers must be authorized to trade the products of both exchanges (NYMEX and DME).
DME customers are encouraged to contact their clearing members in order to obtain access to trade these spreads and their market data vendors for market data setup instructions. For more information, please go to: http://www.cmegroup.com/globex/files/IESClImp.pdf
Saudi Capital Market Authority grants licenses for three Shuaa funds
November 16, 2009--Shuaa Capital Saudi Arabia (SCSA), announced that Saudi Arabia's Capital Market Authority (CMA) has licensed three SHUAA funds in the Saudi market; the SCSA Morabaha Fund; SCSA Saudi Gateway Fund; and SCSA Saudi Islamic Gateway Fund.
The three funds will take a conservative approach to investment and will focus on listed Shariah compliant and conventional Saudi stocks as well as IPOs. Following CMA's approval, SCSA will announce the timeline to open subscriptions in the three funds for investors.
OPEC daily basket price stood at $76.06 a barrel Thursday, 12/11/09
November 13, 2009--The price of OPEC basket of twelve crudes stood at 76.06 dollars a barrel on Thursday, compared with $76.89 the previous day, according to OPEC Secretariat calculations.
The new OPEC Reference Basket of Crudes (ORB) is made up of the following: Saharan Blend (Algeria),
Girassol (Angola), Oriente (Ecuador), Iran Heavy (Islamic Republic of Iran), Basra Light (Iraq), Kuwait Export (Kuwait), Es Sider (Libya), Bonny Light (Nigeria), Qatar Marine (Qatar), Arab Light (Saudi Arabia), Murban (UAE) and Merey (Venezuela).
ADX holds level
November 12, 2009--The Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange ended trading where it began, going up by a marginal 0.02% to 2,967.66.
On low trading volumes 18 stocks went up, 12 fell and five held steady. The National Corp for Tourism and Hotels was the day's biggest riser going up by 9.91% to Dhs6.32.
DFM ends week on a low
November 12, 2009-The Dubai Financial Market (DFM) fell 1.75% to 2,166.90. Two companies rose, 24 fell and four remained unchanged.
The Dubai Financial Market (DFM) fell 1.75% to 2,166.90. Two companies rose, 24 fell and four remained unchanged.
'No pressure' on Gulf dollar pegs
November 12, 2009--Merrill Lynch has said that Gulf countries are unlikely to come under pressure to abandon their currency pegs, as US interest rates remain low, Bloomberg has reported. The region's central banks have to limit monetary policy actions to stay in line with the US Federal Reserve, Merrill Lynch analyst, Turker Hamzaoglu said.
Merrill doesn't expect the Fed to raise rates until 2011, he said, adding that the region will not to go back to strong growth before the next two to three years.
ETF investment from GCC rises 50 percent
November 11, 2009--There is a 50 per cent rise in the number of individuals and firms from the GCC that are investing in exchange traded funds (ETFs), Deborah Fuhr, the global head of ETF research with Barclays Global Investors, told Emirates Business.
The comment came as the global investment into ETF rose to an all time high of $1 trillion (Dh3.67trn).
"More people from the region are getting attracted to ETFs. They are using ETFs for an exposure to Bric countries namely Brazil, Russia, India and China. They are looking at exposures to government products and towards an exposure to precious metals. They are looking in terms of consistency of results of investments. And ETFs are providing them all these features," Fuhr said. She added that there are significant private banks in the region that are adding ETFs to their list of investments.
Since ETFs are not offered in the region, GCC nationals venture elsewhere in search for the products. Robert Broadwell, the head of sales for iShares Middle East (a Barclays Global Investors entity), identified different trading cycles and a difficulty in finding online low-cost brokers as some of the lacunas adversely impacting flow of wealth from this region into ETFs.
Banker survey shows the growth in Islamic finance
November 10, 2009--Has Islamic finance reached a significant size and maturity to genuinely compete with conventional banking services? Can Islamic banking be more than a niche industry?
The Banker's third annual survey of the world's Top 500 Islamic Financial Institutions this month suggests that not only has the industry avoided the calamities of conventional banks that led to the current global banking crisis, it has also managed to maintain strong asset growth in turbulent economic conditions.
Healthy growth
The 2009 survey shows that the volume of sharia-compliant assets of the Top 500 grew by an extremely healthy 28.6%, rising to $822bn from $639bn in 2008. At a time when asset growth in the Top 1000 World Banks slumped to 6.8% from 21.6% the previous year, Islamic institutions were able to maintain the 28% annual compound growth achieved in the past three years.read more