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DFM ends down
November 6, 2009--The Dubai Financial Market (DFM) ended the day slightly lower, going down by 1.88% to 2,097.63. Five stocks rose, 25 fell and two held steady.
KFIC posted the day's biggest rise, moving up 14.91% to Dhs4.47. Emirates also announced its half yearly financial results for the period ended on 30/09/2009, as EK2013 bonds listed in the market.
Qatar to lower foreign tax rate
November 6, 2009--Qatar's finance minister has announced a new tax law that will lower the tax rate on foreign companies to a flat 10% starting next year, Bloomberg has reported.
Foreign-owned firms operating in Qatar are currently taxed at a progressive rate ranging from 10% to 35%. Qatar expects its economy to grow by 16% in 2010.
Saudi index rises again
November 6, 2009-Saudi Arabia's Tadawul index gained 0.95% to close on 6,343 today. The industrial investment category, up 1.94%, led all sectors. Overall, 72 stocks rose while 44 declined.
Saudi Arabian Mining Company, Ma'aden, was one of the day's big gainers, up 4.47% to 18.65 riyals.
Dubai Gold & Commodities Exchange Monthly Update November 2009
November 5, 2009--• Year-to-date volume reached a record 1,142,814
on November 2nd, surpassing the total contracts traded in 2008
• Year-to date value of contracts traded exceeds US$ 58 billion
• 159% increase in volume traded in October, with 137,994 contracts, valued at US $7.2 billion
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International Finance Corporation Lists Its First Sukuk On NASDAQ Dubai
November 5, 2009--The International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, yesterday listed its first Sukuk on NASDAQ Dubai, the international exchange serving the Middle East.
Jeff Singer, Chief Executive of NASDAQ Dubai, said: "The launch of the IFC's and the World Bank's first Sukuk and its listing on NASDAQ Dubai are a significant step in the continuing integration of Islamic finance into the global financial system.
"We are delighted to support the Sukuk as its primary listing venue, providing a regulatory structure that promotes transparency for investors and visibility for the issuer."
NASDAQ Dubai is the world’s largest exchange for Sukuk by listed value, with 21 listed Sukuk valued at $16.7 billion.
HE Dr. Omar Bin Sulaiman, Governor of the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) and Vice Chairman of the UAE Central Bank, said: "DIFC is delighted that the IFC and World Bank Group selected NASDAQ Dubai as the primary listing venue for its first sukuk issue. As the first non-Islamic financial institution to issue a sukuk for term funding in the GCC, this truly is a ground breaking transaction and clearly demonstrates the growing importance of the region within the global financial system.
"NASDAQ Dubai and DIFC remain instrumental in building the regulatory and legal infrastructure to develop a Islamic finance securities market and facilitate the creation of new financing opportunities for global issuers. This listing further enhances DIFC’s stature as a leading global hub for Islamic finance transactions."
The IFC’s $100 million Sukuk is the first to be issued by any non-Islamic financial institution in the Gulf Cooperation Council for term funding. The Sukuk has a Moody’s Aaa rating and the IFC has raised the money to fund health and education investments in the region. The IFC announced the planned listing of the Sukuk last month.
The securities of IFC’s Sukuk are the first to be held on NASDAQ Dubai’s central securities depositary, providing securities holders with an efficient and streamlined service.
Dubai Mercantile Exchange Wins Key Industry Innovation Award
DME’s migration of contracts to CME Globex® recognised as best innovation in customer service
November 5, 2009--The Dubai Mercantile Exchange (DME) announced that it has won the ‘Best innovation by an exchange in the field of customer service, Middle East ’ award from FOW, a leading global derivatives magazine.
The DME received the 2009 award for the successful migration of trading of the DME Oman Crude Oil Futures Contract (DME Oman) and DME Oman Crude Oil Financial Contract to CME Group’s Globex® (CME Globex) platform. The move enhanced the global exposure of both DME contracts, not only making them easily accessible to customers in more than 80 countries but also opening up new possibilities for arbitrage and other sophisticated trading strategies on a single, virtually 24-hour platform.
The migration to CME Globex has made the world’s three key crude oil benchmarks, DME Oman, West Texas Intermediate (WTI), and Brent, available for the first time on a single platform. The migration has contributed to significantly increased trading volumes, with the DME reporting a 58 per cent year-on-year increase in DME Oman average daily volumes during 2009.
Commenting on the award, Ahmad Sharaf, Chairman of the Dubai Mercantile Exchange, said:
“The DME is honoured to receive such recognition from our industry. The award acknowledges our collective efforts to connect our customers to a flexible and state-of-the-art trading platform that meets global customer requirements and ensures the greatest visibility and exposure of the DME Oman Contract. We were awarded the FOW ‘Exchange Newcomer of the Year’ award in 2008 and, one year on, a second award for excellence in customer service is a tribute to our growth as an Exchange.”
Thomas Leaver, Chief Executive Officer, DME, added:
“This award is testament to our partners’ continuing dedication to customer service. While we have seen records made and broken on the Exchange since our launch 29 months ago, the move to CME Globex was a tremendous boost for the DME and our customers. Immediately afterwards we saw a record high daily trading volume. Most recently, a new record average daily volume of contracts was achieved in October as our Oman contract gains ever growing market acceptance as the third global crude oil pricing benchmark.”
Dubai Financial Market Migrates to New Trading Platform From NASDAQ OMX
November 4, 2009--The
NASDAQ OMX Group, Inc. (Nasdaq:NDAQ) today reported that Dubai
Financial Market (DFM) has successfully completed migration to its new
trading platform from NASDAQ OMX. DFM's system launch, which took place
on October 29, received immediate positive acknowledgement from
participating members and the investing public.
The trading platform from NASDAQ OMX replaces DFM's previous system,
also from NASDAQ OMX, and is designed to create a more efficient
marketplace and trading experience for DFM members. The system enables
trading of cash equities with potential for derivatives products.
Lars Ottersgard, Senior Vice President, NASDAQ OMX Market Technology said, "DFM's system launch marks an important day in Dubai's exchange history, and will act as a driver of the development of the regional marketplace. Through its system upgrade DFM will be able to offer its members significant capacity and latency advantages and the ability to more quickly and easily introduce new products."
Hassan Al Serkal, Senior Vice President & Chief Operations Officer (COO) - Operations Division, Dubai Financial Market said, "We are very pleased to have rolled out a high-end trading platform that we are confident will act as a springboard to a more efficient, liquid and thus attractive market. NASDAQ OMX' technology track record in the Middle East speaks for itself and we look forward to benefiting from a system that will put our exchange at the technology forefront."
NASDAQ OMX has eleven customers in the Middle East region and earlier
this year opened a regional office in Dubai driving new business
endeavors and supporting existing customers in the Middle East, Africa
and South Asia region.
Bahrain Financial Exchange Offers Complementary Financial Market Courses
November 3, 2009--The Bahrain Financial Exchange (BFX), the first multi-asset exchange in the MENA region, which will be internationally accessible to trade cash instruments, derivatives, structured products and Sharia-compliant financial instruments, held a complimentary Financial Markets training course at the BFX training Institute for key financial organizations in the Kingdom of Bahrain.
This training course had been designed to provide financial professionals with a fundamental understanding of exchange-traded products and in particular, how these instruments are used to manage risk, diversify portfolios and provide returns.
The training programme was conducted by Mr Simone Carminati, Senior Vice President, Head of Training Facility at BFX who has fifteen years international training experience in corporate, trade and risk finance including financial market products, Mr Carminati commented, “An understanding of the mechanics and pricing of exchange products has become ever more important for trading, accounting, and risk management purposes”.
Arshad Khan, Board Director at the BFX said “there is an ever increasing demand for training in financial markets and this initial programme will provide the market participants with the necessary skills to make best use of the products and services offered by the BFX”.
19 delegates attended the course with representation from Investcorp, Citibank, Taib Bank, HDFC Bank, and Bank of Bahrain and Kuwait amongst other, and was well received by the attendees with praise given to the content and structure of the course, its relevance and the overall professionalism of the BFX’s training Institute.
The BFX Training Institute is an international standard, in-house institute, providing world class conventional and Islamic financial training and education courses.
DME HITS NEW RECORD WITH DAILY AVERAGE OF 2,624 CONTRACTS TRADED IN OCTOBER 2009
Trading volumes have grown by 58% during 2009, says Exchange
November 2, 2009--The Dubai Mercantile Exchange (DME) today announced that a record average daily volume (ADV) of 2,624 contracts was achieved in its flagship DME Oman Crude Oil Futures contract (DME Oman) during the month of October 2009.
The DME also reported a 58 per cent year on year increase in DME Oman average daily volumes during 2009, averaging at 2,012 contracts.
The new record ADV in October 2009 surpasses the previous high of 2,421 contracts achieved in June 2009. That same month also saw the DME attain a new daily volume record of 8,076 contracts traded on 23rd June 2009, following the Dubai Department of Petroleum Affairs’s announcement that it would set its Official Selling Prices (OSPs) based on monthly differentials to DME Oman settlements.
DME Chairman Ahmad Sharaf commented: “This positive news is yet further demonstration of growing market confidence in the DME Oman contract. Increasingly regarded as the fairest and most transparent pricing benchmark in the East of Suez region, it already provides the basis for the Official Selling Prices of Oman and Dubai crudes, the historically established markers in the East of Suez. We look forward to reaching further milestones during our third year of trading.”
Thomas Leaver, Chief Executive Officer of the DME, added: “New records are always welcome and demonstrate the steady progress made in the 29 months since our launch. Significantly, in addition to a record average daily volume in October, we have seen sustained long-term growth in volumes over the past year by 58 per cent, reflecting the increasing support of our strong international customer base and the growing confidence in the DME from a wide range of market participants”.
Dubai Gold & Commodities Exchange Weekly Market Views - November 1, 2009
November 1, 2009--Commodities Overview
Commodities prices remained strong last week, despite some volatile gyrations. Gold and silver experienced sharp declines early in the week, but sprung back to higher levels with surprising rapidity.
This suggests strong underlying investor demand. Even as the U.S. dollar showed signs of possibly having made a long-term base and started to recover last week as precious metals and petroleum prices were showing strength. This is in line with these reports’ contention that recent increases in investor opinions that the global recession is moving toward a conclusion and that an economic recovery is likely to take hold over the next few quarters has been a major factor behind investor demand for commodities. The dollar’s trading patterns have been important, but may have had a secondary level of importance to investors. Investors are accelerating their re-deployment of capital, moving back into commodities.
Currencies Overview
The dollar staged a modest rally off of its recent lows last week. These reports have been anticipating that the dollar would make a floor over the past several weeks, and then move broadly sideways with an upward bias. This has not happened. It still seems likely to emerge, and last week’s dollar trading activity may mark the beginning of such a turn in the dollar’s near-term fortunes. It is too early to conclude that the low has been made for the dollar, however. That said, there is much to commend the dollar to investors. As the broader global economy moves toward the end of the recession and anticipates economic recovery, there should be some further shifting in investor attitudes toward a diversified portfolio, however, with investments of greater perceived risks gaining some favor in the minds of investors. This could continue to keep the dollar lower, even as other investors seek to re-deploy assets in U.S. equities, real estate, and other investments. In this environment, the dollar would be expected to trade sideways in a volatile fashion, still suffering from both short- and long-term economic and financial concerns, while benefiting from expectations of improved profitability on the part of U.S. corporations and a recovery in real estate values.