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Tuesday, February 16, 2016Jumada I 7, 1437 AH
BUSINESSGULF TIMES
HSBC keeps headquarters in London
Qatar shares top Gulf gains on buy support
UK BOOST | Page 142-DAY RALLY | Page 3
Woqod net profi t scales up 11% to QR1.25bn in 2015 Qatar Fuel (Woqod) has post-
ed a net profi t of QR1.25bn in 2015, up 11% on the previ-
ous year, the company said yester-day. Woqod had earned a net profi t of QR1.13bn in 2014.
The company’s 2015 fi nancial re-sults were announced after a meet-ing of its board of directors chaired by chairman Sheikh Saoud bin Ab-dulrahman al-Thani.
Woqod’s total shareholder equi-ty reached QR7.2bn in 2015, which shows an increase of QR222mn, or 3.2%, on the same period last year, said CEO Ibrahim Jaham al-Kuwari.
Earnings per share (EPS) amounted to QR14.84 in 2015 com-pared with QR13.41 last year.
Al-Kuwari said Woqod was cur-rently involved in the implementa-tion of many projects, which were either under construction, tender-ing, designing or approval stages. These projects include new fuel stations, expansions, Fahes centers, Sidra C-Stores and Bitumen facili-ties among others.
He said eight fuel stations were completed in 2015. These are lo-cated at Al Wajba, Al Jumailia, Lak-teefi a, Al Wakrah, Al Thakeera, Ben Dirham, Al Rayyan and Al Musa-habia.
Some 18 fuel stations are cur-rently under construction and are expected to be inaugurated this year. These will be located at Al Muntazah, Meshaireb North, Al-Ghanim Qadeem, Lusail, Al-Thameed, Hamad International Airport, Doha Airport, Al-Bisat Al-Akhdar, Sudanatheel, Abu Na-khlah, Ain Sinan, Madinah Shemal, Al Khor, Semaisemah, Al Wakrah South, Al Wukair, Al-Mashaf and
Wadi Aba Saleel. Six petrol sta-tions are in the design and approval stages at Medinah Lusail 1, Al Thu-mama, Al Karaanah, Um Karn, Ras Laff an and Al Mazrooah. These projects will be completed either this year or in 2017.
Al-Kuwari said some 29 loca-tions are currently under review with the Ministry of Municipality & Environment for Woqod’s future projects. These projects will cover
new areas such as the South Motor-way and Doha Express Road.
Five other projects are currently being taken up at Wadi Al Banat, West Bay, Al Seylieh, Mesaimeer West, and Al Gharrafa. The com-pletion of these projects is expected by end-2016.
Five new Fahes (vehicle inspec-tion centres) are in the design stages and expected to be commissioned this year. These will be located at Al
Sheehaniya, North City, Al Khor, Al Mazrooah and Al Wakrah.
Two Fahes inspection centres were inaugurated last year at Me-saimeer and Al Wakrah.
Al-Kuwari said Woqod’s LPG sales grew by 9.6% last year. The number of cylinders “refi lled and sold” reached 5.15mn (metal) and 1.88mn (Shafaf 12kg) and 45,000 (Shafaf 6kg).
He said Woqod in association with QP planned to establish some seven more compressed natural gas (CNG) stations by 2017.
Last year, the total sales of pe-troleum products (diesel, gasoline and jet fuel) reached 8.34mn litres, which shows an increase of 14.9% compared with 2014.
Woqod also provides lease serv-ices of diesel tanks and diesel trans-port vehicles (with/without driver) to both business and individuals.
Shell CEO expects output in Brazil to quadruple by 2020 ReutersRio de Janeiro
Royal Dutch Shell, Europe’s largest oil company, expects to make robust investments
in Brazil’s off shore, hoping to quad-ruple oil and gas output there by the end of the decade, its chief executive offi cer said yesterday.
CEO Ben Van Beurden spoke in Brazil shortly after Shell’s $52bn takeover of rival BG Group, ap-proved in late January, took eff ect.
He said Brazil will be a key area for the Anglo-Dutch company as it focuses its expanded operations in liquefi ed natural gas (LNG) and deepwater oil production.
“We believe in the strong fun-damentals of Brazil and the funda-mentals of its geology,” Van Beurden told reporters in Rio de Janeiro. “We will be looking at a substantial part of our production from Brazil.”
By adding BG’s large Brazilian off shore assets, Shell’s local output rose sixfold to about 240,000 bar-rels of oil and natural gas equivalent
a day (boepd), or 13% of its total of 1.8mn boepd.
A quadrupling of its Brazilian output would boost production to nearly 1mn boepd by 2020. Shell is already Brazil’s No 2 producer after state-led Petroleo Brasileiro SA, or
Petrobras. In December, Shell and BG had 7.6% of Brazil’s total output of just over 3mn barrels a day.
The BG takeover also makes Shell the world’s largest trader of LNG. While it sells LNG to Petrobras for the Brazilian market, Van Beurden
and his Brazilian deputy, Andre Araujo, declined to say if they want to buy Petrobras’ natural gas assets, some of which are for sale.
Brazil’s importance to Shell is ex-pected to increase as it moves ahead with giant subsalt projects such as Libra, which it is developing with Petrobras, France’s Total SA, Chi-na’s CNOOC, and CNPC.
Subsalt refers to large hydrocar-bon resources trapped deep beneath the seabed by a layer of mineral salts. Libra may hold as much as 12bn bar-rels of recoverable oil, according to Brazil’s government.
Shell faces serious challenges in Brazil. Oil prices have plunged since the BG deal was announced a year ago. Petrobras, Shell’s principal partner in the country, is in serious fi nancial and legal diffi culty after the price drop and a massive price-fi xing, bribery and kickback scan-dal.
Van Beurden, though, said subsalt areas should be able to break even at oil prices forecast for this year, without saying what those prices might be. Page 16
IATA FORECAST : Page 16
Airline industry to generate $700bn in GDP, 33mn jobs in Asia-Pacifi c this year
Aamal 2015 profit gain tops 9% to QR656.7mn Aamal Company has reported more than
9% jump in net profit to QR656.7mn in 2015
mainly due to strong earnings from industrial
manufacturing and trading businesses.
“Aamal has delivered an exceptional perform-
ance in 2015; revenue has grown by almost
35% which when combined with an expan-
sion in the underlying margin, has led to net
profit before fair value gains on investment
properties rising by almost 50%,” chairman
Sheikh Faisal bin Qassim al-Thani said.
Highlighting that its clear strategy has
allowed it to achieve sustained growth by
optimising existing business operations and
create new revenue streams; he said these
results “demonstrate clearly the resilience of
our business model - diversified not just to
minimise risk but also positioned to take ad-
vantage of structural growth opportunities.”
The group revenues shot up to QR2.88bn,
largely on account of faster expansion in
income from its industrial manufacturing and
property division.
“Aamal has continued to grow and indeed
prosper in line with its growth strategy. We
occupy a number of market leading positions
in a range of sectors across Qatar’s economy
that are in various stages of structural, rather
than cyclical, growth; furthermore, we are
very well capitalised and have the financial
strength to continue to pursue suitable
opportunities as and when they arise,” its
vice chairman Sheikh Mohamed bin Faisal
al-Thani said.
Net profit for the industrial manufacturing
division more than doubled to QR126.4mn,
driven by “significant” revenue growth of
about 55% (to QR1.75bn) and significant
margin expansion to 4.8%, previously 3%, a
company spokesman said.
The stand-out performers were Senyar
Industries, Doha Cables in particular, winning
several high profile and profitable contracts
as infrastructure project building in Qatar
continued apace.
Strong performances were registered by
Aamal Readymix and Ci-San, both also
beneficiaries of the continuing investment in
infrastructure.
Aamal Readymix, focusing on the supply of
high grade concrete, far exceeded its produc-
tion targets and was honoured the “GCC 2015
Annual Business Excellence Award” as a best
supplier from one of the leading projects in
Qatar in recognition of exceptional service
and quality.
Ci-San was bolstered further by the setting-
up of a new subsidiary (Aamal Maritime for
Transportation Services) in September 2015
to ship consignments of aggregates to Qatar.
Net profit for the trading and distribution
division rose 28% to QR147.2mn, principally
due to a 3.1 percentage point improvement in
the net margin to 18.9%, and revenue growth
of 7% to QR779.4mn.
“The principal factors behind this significant
margin expansion were an expanding prod-
uct line to fulfil growing market demands
alongside the wider geographical coverage
of our distribution footprint,” the spokesman
said.
Underlying net profit for the property divi-
sion (excluding fair value gains on invest-
ment properties) grew 20% to QR268.7mn
year on year, due to a combination of rev-
enue growth of almost 13% (to QR325.7mn)
and significant expansion in the margin to
82.5% (2014: 77.3%).
This very strong performance was driven by
annual rental increases throughout the year,
combined with benefits that still continue to
accrue from Phase 1 of the redevelopment of
the flagship City Center Doha shopping mall.
Fair value gains on investment properties
for the year were down at QR135.4mn (2014:
QR 251.7m), in line with the hiatus in the
redevelopment of City Center Doha (Phase
1 completed end-2013; Phase 2 permission
received December 2015, expected comple-
tion date of 2018).
Net profit for the managed services division
fell just over a third to QR5.5mn, mainly on
steep decline in margins to 8% (2014: 12.9%),
a reflection of an increasingly competitive
environment in this space; even as revenues
were up 7% (to QR68.5mn)
“Aamal has performed very well in 2015, with
underlying profits rising significantly. What
is extremely pleasing is that it has been a
very healthy combination of both revenue
growth and margin expansion, matched by
an equally impressive cash flow,” according
to Tarek M El Sayed, managing director of
Aamal. Aamal has extremely low gearing,
at just 3.8%, which positions the business
strongly to grow further both organically and
through acquisition opportunities which may
become available, he said.
Sheikh Faisal : Market leading positions.
Sheikh Saoud (left) and al-Kuwari: Continuous expansion.
Board recommends cash dividend, bonus shares
Woqod’s board of directors has recommended to the company’s General Assembly to distribute cash dividends to shareholders at the rate of 82% of the value of the paid-up nominal capital, which translates into QR8.2 a share.
Additionally, the board has recommended 8% bonus shares, which work out to eight shares per 100 outstanding shares. The company’s General Assembly is slated to meet on March 6.
Gas prices are shown at a Shell station in Encinitas, California (file). Royal Dutch Shell has surpassed Chevron Corp as the world’s second-biggest non-state oil company after completing the acquisition of BG Group. It raises Shell’s market capitalisation to $177bn and adds new assets in Australia and Brazil that give it more flexibility to ride out a downturn, Barclays said, according to Bloomberg. Exxon Mobil remains the world’s most valuable oil company with a market value of $337bn, almost twice as big as Shell.
Shell surpasses Chevron to become No 2 oil company
Ben Van Beurden, chief executive off icer of Royal Dutch Shell, speaks during a news conference in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil yesterday. He said Brazil will be a key area for the company as it focuses its expanded operations in liquefied natural gas (LNG) and deepwater oil production.
BUSINESS
Gulf Times Tuesday, February 16, 20162
Defying slump, Iran stocks soar on sanctions relief ReutersDubai
A leap by the Tehran stock market in the past four weeks contrasts with gloom in many bourses
around the world and hints at Iran’s investment potential as its economy, long isolated by sanctions, rejoins the global trading system.
The TEDPIX index has soared 18.3% since January 16, when the sanctions were lifted after an international deal on Iran’s nuclear programme. Average daily trading turnover has tripled from last year to around $150mn.
The economy is still struggling - growth is close to zero, the jobless rate exceeds 10% and many banks face mountains of bad debt. Political ten-sions between hardliners and moder-ates could slow eff orts to address these problems.
As a result, some commentators are warning that the notoriously volatile market may not hold on to its gains.
“The Tehran bourse is disregarding warnings and the condition of world markets ... It is going down the same road as in 2015, the result of which will only be a lack of confi dence and the fl ight of capital from this market,” the conservative Nassim news agency said in a commentary last week.
But many investors are betting that by restoring Iran’s links with the rest of the world and attracting foreign capital and technology, the end of sanctions will trigger a long-term economic boom.
“The actual benefi ts of the lifting of sanctions will take six to 12 months to start to feed into companies’ fi nancials,” said Payam Malayeri, head of asset man-agement at Griff on Capital, a Tehran-based fi rm which last month launched an off shore equity fund focused on Iran.
“Investors are discounting that now - they are looking ahead to corporate earn-ings growth in 2017 and 2018.”
Some economists think Iran’s gross domestic product could grow 5% to 6% annually in the next several years. That would boost corporate earnings 15%-25% a year, Malayeri estimated. Also, dividend yields are high at around 12%.
So far, auto stocks have led the rally because of prospects for tie-ups with foreign fi rms; Iran Khodro, which an-nounced a 50/50 venture to build cars with Peugeot, has rocketed 52%. Phar-maceutical and engineering shares have also surged; banks and petro-
chemicals have underperformed. Al-most all new buying of stocks has been by local retail investors. Most foreign-ers remain cautious and while sending money into Iran has become easier, full international banking ties have not yet been restored.
But foreign fund infl ows are pick-ing up. Ramin Rabii, chief executive of Iranian investment group Turquoise Partners, which manages most foreign portfolio investment on the Tehran exchange, estimated $10mn-$20mn had entered in the past three months, bringing the total outstanding near $100mn.
“We may see $100 to $200mn of fresh foreign money in the next 12 months,” Rabii said. That would still be tiny compared to the market’s capi-talisation, equivalent to $94bn at the free market exchange rate, but it would begin to establish foreign investors as a signifi cant force.
There is plenty of risk. Debts in the banking sector, red tape and restrictive labour laws may slow any economic boom.
Initially, some companies or sectors could actually suff er as the lifting of sanctions exposes them to more com-petition. Renaissance Capital says steel
producers’ profi t margins may shrink as imports of cheap metal increase.
Another risk is that reforms to im-prove the business climate could be stalled by political feuding between supporters and conservative oppo-nents of pragmatic President Hassan Rouhani. A conference in London this month to unveil new Iranian contract terms for foreign oil companies was cancelled after internal clashes among offi cials over the contracts.
In an apparent eff ort to reassure investors that the uptrend in equity prices is justifi ed, Finance Minister Ali Tayyebnia visited the exchange on Sunday and spoke positively about the market’s gains.
But there are in any case some pow-erful factors supporting the bourse’s uptrend. Under many ways of valuing stocks, Iranian equities are still cheap by international standards.
The market is trading at 7-7.5 times this year’s projected corporate earn-ings - above its long-term average of 6 times, but well below 11 times for the world’s frontier markets, Rabii said. With Iran now part of the global econ-omy, valuations may come closer to in-ternational levels.
Meanwhile, falling bank deposit rates could push billions of dollars into stocks, Malayeri said. Deposit rates soared in the sanctions era, when in-fl ation was high and the rial weak; authorities have begun guiding them down from above 20%.
Rabii said ineffi ciencies and distor-tions of the sanctions era had left pock-ets of value in the stock market which both local and foreign investors would exploit in coming years.
“You could buy a cement plant by acquiring a company for a third of the cost of building one from scratch,” he said. “This is the kind of thing which will attract foreign investment.”
Flags displaying Nakheel brand fly near the Marina Harbor development on Dubai World’s Palm Jumeirah island in Dubai in this photo dated April 8, 2010. Dubai property developer Nakheel is seeking to borrow 5bn dirhams ($1.4bn) from banks, sources aware of the matter said, in what would be its first attempt to raise sizeable debts since it almost collapsed at the turn of the decade. Nakheel, at the centre of a debt crisis in Dubai in 2009 after a crash in real estate prices, is in talks with a small group of banks regarding the financing, the sources said, adding talks were at a preliminary stage. The state-owned developer, whose flagship Palm Jumeirah project ranks as the world’s biggest man-made island, has asked banks to provide it with prospective pricing if it borrowed for eight- to 10-year terms, said two of the sources, who declined to be identified as the information is private. The company declined to comment on the loan talks. Nakheel will use the funds for construction projects, one of the sources said.
Nakheel seeking 5bn dirhams loan from banks
Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank Q4 profit jumps 16.6%, raises dividend CORPORATE RESULTS
Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank (ADIB) has posted a 16.6%
rise in fourth-quarter net profit, and marginally
increased its dividend for 2015.
The earnings were part of mixed fourth-quarter
results for UAE banks, with Emirates NBD and Dubai
Islamic Bank posting bumper profit growth while
National Bank of Abu Dhabi, Mashreq and Union
National Bank saw profits fall.
ADIB, Abu Dhabi’s largest Shariah-compliant bank,
made a net profit of 477.4mn dirhams ($130mn)
in the three months to December 31, compared to
409.6mn dirhams in the same period a year ago, it
said in a bourse statement.
Beltone Financial had forecast the bank would
make a profit attributable to shareholders of
399mn dirhams in the quarter.
For 2015, the bank said its net profit was 1.93bn
dirhams, up 10.5% from 2014.
Customer financing for loans totalled 78.4bn
dirhams at the end of last year, up 7.4% from a year
earlier, while customer deposits grew to 94.9bn
dirhams, up 12%.
However, the bank remains cautious about growth
in 2016 because of competitive pressures on credit
spreads. “We continue to forecast modest new cus-
tomer financing growth...” Tirad al-Mahmoud, chief
executive of ADIB, said in the statement.
The bank booked loan impairments of 249.3mn
dirhams in the fourth quarter, up 39.5% over the
same quarter in the previous year.
ADIB’s board has proposed paying a cash dividend
of 24.27% for 2015, the statement added, equivalent
to 0.2427 dirham per share. The bank paid a divi-
dend of 0.2334 dirham per share for 2014.
Dana Gas
UAE-based energy firm Dana Gas swung to a
$134.2mn profit in the fourth quarter, as a one-time
contribution from an arbitration process helped
off set the global downturn in energy prices.
Dana made a net profit of $134.2mn in the three
months to December 31, compared with a loss of
$4mn in the prior-year period, Reuters calculated,
based on the firm’s full-year earnings statement in
lieu of a quarterly breakdown.
Dana Gas reported falling profits in the first and
second quarters and a loss in the third quarter of
2015, hit by oil prices. Its chief executive, Patrick
Allman-Ward, warned in November after reporting
the third-quarter loss that the final three months of
2015 would be “similarly challenging”.
However, the company said in a statement it re-
ceived cash later that month from RWE settling an
arbitration which transferred a 5% interest in Pearl
Petroleum Company. It didn’t disclose the cash
amount received.
RWEST Middle East, a unit of the German energy
firm, agreed to join the Pearl Petroleum group,
which reduced the stakes of both Dana Gas and
Crescent Petroleum from 40% to 35%, following
a London arbitration process initially begun in
December 2010.
The cash also helped to boost its annual profit for
2015 to $144mn, up from $125mn in the previous
year. The tumble in crude prices since a June 2014
peak and a 15% decline in production from Egypt
contributed to a 39% fall in 2015 gross revenue to
$417mn, the statement said.
Like oil companies around the world, Dana has
been cutting costs to adapt to lower prices. It has
previously announced it would cut general and
administrative expenses by 55% in 2016 and operat-
ing expenses by a smaller amount.
However, Allman-Ward added in yesterday’s state-
ment that it expects higher production levels and
resulting cash flows, particularly in Egypt and also
in the UAE with the anticipated start-up of the Zora
Field. Egypt still owes Dana $221mn as of December
31, as well as $727mn in the Kurdistan region of Iraq,
according to the statement.
‘Sigma to launch Egypt’s exchange for grains trading’ReutersDubai
Jordan-based Sigma Investments will partner with the Egyptian government to launch the region’s fi rst grains exchange by end 2016, the
fi rm’s chief executive said on Sunday in an inter-view.
Egypt is the world’s largest importer of wheat, purchasing about 10mn tonnes of the grain each year from global markets.
EGYCOMEX, Egyptian Commodities Ex-change, with a proposed partnership of 20% government investment and 80% private in-vestment, will trade spot and futures for grains, mainly wheat, as well as gold and oil, Sigma’s Iman Mutlaq told Reuters.
“For the past three years, the Egyptian govern-ment has been working on the infrastructure for connecting silos and our visibility study showed positive results, especially with the government deciding to become our partner,” Mutlaq said in an interview in Dubai.
Mutlaq said most of the Egyptian govern-ment’s contract wheat imports - done by state grain buyer GASC - will be done on the exchange,
helping to bring about 80% of Egypt’s total grain trading to the exchange.
Additionally, Egypt’s farmers, who produce over 3mn tonnes of wheat annually, will be able to see transparent grain prices and trade grains, even in small quantities.
EGYCOMEX prices for grains will be in the Egyptian pound, providing a hedge for local trad-ers against FX fl uctuations and dictated by local demand and supply, she said.
“It will eff ect the local Egyptian market a lot when a farmer can sell grains at a better price or use them as collateral for loans,” Mutlaq said, add-ing that the fi rm will be working with the govern-ment to help farmers improve the quality of grains, better market their harvest and source fi nancing.
Although the fi rm is expecting arbitrage at the launch of the exchange as traders seek to benefi t from the diff erence between local and interna-tional prices, the fi rm will put in place regula-tions that minimise the risk of bubbles as funds rush in, she said.
Sigma, a member of Global Alliance Partners, a Hong Kong-based network of international banks, is currently setting up the legal framework of the exchange with the Egyptian Financial Su-pervisory Authority, Mutlaq said.
Turkey’s Iyzico beats PayPal to unlock Iran system BloombergIstanbul
An Istanbul-based payments startup says it’s signed a deal that smoothes the way for
companies seeking to follow it into Iran’s $400bn economy.
Iyzico’s agreement with Tehran-based electronic payments plat-form PECCO lets its customers process transactions from some 230mn payment cards that were until recently disconnected from any fi nancial system outside Iran, according to Barbaros Ozbugutu, Iyzico’s German-Turkish chief ex-ecutive. The deal is the fi rst of its kind, he said in an interview in Is-tanbul.
Since visiting Tehran last year, the founders of the World Bank-backed company have been work-ing on expanding there, Ozbugutu said. That gives them a foothold in a country that’s been so far untapped by US-based competitors Paypal Holdings Inc and Stripe Inc.
“We’re fulfi lling the role Pay-pal was providing in places like Germany, where they were the preferred provider during that country’s digitalisation phase,” Ozbugutu said of Iyzico’s home market. It made sense to expand to Iran because there are “two major markets in the region with high card penetration, and they’re Iran and Turkey,” he said. “Both have populations of 80mn, a very young population and quite high Internet penetration.”
While PayPal’s website says it’s active in more than 200 markets, Iran isn’t one of them.
Investors monitor an electronic board at the Tehran Stock Exchange. The TEDPIX index has soared 18.3% since January 16, when the sanctions were lifted after an international deal on Iran’s nuclear programme.
BUSINESS3Gulf Times
Tuesday, February 16, 2016
Aldar Properties manages stock release as market slows Abu Dhabi real estate demand slowed in last 2-3 months; managing stock release in light of market conditions; Q4 profit rises 5.6% to 735mn dirhams
ReutersAbu Dhabi
Abu Dhabi’s Aldar Properties is monitoring the amount of real estate it puts up for sale
as it tries to manage the impact of a slowdown in the sector, a company executive said yesterday.
He was speaking after the devel-oper reported a 5.6% rise in fourth-quarter net attributable profi t,
helped by higher recurring revenue from assets such as shopping malls, schools and hotels.
Economic growth in Gulf coun-tries is slowing as low oil prices have led to spending curbs and job cuts across major sectors.
Residential prices in Abu Dhabi, capital of the UAE and home to most of the UAE’s oil reserves, rose 25% in 2013 and 2014 but fl attened in 2015.
“We’re watching how much we’re releasing into the market,” Aldar chief development offi cer Talal al-Dhiyebi told reporters on a conference call without giving fur-ther details. “In the last two to three months, we’ve seen a slight slow-
down on demand but we are selling at a smaller rate.”
Transaction volumes in Abu Dhabi were also fl at, according to Matthew Green, head of research at consultancy CBRE Middle East, which could lead to defl ationary pressures.
Still, Aldar would raise capital ex-penditure to around 2.5bn dirhams this year from around 1.1bn dirhams in 2015, chief fi nancial offi cer Greg Fewer said, as the company spend on six projects launched since 2014.
Most of these projects had strong order books, including its aff orda-ble housing scheme on Reem Island which was 90% sold, Dhiyebi said.
The state-linked builder of Abu
Dhabi’s Formula One circuit said it made a profi t attributable to eq-uity holders of 735mn dirhams ($200.1mn) in the three months to December 31.
Reuters had previously calculated earnings of 760mn dirhams before the quarterly breakdown was pro-vided.
The fi gure was above both the earnings recorded in the corre-sponding period of 2014 and the 512.7mn dirham forecast of an ana-lyst at SICO Bahrain.
The growth was driven by income from recurring revenue assets, which contributed 62% of earnings in 2015 versus 34% in the previous year.
Qatar shares top Gulf gains on increased buy support By Santhosh V PerumalBusiness Reporter
The Qatar Stock Exchange yes-terday gained for the second consecutive day, adding 256
points to inch near the 9,900 mark, mainly on increased buying interests of foreign institutions.
An across-the-board-buying, par-ticularly in insurance, real estate and consumer goods, lifted the 20-stock Qatar Index by another 2.67% to 9,857.2 points.
Both Gulf and non-Qatari indi-vidual investors turned bullish in the market, where trading turnover and volumes were also on the rise.
Nevertheless, buying support from local retail investors considerably weakened and there was increased net profi t booking by Gulf institutions in the bourse, which is down 5.49% year-to-date.
Mid, small and large cap equities were the most sought after in the market, where realty, industrials and banking stocks together accounted for about 78% of the total trading volume.
Market capitalisation gained 2.17%, or more than QR11bn, to QR523.52bn with mid, small, large and micro cap stocks gaining 3.06%, 2.71%, 2.2% and 0.97% respectively.
The Total Return Index soared 2.67% to 15,373.29 points, the All Share Index by 2.57% to 2,627.38 points and the Al Rayan Islamic Index by 2.64% to 3,537.03 points.
Insurance stocks appreciated 4.05%, followed by real estate (3.76%), consumer goods (2.83%), industrials (2.61%), banks and fi nancial services (2.22%), transport (1.81%) and tel-ecom (0.4%).
About 75% of the stocks extended gains with major movers being Barwa, United Development Company, QNB, Commercial Bank, Doha Bank, Qa-tar Islamic Bank, Aamal Company, Woqod, Mannai Corporation, Qatar Electricity and Water, Qatar Insur-ance, Ooredoo and Nakilat; even as Gulf International Services and Me-saieed Petrochemical Holding bucked the trend.
Non-Qatari institutions’ net buying increased substantially to QR37.59mn against QR4.36mn on February 14.
Non-Qatari individual inves-tors turned net buyers to the tune of QR4.1mn compared with net sellers of QR1.19mn on Sunday.
The GCC (Gulf Cooperation Coun-cil) individuals were also net buyers to the extent of QR0.85mn against net sellers of QR0.74mn the previous day.
Domestic institutions’ net profi t booking fell to QR36.52mn compared to QR41.87mn on February 14.
However, local retail investors’ net buying weakened considerably to QR0.49mn against QR43.49mn on Sunday.
The GCC institutions’ net profi t booking strengthened to QR6.5mn compared to QR4.1mn the previous day.
Total trade volume was up 3% to 8.37mn shares, value by 27% to
QR303.6mn and deals by 40% to 4,899.
The transport sector’s trade volume grew more than seven-fold to 0.74mn equities and value more than fi ve-fold to QR23.17mn on more-than-quadru-pled transactions to 328.
The real estate sector’s trade vol-ume more than doubled to 3.05mn stocks and value almost tripled to QR70.87mn on more-than-doubled deals to 1,134.
The banks and fi nancial services
sector saw a 10% expansion in trade volume to 1.67mn shares, 9% in value to QR71.08mn and 40% in transac-tions to 1,038.
Although the telecom sector’s trade volume was fl at at 0.4mn equities, value soared 62% to QR10.35mn and deals by 36% to 319.
However, the consumer goods sec-tor’s trade volume plummeted 54% to 0.59mn stocks but value surged 74% to QR45.1mn. Transactions shrank 11% to 591.
The insurance sector reported a 52% plunge in trade volume to 0.11mn equities but on a 46% expansion in value to QR7.32mn and 35% in deals to 73.
The industrials sector’s trade vol-ume tanked 46% to 1.8mn equi-ties and value by 30% to QR75.7mn whereas transactions were up 14% to 1,416.
In the debt market, there was no trading of treasury bills and govern-ment bonds.
Loan-deposit shift boosts Saudi stocksReutersDubai
Saudi Arabian stocks rose sharply yester-
day after the central bank raised banks’
maximum loan-deposit ratio, while most
other bourses in the region were buoyed
by a rebound of global markets.
The Saudi central bank, seeking to ease
tightening liquidity caused by low oil
prices, increased the ratio of deposits
that commercial banks can lend out to
90% from 85%, industry sources told
Reuters.
That may not make much diff erence in
the long term to the pressures on Saudi
banks, which face deteriorating credit
quality as the economy slows as well
as demands on their funds from heavy
government bond issuance. The three-
month Saudi interbank off ered rate
edged up yesterday to 1.73125% from
1.72875%.
But the central bank’s move was a wel-
come eff ort by authorities to support the
economy, and the Saudi banking stock
index climbed 2.1%.
The overall Saudi equities index rose
2.4% as petrochemical giant Saudi Basic
Industries gained 3.1%. Major real estate
developer Dar Al Arkan rose 2.3%.
But Arabian Cement dropped 1.8% after it
said it was proposing a cash dividend for
the second half of 2015 of 2.5 riyals per
share, down from 3.25 riyals a year ago.
Dubai’s index fell 0.3% as DAMAC Prop-
erties slipped 0.8% and builder Drake
& Scull, which had risen on Sunday
because of better-than-expected fourth-
quarter earnings, fell back 0.9%.
Islamic Arab Insurance Co fell 2.9% in
unusually heavy trade after it posted
a 162.8mn dirham ($44.4mn) net loss
for 2015 compared to a 36.7mn dirham
profit in 2014. But shipper Gulf Naviga-
tion rose 3.5% after it reported that its
profit doubled last year.
Telecommunications firm du fell sharply
in early trade after reporting a 10.1% fall
in fourth-quarter profit, but it closed
flat.
Shares in du’s bigger rival, Abu Dhabi-
listed Etisalat, rose 1.3% after it posted
a 2.7% rise in quarterly profit. The Abu
Dhabi index rose 0.8%.
In Egypt, the stock index also gained
0.8% as billionaire Naguib Sawiris’s
Orascom Telecom surged 3.7%.
Beltone Financial soared 10% for a third
straight trading day. Commercial Interna-
tional Bank accepted Sawiris’s bid to buy
its investment arm CI Capital, market
sources said on Sunday; Orascom plans
to merge CI Capital with Beltone.
Giza General Contracting jumped 7.5% in
heavy trade after a disclosure statement
showed a purchase of 1.17mn shares in it
by a related party.
Elsewhere in the Gulf, Oman’s index fell
0.3% to 5,350 points; Kuwait’s index
edged up 0.2% to 5,139 points, while
Bahrain’s index edged up 0.1% to 1,167
points.
Saudi said to ease lending rules to boost liquidity Central bank said to have informed banks of decision on Sunday; move said to have followed request by committee of treasurers
BloombergDubai/London
Saudi Arabia is easing rules on bank lending to stimulate growth in the largest Arab economy, two
people with knowledge of the matter said.
Banks were told they can lend the equivalent of 90% of their deposits, up from an earlier limit of 85%, by the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency on
Sunday, the people said, asking not to be identifi ed as the information is pri-vate. The move followed a request from the country’s committee of treasurers to ease liquidity constraints, one of the people said.
Saudi Arabia is seeking to revive its economy and stimulate credit as the slump in oil and government spending strain the banking system. The three-month Saudi Arabia Interbank rate rose to 1.73% on February 3, its high-est in about seven years, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Bets for a devaluation of the riyal reached their highest in about two decades in Janu-ary, even after the country pledged to keep its currency peg.
Calls and e-mails sent to SAMA, as the central bank is known, after offi ce hours in Riyadh weren’t immediately returned.
“This is a confi dence boosting measure by SAMA to increase liquidity in the system,” John Sfakianakis, a Riy-adh-based economist, said late Sunday by phone. “SAMA is telling banks that in a low money supply environment it will take steps to ensure that credit is available for the private sector.”
The ratio of bank claims on the pri-vate sector to total deposits rose to 85% at the end of December, up from 80% at the end of 2014, according to data on the central bank’s website. Five of the 11 commercial banks in Saudi Ara-
bia exceeded the 85% cap at the end of 2015 based on preliminary fi nancial reports, Aqib Mehboob, senior analyst at Saudi Fransi Capital, said by e-mail on Sunday.
“This reported SAMA directive ap-pears to be aimed at easing liquidity in this weak deposit environment and bringing down the interbank rates,” Mehboob said. “The expansion in the limit should be supportive of credit growth in the fi rst half of 2016, thus positively impacting banking sector profi tability, which will also be sup-ported by higher base interest rates.”
The kingdom is taking unprecedent-ed measures to shore up its public fi -nances and reduce the economy’s reli-
ance on oil. The government has raised fuel prices and trimmed spending in this year’s budget to narrow a defi cit that may have been the widest since 1991 last year. The Washington-based International Monetary Fund expects economic growth in Saudi Arabia of 1.2% this year, its slowest pace since 2002.
The central bank’s net foreign assets tumbled more than $19bn in Decem-ber as the kingdom withdrew reserves amid oil’s plunge. Reserves declined about 3% to more than $608bn, bring-ing the drop in 2015 to $115bn, accord-ing to central bank data. While Saudi Arabia’s reserves remain among the highest in the world, the drop under-
scores the kingdom’s struggle to cope with falling oil prices.
The country is also tapping the lo-cal debt market to fund a budget gap forecast by the IMF to be 14% of gross domestic product this year. It will probably sell about 120bn riyals of debt in 2016 to support its fi nances, Saudi Fransi Capital said in October. Last year, the government raised 98bn riyals through the sale of bonds to local institutions.
Saudi Arabia’s market regulator has also increased the amount that invest-ment funds can allocate to government debt to 35% of net assets, up from 10%, Maaal news website reported Monday, citing people it didn’t identify.
An across-the-board-buying, particularly in insurance, real estate and consumer goods stocks, yesterday lifted the 20-stock Qatar Index by 2.67% to 9,857.2 points. PICTURE: Noushad Thekkayil
BUSINESS
Gulf Times Tuesday, February 16, 20164
‘SE Asia needs $550bn aircraft over 20 years’ReutersSingapore
Southeast Asia requires 3,750 new aircraft worth $550bn in 20 years from 2015, a senior
Boeing executive told a press confer-ence ahead of the Singapore Airshow that starts today.
Of this, 76% will be for single-aisle aircraft like the Boeing 737 and Air-bus A320, said Dinesh Keskar, senior vice-president for Asia Pacifi c and India sales at Boeing.
This will be largely driven by low-cost carriers, and the growth of mar-kets such as Indonesia, Myanmar and Vietnam, he added.
Southeast Asian passenger traf-fi c has grown by more than 9% since 2010, with intra-Southeast Asian traffi c projected to increase by 7.7% over the next 20 years, said Keskar.
“The total pie and the number of people travelling is still very low,” he added.
The Asia Pacifi c region as a whole will absorb 14,550 aircraft, more than a third of the 39,050 aircraft that are required globally, according to Boe-ing’s forecast.
IATA director general Tony Tyler said on Sunday that record plane or-ders placed by ambitious Southeast Asian airlines could be at risk in an environment of intense competi-tion, low profi tability and turmoil in fi nancial markets.
Fast growing low-cost carriers such as Indonesia’s Lion Air, Malay-sia’s AirAsia and India’s IndiGo have ordered hundreds of Airbus and Boe-ing jets over the last decade in a bid to secure market share.
Lion is the only Boeing customer of those three, and Keskar said that the airline had been taking all of its ordered 737s. Boeing, he added, was in a “good spot” and had not had re-quests for deferrals from any of its other customers.
“Most of our customers have been
ordering 25, 30, 40 aircraft at a time and then replacing them every three to four years,” said Keskar, who add-ed that the steady growth plans help these airlines.
Meanwhile, Malaysia Airlines (MAS) has delayed plans to sell some of its Airbus A380 jumbo jets, and will now keep all six of them at least until 2018 after retiring its fl eet of Boeing 777s, its chief executive told Reuters
yesterday. The Kuala Lumpur-based carrier has tried to unsuccessfully sell the planes for the last year to cut costs as part of a restructuring plan which also saw it withdraw from sev-eral long-haul European routes.
After accelerating the retirement of its much older Boeing 777-200 fl eet, the airline has decided to keep the A380s in service until it gets the fi rst of its new Airbus A350 widebody
jets, Christoph Mueller said ahead of the Singapore Airshow. “We need them for the long haul market,” said Mueller of the A380s, which the air-line fl ies only to London.
“We are still evaluating what we want to do with the A380. We have six and we will keep them at least un-til 2018, when we get the fi rst A350,” he added.
MAS is also evaluating if it needs
two more A350s to add to the four that it will get from leasing compa-nies, Mueller said, adding that these planes will serve medium-haul, in-tra-Asia Pacifi c routes that the air-line will focus on as part of its post-restructuring strategy.
Mueller, an experienced industry executive, was hired to push through the restructuring at MAS in May 2015 after Malaysian national investment fi rm Khazanah took it private.
MAS suff ered a massive blow to its brand after fl ight MH370, which was carrying 239 passengers and crew, disappeared in March 2014. In July 2014, another fl ight, MH17, was shot down over eastern Ukraine, killing all 298 people aboard.
Mueller said the airline still aimed to return to profi t by 2018. “We are not profi table yet but we are getting there,” he added. “The markets are soft now, and that’s not just China. All segments are aff ected. But we can overcome that.”
As part of its restructuring, the airline has suspended non-stop services to Amsterdam, Paris and Dubai, and is using a new codeshare partnership with Dubai-based Emir-ates Airline to connect its passengers to destinations in Europe, Africa and the US. Mueller said MAS hoped to extend this codeshare to “all points” on the airlines’ combined networks to “give us many points in, for exam-ple Africa and Europe, that we can’t fl y to but where there is demand”.
One challenge to the restructur-ing programme has been the depre-ciation of the ringgit against the US dollar, with many costs such as fuel prices and aircraft lease pegged to the dollar, Mueller said.
In a bid to increase revenue to off -set higher costs, the airline is looking at ways to attract more passengers and upgrade its in-fl ight off erings, such as rolling out a new business class product this year and possibly adding in-fl ight mobile and Internet connectivity.
ReutersTokyo
Japanese lenders are rushing to cut de-posit rates before the start of the Bank of Japan’s negative interest rates today,
following sharp falls in benchmark bond yields.
Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp said it cut the interest rate on ordinary deposits to 0.001% a year, from 0.02%, the bank’s fi rst reduction on ordinary deposits since Sep-tember 2010.
The rate, eff ective from today, means a depositor will be paid an annual interest of ¥100 ($0.88) on ¥10mn ($88,000).
The bank, a core unit of Japan’s third-largest lender Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, and its biggest rivals Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ (BTMU) and Mizuho Bank have already cut rates on time deposits, though those remain in positive territory.
But bank executives said further cuts in loan interest rates are unlikely to give a boost to loan demand.
“Our corporate clients are saying the BoJ’s negative interest rates won’t lead to an increase in capital spending,” said a senior executive at one of the megabanks.
“With global markets this volatile, they are taking wait-and-see stance. One cli-ent told me his company is even putting a project on hold to rebuild its own offi ce building,” said the person, who declined to be identifi ed given the sensitivity of the matter.
“On a macro level, businesses and house-holds have surplus funds. Further falls in in-terest rates are unlikely to lead to a surge in loan demand,” said Ryoji Yoshizawa, direc-tor at Standard & Poor’s in Tokyo.
Simply put, banks make money from the gap between what they pay for deposits and what they receive from loans.
The Bank of Japan unexpectedly cut a benchmark interest rate below zero late last month – eff ectively charging fi nancial in-stitutions which park money with it – as it struggles to the stimulate the economy.
But even before the introduction of nega-tive interest rates, banks have little more room to cut deposit rates, while loan inter-est rates are likely to fall further amid tepid demand. Bank offi cials said it is diffi cult to charge fees or negative interest rates on clients’ deposits given a possible public backlash.
Japan banks rush to cut deposit rates
ReutersBangkok
Thailand reported economic growth of 2.8% in 2015, compared with 0.8% the previous year, but its recovery remains fragile as exports and
domestic consumption are weak and political uncer-tainties linger.
Fourth-quarter and full-year data released yester-day about Southeast Asia’s second-largest economy was a mix of good and bad news.
And the state planning agency cut its forecast for 2016 growth to 2.8-3.8% from the 3-4% range it saw in November.
With the traditional growth pillars of exports and consumption still shaky long after the military seized power in May 2014, government investment – up 41% on the year in the fourth quarter – has helped lift the economy.
“While fi scal spending should help prop up the economy in 2016, the pace of recovery will be grad-ual, given the backdrop of continued political uncer-tainty and high household debt,” Krystal Tan of Cap-
ital Economics in Singapore said in a note. Weiwen Ng, economist at ANZ, said that “fi scal therapy” has helped, “but the risk is that domestic demand could be derailed after expiration of tax incentives, which largely propped up Q4.”
In October-December, the economy grew 0.8% from the previous quarter on a seasonally-adjusted basis, less than the 1% in July-September and the 0.9% expected in a Reuters poll.
On an annual basis, growth was 2.8%, between the Reuters poll’s 2.7% forecast and third-quarter’s 2.9%, the National Economic and Social Develop-ment Board (NESDB) said.
Barnabas Gan of OCBC in Singapore said that de-spite the global slowdown, Thailand posted “a rather robust growth print”.
But the global picture makes many gloomy on Thai exports, which are worth about two-thirds of gross domestic product.
Exports have contracted three straight years, and the NESDB yesterday cut its 2016 estimate for ship-ments to grow 1.2% from its previous forecast of 3%.
NESDB chief Porametee Vimolsiri said it revised growth and export forecasts “as global risks have in-
creased”. Gundy Cahyadi, economist at DBS in Sin-gapore, said while it’s good that government spend-ing is supporting the economy, this “underscores the sluggishness of private demand”.
The reduced export forecast “clearly indicates that the authorities are not expecting any boost from ex-ternal demand,” he said.
Bank of Thailand governor Veerathai Santiprabhob warned on Thursday there were great downside risks to the recovery, which he described as still gradual and uneven. The BoT has predicted 3.5% GDP growth this year, with fl at exports.
That puts the burden on the junta, which has boosted state spending, to aid growth. In an attempt to lift activity, it changed its economic team in Au-gust and introduced stimulus measures, including ones worth 136bn baht ($3.81bn) aimed at helping rural areas.
Last month, it approved a 35bn baht programme for the grassroots economy.
Butbns of dollars in public spending aimed at re-viving the ailing rural economy have failed to reach farmers, fuelling disaff ection with the junta ahead of elections expected next year.
Thai Q4 GDP growth misses forecast, recovery still fragile
Workers unload sacks of rotten rice at a warehouse in Ratchaburi province. Thailand yesterday reported economic growth of 2.8% in 2015, against 0.8% in 2014.
Pakistan risk surges as $50bn debt bill coming due this year
BloombergKarachi
Bets are rising that Pakistan will
default on its debt just as it starts to
revive investor interest with a reduc-
tion in terrorist attacks.
Credit default swaps protecting the
nation’s debt against non-payment for
five years surged 56 basis points last
week amid the global market sell-off ,
the steepest jump after Greece, Ven-
ezuela and Portugal among more than
50 sovereigns tracked by Bloomberg.
About 42% of Pakistan’s outstand-
ing debt is due to mature in 2016
–- roughly $50bn, equivalent to the
size of Slovenia’s economy. The bulk
of that is in local currency.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has
worked to make Pakistan more inves-
tor-friendly since winning a $6.6bn In-
ternational Monetary Fund loan in 2013
to avert an external payments crisis.
The economy is forecast to grow 4.5%,
an eight-year high, as a crackdown
on militant strongholds helps reduce
deaths from terrorist attacks.
“Pakistan’s high level of public debt,
with a large portion financed through
short-term instruments, does make
the sovereign’s ability to meet their
financing needs more sensitive to
market conditions,” Mervyn Tang, lead
analyst for Pakistan at Fitch Ratings,
said by e-mail. Right now, he said,
there’s not much reason to panic.
Pakistan’s external liabilities are
“relatively modest,” foreign-currency
reserves have risen, the IMF is ready
to help meet maturing loans and
Chinese investment in an economic
corridor is on its way, Tang said.
“Improving growth prospects, lower
inflation and smaller budget deficit
should help to underpin investor
confidence, particularly the domestic
investor base,” Tang said.
Pakistan has just $4bn of external
debt coming due in 2016 and “does
not face any diff iculty in respect of
its debt servicing obligations,” the
finance ministry said yesterday in an
e-mailed response to questions. The
government doesn’t “feel any cause
for concern with regards to refinanc-
ing its domestic debt,” it said.
Public debt risk indicators have
come down over the past two years,
while the CDS is on a downward
trajectory compared with 2008, the
finance ministry said. Pakistan has a
medium risk of default over five years,
according to Bloomberg assessments.
Pakistan is committed to suc-
cessfully implement its IMF mac-
roeconomic stability programme,
the ministry said in a statement on
February 1. Sharif’s administration has
a “quite good” chance of completing
the programme, IMF mission chief
Harald Finger said last month. Since
Sharif took the IMF loan, Pakistan’s
debt due by end-2016 has jumped
about 79%. He’s also facing resistance
in meeting IMF demands to privatise
state-owned companies, leading to a
strike this month at national carrier
Pakistan International Airlines Corp.
The bulk of this year’s debt, some
$30bn, is due between July and
September, and repayments will get
tougher if borrowing costs rise more.
The spread between Pakistan’s 10-year
sovereign bond and similar-maturity
US Treasuries touched a one-year high
on Thursday.
If Pakistan’s debt servicing costs
rise, Sharif doesn’t have much room
to maneuver. Already about 77%
of the country’s Rs13tn ($124bn)
budget for the year through June 30
is earmarked for interest and principal
repayment on loans.
According to Bloomberg calcula-
tions 17% - or $8.3bn – of Pakistan’s
2016 debt repayments will need to be
in foreign currency. This comprises
$7.8bn of loans, the bulk of which is a
2008 bilateral loan from the IMF that’s
due end- September and $500mn in
bonds. The external requirement ac-
counts for 40% of the nation’s $21bn in
foreign- exchange holdings.
That stockpile, however, isn’t
airtight. While it increased by more
than 55% last year – the steepest rise
in Asia – more than half consists of
debt and grants that could leave the
country quickly if global risk appetite
worsens. Outflows would weaken the
rupee, a currency that is estimated
by the IMF to be as much as 20%
overvalued even though it’s proved
remarkably stable amid the recent
market turmoil.
Investors should expect volatility
in bonds and pressure on the rupee
this year, according to Mustafa Pasha,
head of investments at Lakson Invest-
ments, which manages $200mn of
Pakistani stocks and bonds.
While the plunge in oil prices
helped the government last year,
predicting the outlook would be like
“reading the tea leaves,” he said by
phone from Karachi.
BUSINESS5Gulf Times
Tuesday, February 16, 2016
ReutersBeijing
China’s January trade performance was worse than expected as tepid demand per-sisted both at home and abroad, raising ex-
pectations of further government measures to ar-rest the slowdown and to quell market jitters.
January exports fell 11.2% from a year earlier – the seventh straight month of decline, while im-ports tumbled 18.8 % – the 15th month of decline, both far worse than expected, data released by the General Administration of Customs showed yes-terday.
Exports declined even though China has allowed the yuan to weaken nearly 6% against the US dollar since last August, underlining the extent to which global demand has weakened.
China posted a record trade surplus of $63.3bn in January – partly due to soft demand and falling commodities prices, versus $60.09bn in Decem-ber.
“Overall, we believe the sharp drop of trade in January was a refl ection of weak external demand, especially given the weak exports of neighbour-ing economies such as Korea and Taiwan,” ANZ economists Li-Gang Liu and Louis Lam wrote in a research note.
“The record level trade surplus indicates that China continued to run a large current account surplus, and this should help off set some of the capital outfl ow and alleviate some depreciation pressure on the renminbi (yuan).”
Analysts polled by Reuters had expected exports to fall 1.9%, after slipping 1.4% in December, while imports had been expected to drop only 0.8%, fol-lowing a 7.6% slide in December. The poll forecast a trade surplus of $58.85bn.
China will keep the yuan basically stable against a basket of currencies and it will not allow specu-lators to dominate market sentiment regarding China’s foreign exchange reserves, central bank governor Zhou Xiaochuan was quoted as saying on Saturday.
Premier Li Keqiang has said Beijing will not pro-mote exports through currency depreciation, al-though some policy advisers have been calling for sharper yuan falls.
“Today’s numbers hint that Chinese currency is still under pressure to weaken. That said, recent strength in onshore and off shore yuan is largely due to the central bank’s eff ort to dampen specula-tive positions,” said Zhou Hao, Commerzbank Asia senior emerging markets economist in Singapore.
China’s exports to the US, the country’s biggest market, fell 9.9% in dollar terms in January from a year earlier, while exports to the European Union
– the second biggest market, fell 12%, the customs data showed.
The customs offi ce said it expected downward pressure on China’s exports will ease, starting in the second quarter of this year.
A source at the Commerce Ministry also said the government would not set an annual target for for-eign trade this year.
Some economists, such as those at ANZ sus-pected false trade invoicing, often used to hide speculation in the yuan, may have distorted the January numbers even further, pointing to big swings in trade with Hong Kong. Fake transactions
were widely suspected to be one reason behind a much milder drop in December trade than markets had expected.
The customs data showed Hong Kong’s exports to mainland China fell 2.6% year-on-year in dollar terms while its imports from the mainland jumped 108.1%.
For 2015, China’s total trade tumbled 8% from 2014, well below the government’s target of 6% growth and the worst performance since the glo-bal fi nancial crisis.
Trends in January and February can also be dis-torted by the long Lunar New Year holidays, with
business slowing down weeks ahead of time and many fi rms scaling back operations or closing.
China’s commerce ministry has warned that the country’s external trade is facing relatively severe pressure in 2016, and few analysts expect a sudden improvement in global demand.
China is expected to target economic growth in a range of 6.5% to 7% this year, sources have said, setting a range for the fi rst time because policy-makers are uncertain on the economy’s prospects.
The world’s second-largest economy grew an annual 6.9% in 2015, the poorest showing in a quarter of a century.
China exports dive 11.2%,imports tumble 18.8%
ReutersTokyo
Japan’s economy shrank more than expected in the fi nal quarter of last year as consumer spending and ex-
ports slumped, adding to headaches for policymakers already wary of damage the fi nancial market rout could infl ict on a fragile recovery.
Gross domestic product contracted by an annualised 1.4% in October-De-cember, bigger than a market forecast for a 1.2% decline and matching a fall marked in the second quarter of last year, Cabinet Offi ce data showed yes-terday. It followed a revised 1.3% in-crease in the previous quarter.
The data underscores the challenges Premier Shinzo Abe faces in dragging the world’s third-largest economy out of stagnation, as exports to emerging markets fail to gain enough momentum to make up for soft domestic demand.
Abe sought to reassure markets that Tokyo is ready to stem excessive mar-ket volatility that could undermine the wealth eff ect delivered by his stimulus policies.
“As we have agreed at G7 and G20, sudden currency moves are undesir-able. I want the fi nance minister to closely monitor the situation and re-spond with appropriate measures as needed,” he told parliament yesterday.
Market speculation of additional monetary easing simmers, although the
Bank of Japan’s policy ammunition ap-pears to be dwindling, analysts say.
“Private consumption is especially weak. The economy is at a standstill,” said Junko Nishioka, chief economist
at Sumitomo Mitsui Banking. “It’s a matter of time before the BoJ and the government will take additional stim-ulus measures,” she said, predicting the central bank will ease policy again
as early as next month. With his stimulus policies that gave
big manufacturers windfall profi ts, Abe had hoped to generate a positive cycle in which companies raise wages and help
boost household spending. Instead the data showed that private consumption, which makes up 60% of GDP, fell 0.8%, exceeding market forecasts of a 0.6% decline. Since Abe took power three years ago, private consumption has shrank by roughly ¥1.5tn to ¥306.5tn ($2.7tn).
The economy grew an average 0.68% since Abe’s administration took offi ce in 2013, below a 1.8% increase dur-ing the opposition Democratic Party’s three-year reign.
Off ering some hope for policymak-ers, capital expenditure rose 1.4%, confounding market expectations for a 0.2% decrease.
But analysts doubt whether the economy will gain momentum in com-ing months, with the recent market turbulence and slowing Chinese growth clouding the outlook for corporate profi ts. Exports fell 0.9% in October-December after rising 2.6% in the pre-vious quarter, underscoring the pinch companies are already feeling from soft emerging market demand.
Domestic demand shaved 0.5 per-centage point off GDP growth, while external demand – or net exports – added just 0.1 point. Last month the BoJ cut a benchmark interest rate below zero, stunning investors with another bold move to stimulate growth. But the shock move has failed to boost Tokyo stock prices or weaken the yen as Japa-nese markets remained at the mercy of a global equity sell-off .
Japan economy shrinks 1.4% in last quarter
Australia sees nascent growth in Islamic finance despite tax concerns
ReutersSydney
Australia has begun to see a
steady stream of property deals
using Islamic financing as the at-
traction of low-risk tenants and
a weak Australian dollar off set
concerns about the lack of a
welcoming tax environment for
such transactions.
National Australia Bank, one
of the most active banks in the
sector, this month helped fund
a A$160mn ($114mn) Brisbane
property purchase, its third
Islamic financing transaction
since August.
“We saw a lot of interest from
Islamic investors who wanted to
invest in Australia but they had
to borrow from Islamic banks
off shore. This was often expen-
sive and complex,” said Imran
Lum, NAB’s associate director of
Islamic capital markets.
“It’s not only in commercial
property, we’re also seeing an
interest in Australian agriculture
and infrastructure assets,” he
said. While the emergence of
such deals represents a break-
through for Gulf and Southeast
Asian investors, questions
remain over how much momen-
tum will develop as Australia has
yet to follow the lead of other
jurisdictions like Britain and
Hong Kong in passing tax law
amendments to facilitate Islamic
finance. Islamic finance follows
religious principles such as
bans on interest and gambling
but the asset-based nature of
such contracts means they can
incur double or triple normal tax
charges because they require
multiple transfers of titles of
underlying assets.
Still, interest is strong.
TH Properties Sdn Bhd, a
unit of Malaysia’s pilgrims fund
Tabung Haji, completed an
A$220mn Sydney development
in November helped by A$96mn
in financing from Maybank
Islamic Bank. It also has more
Australian projects in the pipe-
line with a gross development
value of A$800mn, including a
A$500mn residential project in
Sydney. Prompted by investor
demand, NAB has designed a
funding tool using an agency-
based contract known as wakala,
the first such dedicated funding
platform in the country.
That and other structures
have now been developed that
can suit commercial investment
deals as well as development
financing, said Dale Rayner,
partner at law firm Norton Rose
Fulbright. “These transactions
are getting more traction as an
adaptable form of funding suited
to local conditions.”
His firm advised Singapore-
based firm AEP Investment
Management, part of Saudi
conglomerate Al Rajhi Holding
Group, which invested in the
Brisbane deal financed by NAB
through a Shariah-compliant
fund. Last year, the law firm
advised on a commodity-based
murabaha financing for a prop-
erty in Melbourne co-owned by
Tabung Haji, the first time that
structure has been used in Aus-
tralia and is advising a foreign
bank on a similar structure for
a commercial property deal in
Melbourne, he added. There
are also signs that more debate
about tax reform could be in the
works. The Australian Tax Off ice
said in April it was considering
the release of a paper on Islamic
finance that had been submit-
ted to the government in 2011,
although Canberra has never
responded to the paper.
A labourer works at a steel market in Wuxi, Jiangsu province. China’s exports to the US, the country’s biggest market, fell 9.9% in dollar terms in January from a year earlier, while exports to the European Union, the second biggest market, fell 12% after the EU imposed anti-dumping measures on Chinese steel bars used in the construction industry, the customs data showed yesterday.
A man walks near a container ship at a port in Tokyo. Japan’s economy shrank more than expected in the final quarter of last year as consumer spending and exports slumped, adding to headaches for policymakers already wary of damage the financial market rout could inflict on a fragile recovery.
Tokyo ready to work with G7 to soothe markets ReutersTokyo
Japan is poised to push for greater cooperation from its G7 partners to soothe market jitters but may
struggle to produce measures that could meaningfully restore global mar-ket confi dence, government sources say.
As economic leaders from G20 na-tions prepare to meet in Shanghai next week, there is increasing market
speculation that the world’s largest economies, notably G7 countries, may produce a coordinated policy response to global market ructions and slowing growth. This could include currency intervention.
While G7 policymakers could agree on joint statements that warn against excessive market volatility, Japanese government sources say they may have diffi culty agreeing on more concrete steps that instil market confi dence in a joint global response.
Some Japanese policymakers doubt
currency market intervention could ef-fectively stem yen rises, which are driv-en by a global wave of risk aversion due to factors beyond their control.
“I doubt whether stop-gap steps like solo currency intervention would work in the face of global risk aversion,” said a government source with direct knowledge of currency deliberations.
“What’s important is for G20 poli-cymakers to deliver a positive message to shake off negative sentiment that is widespread in the global markets,” the source told Reuters.
Global stock markets have taken a hit on concern over China’s slowdown and banking-sector woes in Europe. The yen has risen as investors seek the safe-haven currency, hurting Tokyo stocks and threatening to undermine the wealth eff ect premier Shinzo Abe has generated with his “Abenomics” stimulus policies. Abe and his fi nance minister, Taro Aso, have stepped up their verbal warnings to investors against pushing the yen too high, say-ing that Tokyo will take “appropriate action” against excessive yen swings.
Tokyo is ready to work with G7 na-tions to convey to markets that they are watching developments with vigilance, government offi cials said, adding that they may issue an emergency statement before the Shanghai G20 gathering if market turmoil escalates by then.
“We won’t rule out any steps, tak-ing into account market developments in the run-up to the G20 meeting,” said one source, when asked about the chance of a coordinated G20 response.
But there is no consensus among Japanese policymakers on what steps
could be taken beyond issuing verbal assurances through G7 or G20 state-ments. Central banks are ready to counter any sudden fund squeeze with emergency liquidity provisions. But coordinated fi scal and monetary stim-ulus measures by G20 nations seem unrealistic, government sources say, as many advanced economies are left with little policy ammunition.
That leaves solo currency interven-tion, or verbal threats of one, to weaken the currency among the few remaining tools to stimulate growth.
BUSINESS
Gulf Times Tuesday, February 16, 20166
Sensex jumps after worst week in 6 yrs; rupee rises BloombergMumbai
Indian stocks rebounded from its worst week since 2009 as region-al markets rallied amid specula-
tion losses that triggered a bear mar-ket were excessive.
Tata Steel climbed the most since May 2009. State Bank of India had the steepest gain in 20 months, while Bank of Baroda, the third-biggest lender by assets, soared 23% from a two-year low. Reliance Industries, owner of the world’s largest refi n-ing complex, rose the most in six months. A gauge of property devel-opers climbed from a record low.
The S&P BSE Sensex jumped 2.5%, with seven of the 30 stocks in the benchmark index climbing more than 5% each. The gauge slumped 6.6% last week to enter a bear mar-ket. The selloff , which erased $245bn from stocks’ value since January 1, sent the index’s 14-day relative strength index on Friday to below the 30 level that some analysts say sig-nals a rebound is due.
“The markets were in an oversold zone, both locally and globally, and a rebound was on the cards,” Alex Mathews, the head of research at Geojit BNP Paribas Financial Serv-ices, said by phone from Kerala. “The mood is still very cautious. All eyes will be on the budget and cues from the global markets.” Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will present the budget on February 29. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg expect him to meet the government’s fi scal defi cit target for the year ending March 31, while slightly pushing back next year’s goal to 3.6% of gross domestic product.
The Reserve Bank of India left bor-rowing costs unchanged this month after four cuts in 2015, with governor Raghuram Rajan saying that his next move would depend on infl ationary trends and the federal budget.
Bank of Baroda reported on Satur-day loss of Rs33.4bn ($490mn), the largest in at least a decade as provi-sions for bad loans tripled. Analysts had estimated a profi t of Rs5.35bn. The shares had their best-ever rally, as investors were buoyed by comments
made by chief executive offi cer PS Jay-akumar after the earnings report.
“The market is rooting for Bank of Baroda as it decided not to kick the can down the road by fully provid-ing for all stressed assets at one go,” Hatim Broachwala, Mumbai-based banking analyst at Nirmal Bang In-stitutional Equities, said by phone. “Profi t and asset quality at the lender is expected to remain robust from here on.” Tata Steel soared 13% to pare this year’s loss to 5%. State Bank
rallied 8.4%, the most since May 2014. Reliance climbed 4.4%. Larsen & Toubro, the largest engineering company, added 9.1%, the steepest gain since May 2009.
Global funds sold a net $178mn of Indian stocks on February 11, taking this year’s outfl ow to $2.1bn. They bought $3.3bn of shares last year, the smallest in four years.
The Sensex has plunged 10% this year and trades at 14.7 times its pro-jected 12-month earnings, compared
with a multiple of 10.4 for the MSCI Emerging Markets Index.
Meanwhile, the rupee rose 0.3%, the most since February 4, to 68.06 a dollar in Mumbai, according to prices from local banks compiled by Bloomberg. It fell to as low as 68.4725 on Friday, near a record 68.845 seen in August 2013. A certain amount of depreciation in the currency is nec-essary to ensure India doesn’t be-come uncompetitive, Rajan said over the weekend.
Emerging stocks rebound on stimulus bets as currencies advance BloombergJakarta
Emerging-market stocks rebounded
after their worst weekly drop in a month
and currencies rallied amid speculation
authorities from Europe to Japan will
increase stimulus to stabilise global
economic growth.
Chinese shares listed in Hong Kong
and benchmark indexes in Russia, South
Africa and India gained, while gauges
on the mainland and Vietnam fell as
those markets returned from the week-
long holiday. All 10 industry groups
in the MSCI Emerging Markets Index
rose and developing-nation currencies
advanced for a second day. The yuan
surged by the most in more than a dec-
ade, catching up with the dollar’s recent
declines, after China’s central bank chief
voiced support for the currency and set
its fixing at a one-month high.
Stocks also rallied as investors
judged losses that pushed global equi-
ties into a bear market last week were
excessive. Sentiment toward riskier as-
sets had soured on scepticism whether
central banks can arrest the slide in the
world economy, while Federal Reserve
chair Janet Yellen indicated the US
won’t rush to raise interest rates again.
Monetary authorities in Europe and
Japan have signaled additional stimulus
is likely.
“Many investors are speculating that
authorities will come out with more
stimulus to prop up the sagging global
economy,” said John Teja, a director
at PT Ciptadana Securities in Jakarta.
“China is catching up after the holiday.
As market volatility is likely to remain
high going forward, I would selectively
buy defensive stocks.”
The MSCI Emerging Markets Index
jumped 1.8% to 724.17 in London, after
dropping 3.8% last week. Energy, indus-
trial and financial companies led the
gains among industry groups.
The emerging markets index has lost
8.8% this year and valued at 10.3 times
its 12-month estimated earnings. That
compares with the MSCI World Index
which dropped 9.5% and traded at a
multiple of 14.4. A separate MSCI gauge
of global equities capped a 20% slide
from a May record last week as the Fed
acknowledged the volatility around the
world and signaled it may delay further
monetary tightening.
A Bloomberg gauge of developing-
nation currencies rose 0.1%, after
gaining 0.2% on Friday. China’s yuan
strengthened 1.26%, its biggest advance
since the nation scrapped a peg to the
dollar in July 2005, after the central
bank boosted the daily fixing against
the dollar by the most in three months.
“The stronger fixing for the yuan,
plus improving risk appetite are
supporting the markets,” said Mitul Ko-
techa, head of Asian foreign-exchange
and interest-rate strategy at Barclays
in Singapore. “In the short-term, these
gains could be maintained. But given
the potential for risk aversion to move
higher, and considering the volatility
that’s still in place in oil prices and capi-
tal outflows, it’s difficult to see this sort
of rally being sustained in the medium
term.” Malaysia’s ringgit rose 0.9%,
Indonesia’s rupiah advanced 0.8% and
Russia’s ruble gained 0.7%. Currencies
of Poland, Romania and Hungary fell
about 0.4% each. South Korea’s bonds
fell for a second day on speculation the
Bank of Korea will refrain from cutting
interest rates today after tensions with
North Korea prompted foreign funds to
pull money from the nation’s debt. The
10-year yield climbed two basis points
to 1.83%, after falling to an unprec-
edented 1.77% on Thursday. The yield
on similar- maturity Thai notes rose six
basis points to 2.09%.
China’s 10-year sovereign debt rose,
pushing the yield down five basis points
to 2.85%. The rate on India’s notes
advanced two basis points to 7.75%
while that on Indonesian securities was
steady at 7.97%.
Stock traders at a brokerage firm in Mumbai. The Sensex rose 2.5% yesterday.
ReutersSingapore
Gold tumbled more than 2% yesterday, pulling further away from its highest in a year, as a rebound in stocks and
profi t-taking from China after the Lunar New Year weighed on the market.
Bullion had climbed to a one-year high of $1,260.60 on Thursday as turmoil in global equities stoked safe-haven demand for the metal, along with the Japanese yen and US Treasuries. But Asian shares snapped a fi ve-session losing streak yesterday following a rebound in US and European stocks in the previous session, with Shanghai stocks post-ing only modest losses after a week-long holi-day. Spot gold fell to a session low of $1,211.05, before paring some losses to trade down 1.9% at $1,213.60 by 0753 GMT. It dropped 0.7% on Friday. US gold futures dropped as much as 2.2% to $1,212.20. Spot silver and US silver futures fell 3%, tracking the yellow metal.
“Gold is lower because of the good bounce in equities and the Chinese selling,” said a Sydney-based trader. “There is some profi t-taking around but volumes haven’t been huge.” Gold was about $60 an ounce higher than February 5, when Chinese mar-kets were last open, prompting them to take profi ts. Assets of SPDR Gold Trust, the top gold-backed exchange-traded fund, fell 0.71% to 710.95 tonnes on Friday, following the sharp rise in prices.
“If fi nancial markets continue to stabilise gold is likely to correct further,” HSBC ana-lysts said in a note. For a decade from 2001, gold investors ceased to worry about the lack of interest payments on gold as its value rose from $250 an ounce to a record just shy of $2,000 in 2011. The slide from 2013 be-gan when former Fed Chairman Ben Bern-anke mentioned the possibility of reducing the US central bank’s bond purchases under its quantitative easing policy, and markets started to think about higher US rates.
Gold slides 2% onreboundin stocks
ReutersHong Kong
Asian shares snapped a fi ve-ses-sion losing streak yesterday as China’s central bank fi xed the
yuan sharply stronger, easing fears of depreciation for now, though a string of weak data from Japan to China and Indonesia suggested the bounce may be short-lived.
Most stock markets in Asia ad-vanced, encouraged by a stronger fi nish in US and European markets on Friday and by a relatively calm opening for China’s volatile markets after a week-long holiday.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pa-cifi c shares outside Japan rose 2.3%, after losing 10% of its value so far this year.
Japan’s Nikkei jumped 7.2%, shrug-ging off data that showed Japan’s econ-omy contracted more than expected in the fi nal quarter of 2015, after losing 11% last week.
China stocks fell yesterday, but loss-es were mitigated by a sharply stronger yuan and a surge in gold shares after the market reopened from the week-long Lunar New Year holiday.
A slump in Chinese-listed shares in Hong Kong and a global sell-off last week driven by falling commodity pric-es and concerns about the impact on European banks, had put investors on edge ahead of the reopening of China’s stock markets.
But even with disappointing Chi-nese trade data early in the session, initial losses were pared by the mid-day break. Exports fell 11.2% in January from a year earlier and imports tumbled 18.8%, both far worse than expected.
China’s blue-chip CSI300 index was down 1.4%, at 2,921.23 points, while the Shanghai Composite Index lost
1.6%, to 2,720.03 points. Hong Kong stocks, which sank to 3-1/2 lows on Friday, staged a sharp rally, taking cues from a jump in Japan equities yesterday and a Friday rebound in US and Euro-pean markets.
The Hang Seng index jumped 2.7% , to 18,819.59 points, while the Hong Kong China Enterprises Index surged 4.3%, to 7,829.12.
In China, spot yuan jumped more
than 1% to 6.4900 per dollar – its fi rm-est this year – after the People’s Bank of China set its daily midpoint 0.3% stronger and the head of the bank was quoted as saying speculators should not be allowed to dominate market sen-timent.
The Shanghai Composite Index was down 0.7% in its fi rst session since Feb-ruary 5, a relatively benign move given the wild swings seen worldwide recent-
ly. Still, much weaker-than-expected Chinese trade data pointed to further pressure on the yuan and the poten-tial for more capital outfl ows. January exports fell 11.2% from a year earlier, while imports dived 18.8%, suggesting the world’s second-largest economy is still losing steam.
“The poor trade data in January sug-gests weakening of the underlying mo-mentum in trade growth, which refl ects
lingering sluggishness in both external demand and fi xed asset investment in China,” Bank of America Merrill Lynch strategists said.
The disconnect between markets and economics was perhaps the stark-est in Japan, where the Nikkei was on track to post its biggest single-day rise since the depths of the global fi nancial crisis in 2008, shrugging off data which showed the economy contracted by an
annualised 1.4% in the fi nal quarter of 2015, worse than expected.
“Although we consider the violent risk-off move of recent weeks largely unwarranted by economic fundamen-tals, the sheer magnitude of the sell-off has raised the risk that market volatility could feed back into the real economy,” said Ajay Rajadhyaksha, an economist at Barclays.
“Central banks have very limited ability to ride to the rescue of risk as-sets.” Barclays pointed to three sources of volatility that had potential negative feedback loops: lower oil prices, capi-tal outfl ows and economic weakness in China, and pressure on European banks.
“Of these, we consider China the biggest medium-term risk, but the least immediate issue,” wrote Rajad-hyaksha.
Indeed, the strong yuan fi xing by the People’s Bank of China (PBoC) yester-day was seen by some traders as a move to defl ect speculation about a possible devaluation that has been one of the main factors roiling global markets.
In an interview over the weekend, PBoC Governor Zhou Xiaochuan said there was no basis for the yuan to keep falling, and China would keep it stable versus a basket of currencies while al-lowing greater volatility against the US dollar.
“I still believe that Zhou Xiaochuan’s comments during the weekend and to-day’s strong fi xing rate helped alleviat-ing some of the pressure on the CNY, at least temporarily. And so the same for Asia FX,” said Nordea Markets’ senior analyst Amy Yuan Zhuang in Singa-pore, referring to the yuan.
Oil prices consolidated gains after surging as much as 12% on Friday af-ter a report once again suggested Opec might fi nally agree to cut production to reduce the world glut.
Asia shares rise despite weak China, Japan data
Traders at the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. The Hang Seng index jumped 2.7% to 18,819.59 points yesterday.
LATEST MARKET CLOSING FIGURES
7Gulf TimesTuesday, February 16, 2016
BUSINESS
Zad Holding CoWidam Food CoVodafone Qatar
United Development CoSalam International Investme
Islamic Holding Group-RtsQatar & Oman Investment Co
Qatar NavigationQatar National Cement Co
Qatar National BankQatar Islamic Insurance
Qatar Industrial ManufacturQatar International Islamic
Qatari Investors GroupQatar Islamic Bank
Qatar Gas Transport(Nakilat)Qatar General Insurance & ReQatar German Co For Medical
Qatar Fuel QscQatar Electricity & Water CoQatar Cinema & Film Distrib
Qatar Insurance CoOoredoo Qsc
National LeasingMazaya Qatar Real Estate Dev
Mesaieed Petrochemical HoldiAl Meera Consumer Goods Co
Medicare GroupMannai Corporation Qsc
Masraf Al RayanAl Khalij Commercial Bank
Industries QatarIslamic Holding Group
Gulf Warehousing CompanyGulf International Services
Ezdan Holding GroupDoha Insurance Co
Doha Bank QscDlala Holding
Commercial Bank QscBarwa Real Estate Co
Al Khaleej Takaful Group
70.10
45.80
10.37
21.13
11.57
0.00
10.97
93.10
93.00
138.50
67.70
41.55
67.00
31.20
102.00
23.20
52.80
10.40
146.50
203.00
28.10
86.00
88.80
12.07
11.31
16.90
184.00
100.00
91.80
34.60
17.50
103.00
54.80
49.70
30.55
14.55
19.00
39.45
11.50
44.00
36.50
29.60
-2.64
0.11
0.19
6.66
9.98
0.00
3.00
0.76
0.00
1.69
1.80
0.12
-0.30
0.32
4.08
2.38
5.60
0.97
3.61
5.56
0.00
4.24
0.45
-1.07
0.98
-0.06
0.00
2.56
6.13
1.91
1.16
0.98
-3.86
-0.20
-0.97
1.75
0.00
4.37
-0.78
3.53
7.67
0.34
161
18,743
315,805
1,557,654
169,487
-
124,789
84,346
-
145,936
1,401
52,601
27,536
95,910
66,802
649,834
3,382
90,805
179,938
10,870
-
69,024
79,921
162,855
127,729
170,435
21,640
111,901
69,762
321,818
139,339
397,180
65,444
7,843
257,843
591,037
-
370,464
82,160
163,218
777,185
39,582
QATAR
Company Name Lt Price % Chg Volume
United Wire Factories CompanEtihad Etisalat Co
Dar Al Arkan Real Estate DevSaudi Hollandi Bank
Rabigh Refining And PetrocheBanque Saudi Fransi
Saudi Enaya Cooperative InsuMediterranean & Gulf Insuran
Saudi British BankMohammad Al Mojil Group Co
Red Sea Housing Services CoTakween Advanced Industries
Sabb TakafulSaudi Arabian Fertilizer Co
National GypsumSaudi Ceramic Co
National Gas & IndustrializaSaudi Pharmaceutical Industr
ThimarNational Industrialization C
Saudi Transport And InvestmeSaudi Electricity Co
Saudi Arabia Refineries CoArriyadh Development Company
Al-Baha Development & InvestSaudi Research And MarketingAldrees Petroleum And Transp
Saudi Vitrified Clay Pipe CoJarir Marketing Co
Arab National BankYanbu National Petrochemical
Arabian CementMiddle East Specialized Cabl
Al Khaleej Training And EducAl Sagr Co-Operative Insuran
Trade Union Cooperative InsuArabia Insurance Cooperative
Saudi Chemical CompanyFawaz Abdulaziz Alhokair & C
Bupa Arabia For CooperativeWafa Insurance
Jabal Omar Development CoSaudi Basic Industries Corp
Saudi Kayan Petrochemical CoEtihad Atheeb Telecommunicat
Co For Cooperative InsuranceNational Petrochemical Co
Gulf Union Cooperative InsurGulf General Cooperative Ins
Basic Chemical IndustriesSaudi Steel Pipe Co
Buruj Cooperative InsuranceMouwasat Medical Services Co
Southern Province Cement CoMaadaniyah
Yamama Cement CoJazan Development Co
Zamil Industrial InvestmentAlujain Corporation (Alco)
Tabuk Agricultural DevelopmeUnited Co-Operative Assuranc
Qassim Cement/TheSaudi Advanced Industries
Kingdom Holding CoSaudi Arabian Amiantit Co
Al Jouf Agriculture DevelopmSaudi Industrial Development
Bishah AgricultureRiyad Bank
The National Agriculture DevHalwani Bros Co
Arabian Pipes CoEastern Province Cement Co
Al Qassim Agricultural CoFiling & Packing Materials M
Saudi Cable CoTihama Advertising & Public
Saudi Investment Bank/TheAstra Industrial Group
Saudi Public Transport CoTaiba Holding Co
Saudi Industrial Export CoSaudi Real Estate Co
Saudia Dairy & Foodstuff CoNational Shipping Co Of/The
Methanol Chemicals CoAce Arabia Cooperative Insur
Mobile Telecommunications CoSaudi Arabian Coop Ins Co
Axa Cooperative InsuranceAlsorayai Group
Weqaya For Takaful InsuranceBank Albilad
Al-Hassan G.I. Shaker CoWataniya Insurance Co
Abdullah Al Othaim MarketsHail Cement
15.31
21.45
4.43
24.50
8.77
21.90
9.97
14.44
19.72
12.55
18.85
17.41
20.35
64.39
11.46
34.05
19.48
26.94
31.81
8.13
50.95
14.14
29.05
17.02
13.50
39.30
34.37
76.00
118.47
18.14
28.46
44.74
6.17
19.68
23.34
11.74
5.73
40.83
42.04
102.05
6.14
45.72
66.66
4.62
3.83
68.34
11.58
7.30
12.13
18.94
16.28
12.99
109.71
66.56
18.34
27.78
9.67
25.52
9.99
9.21
7.66
63.75
9.23
11.10
7.95
21.41
8.31
69.75
11.04
17.20
62.88
8.27
32.37
9.06
30.06
6.03
32.80
14.79
13.69
10.02
31.55
41.31
15.77
120.00
34.56
5.18
35.56
5.55
13.66
10.88
9.64
19.39
21.71
21.00
43.77
78.98
11.85
2.82
0.94
1.14
3.42
7.34
4.89
-1.29
3.14
2.49
0.00
7.29
7.27
10.00
2.06
3.62
2.59
2.42
3.54
6.39
2.14
2.95
0.93
8.11
0.89
0.00
8.95
2.32
2.70
3.42
0.17
3.72
-1.67
2.32
4.29
3.96
7.12
6.31
0.07
2.54
5.20
4.60
0.42
3.09
2.44
2.41
3.51
7.72
4.14
9.58
0.53
2.26
4.09
0.16
1.73
3.62
0.29
4.09
2.74
3.85
2.45
4.93
0.25
2.56
3.35
9.66
5.83
5.32
0.00
0.82
2.08
4.28
4.03
4.28
3.78
5.77
2.38
9.77
0.48
3.24
5.36
0.16
8.80
3.14
0.77
3.35
3.60
4.13
0.00
7.31
4.31
4.22
0.00
3.88
4.22
4.44
1.70
3.04
362,584
531,693
37,002,547
103,855
2,598,168
474,610
3,702,746
2,563,320
83,992
-
527,908
2,156,231
1,554,085
133,277
378,716
624,059
81,188
123,065
2,786,391
1,213,598
1,126,379
1,480,189
640,006
1,513,463
-
1,546,765
217,415
11,213
183,727
449,903
663,021
565,446
1,653,758
591,058
1,636,679
524,877
741,839
646,075
702,947
131,178
946,549
409,243
10,271,349
8,604,832
3,110,823
258,370
1,559,662
508,655
285,691
118,952
468,577
532,109
56,059
25,988
769,422
353,916
2,142,610
542,300
1,062,738
555,291
123,582
30,229
491,221
318,721
526,082
39,091
1,944,846
-
791,965
545,790
6,496
1,504,587
454,282
1,488,374
481,296
526,239
6,003,785
168,042
160,507
1,856,464
85,270
1,510,165
263,259
19,761
1,529,356
1,380,076
101,409
3,143,911
456,819
1,832,666
371,530
-
353,122
144,091
161,704
140,820
327,823
SAUDI ARABIA
Company Name Lt Price % Chg Volume
Saudi Re For Cooperative ReiSolidarity Saudi Takaful Co
Amana Cooperative InsuranceAlabdullatif Industrial Inv
Saudi Printing & Packaging CSanad Cooperative Insurance
Saudi Paper Manufacturing CoAlinma Bank
Almarai CoFalcom Saudi Equity Etf
United International TranspoHsbc Amanah Saudi 20 Etf
Saudi International PetrocheFalcom Petrochemical Etf
Saudi United Cooperative InsBank Al-Jazira
Al Rajhi BankSamba Financial Group
United Electronics CoAllied Cooperative Insurance
Malath Cooperative & ReinsurAlinma Tokio Marine
Arabian Shield CooperativeSavola
Wafrah For Industry And DeveFitaihi Holding Group
Tourism Enterprise Co/ ShamsSahara Petrochemical Co
Herfy Food Services Co
5.19
6.59
6.35
15.84
19.00
15.23
12.41
12.77
64.08
21.50
32.67
20.70
11.09
16.80
7.58
12.00
52.07
19.57
23.09
11.09
11.83
16.78
18.01
36.99
20.88
12.69
34.03
7.59
68.01
1.96
4.27
9.48
1.21
9.20
0.00
6.89
2.57
2.17
0.00
2.77
0.00
5.42
0.00
7.21
1.78
1.90
1.82
4.39
6.02
2.87
6.61
3.92
5.66
9.78
4.19
9.63
2.02
2.86
994,717
1,716,316
324,540
2,867,235
3,939,685
-
1,278,356
62,448,368
275,784
268,110
328,774
-
1,577,448
-
1,403,166
5,400,372
3,553,365
978,652
997,938
937,748
2,385,679
7,086,870
394,206
301,259
1,986,685
211,582
1,685,388
2,957,243
74,612
SAUDI ARABIA
Company Name Lt Price % Chg Volume
Securities Group CoSultan Center Food Products
Kuwait Foundry Co SakKuwait Financial Centre Sak
Ajial Real Estate EntmtGulf Glass Manuf Co -Kscc
Kuwait Finance & InvestmentNational Industries Co Ksc
Kuwait Real Estate Holding CSecurities House/The
Boubyan Petrochemicals CoAl Ahli Bank Of Kuwait
Ahli United Bank (Almutahed)National Bank Of Kuwait
Commercial Bank Of KuwaitKuwait International Bank
Gulf BankAl-Massaleh Real Estate Co
Al Arabiya Real Estate CoKuwait Remal Real Estate Co
Alkout Industrial Projects CA’ayan Real Estate Co Sak
Investors Holding Group Co.KAl-Mazaya Holding Co
Al-Madar Finance & Invt CoGulf Petroleum Investment
Mabanee Co SakcCity Group
Inovest Co BscKuwait Gypsum Manufacturing
Al-Deera Holding CoAlshamel International Hold
Mena Real Estate CoNational Slaughter House
Amar Finance & Leasing CoUnited Projects Group Kscc
National Consumer Holding CoAmwal International Investme
Jeeran HoldingsEquipment Holding Co K.S.C.C
Nafais HoldingSafwan Trading & Contracting
Arkan Al Kuwait Real EstateGfh Financial Group Bsc
Energy House Holding Co KscpKuwait Slaughter House Co
Kuwait Co For Process PlantAl Maidan Dental Clinic Co K
National Ranges CompanyAl-Themar Real International
Al-Ahleia Insurance Co SakpWethaq Takaful Insurance Co
Salbookh Trading Co KscpAqar Real Estate Investments
Hayat CommunicationsKuwait Packing Materials Mfg
Soor Fuel Marketing Co KscAlargan International RealBurgan Co For Well Drilling
Kuwait Resorts Co KsccOula Fuel Marketing Co
Palms Agro Production CoIkarus Petroleum Industries
Mubarrad Transport CoAl Mowasat Health Care Co
Shuaiba Industrial CoHits Telecom Holding
First Takaful Insurance CoKuwaiti Syrian Holding Co
National Cleaning CompanyEyas For High & Technical EdUnited Real Estate Company
AgilityKuwait & Middle East Fin Inv
Fujairah Cement IndustriesLivestock Transport & Tradng
International Resorts CoNational Industries Grp Hold
Marine Services Co KscWarba Insurance Co
Kuwait United Poultry CoFirst Dubai Real Estate Deve
Al Arabi Group Holding CoKuwait Hotels Sak
Mobile Telecommunications CoAl Safat Real Estate Co
Tamdeen Real Estate Co KscAl Mudon Intl Real Estate Co
Kuwait Cement Co KscSharjah Cement & Indus Devel
Kuwait Portland Cement CoEducational Holding Group
Bahrain Kuwait InsuranceAsiya Capital Investments Co
Kuwait Investment CoBurgan Bank
Kuwait Projects Co HoldingsAl Madina For Finance And In
Kuwait Insurance CoAl Masaken Intl Real Estate
Intl Financial AdvisorsFirst Investment Co Kscc
Al Mal Investment CompanyBayan Investment Co Kscc
Egypt Kuwait Holding Co SaeCoast Investment Development
Privatization Holding CompanKuwait Medical Services Co
Injazzat Real State CompanyKuwait Cable Vision Sak
Sanam Real Estate Co KsccIthmaar Bank Bsc
Aviation Lease And Finance CArzan Financial Group For Fi
Ajwan Gulf Real Estate CoKuwait Business Town Real Es
Future Kid Entertainment AndSpecialities Group Holding C
Abyaar Real Eastate DevelopmDar Al Thuraya Real Estate C
Al-Dar National Real EstateKgl Logistics Company Kscc
Combined Group ContractingZima Holding Co Ksc
Qurain Holding Co
85.00
62.00
210.00
84.00
138.00
470.00
29.50
228.00
18.50
29.50
460.00
350.00
450.00
720.00
510.00
192.00
204.00
59.00
25.50
31.50
0.00
64.00
19.50
104.00
0.00
43.00
860.00
500.00
51.00
0.00
26.50
460.00
19.00
62.00
63.00
600.00
0.00
19.00
64.00
52.00
120.00
300.00
99.00
46.50
32.00
204.00
210.00
0.00
18.00
80.00
455.00
30.00
64.00
75.00
41.00
340.00
112.00
176.00
116.00
89.00
110.00
102.00
81.00
58.00
200.00
420.00
26.50
52.00
29.50
37.00
385.00
94.00
420.00
28.00
74.00
128.00
23.00
114.00
114.00
104.00
188.00
39.00
55.00
210.00
350.00
46.00
580.00
28.00
365.00
83.00
1,020.00
210.00
0.00
38.00
91.00
325.00
540.00
27.50
310.00
66.00
23.00
41.50
30.00
31.00
122.00
30.50
46.50
27.00
83.00
26.50
45.00
29.00
182.00
32.50
24.00
37.00
110.00
88.00
24.50
0.00
21.50
54.00
790.00
94.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
-6.35
0.00
2.78
-7.81
1.10
0.00
2.27
1.41
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
4.08
0.00
0.00
0.00
-2.50
1.96
0.00
-1.15
-3.37
0.00
0.00
0.00
-3.64
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
-2.56
0.00
1.96
0.00
0.00
0.00
4.49
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
-1.64
3.23
0.00
3.80
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
4.71
-1.79
0.00
-2.41
-3.33
0.00
5.00
1.92
0.00
-1.67
0.00
0.00
3.30
-1.18
0.00
2.78
3.23
-2.13
3.64
0.00
-1.89
0.00
2.63
-5.17
0.00
2.94
-4.22
0.00
-3.45
0.00
0.00
2.00
1.94
0.00
-1.30
0.00
0.00
0.00
-1.79
-3.13
0.00
-2.13
-2.35
3.45
3.33
3.39
0.00
1.09
0.00
5.06
0.00
0.00
-1.69
0.00
1.56
0.00
-1.33
0.00
2.33
-2.00
0.00
-6.52
-3.57
0.00
-5.05
0.00
487
78,900
63,966
2,000
500
5,000
835,541
435
35,000
6,416,457
97,500
352,000
65,591
1,156,538
5,009
116,000
16,000
5,000
123,370
500
-
100,000
765,405
353,896
-
1,716,132
494,690
90,000
105,900
-
40,641
150
257,500
5,000
500
9,490
-
742,216
150
10
10,000
5,000
56,156
2,795,500
500
334
15
-
708,137
2,500
10,000
2,500
170,100
10,500
200
336
11,622
34,289
1
200
135,494
9,500
5,200
2,012,580
285,427
67,582
30
7,010
1,409,482
781,000
20
94,000
231,225
182,820
555,010
53,400
49,760
454,661
100
10,000
17,750
124,180
619,061
6,356
2,112,915
34,320
10,200
295,240
5
245,887
800
440
-
677,951
1,100
10,140
28,000
1,192,510
10,000
30,000
1,005,504
90,000
573,500
526,100
78,000
920,231
285,857
45,080
5,800
3,000
50
1,301,015
50,010
100,000
30,000
2,854,166
50
100
282,455
-
13,249,730
1,657,545
7,500
926,707
-
KUWAIT
Company Name Lt Price % Chg Volume
Voltamp Energy SaogUnited Power/Energy Co- Pref
United Power Co SaogUnited Finance Co
Ubar Hotels & ResortsTakaful Oman
Taageer FinanceSweets Of OmanSohar Power Co
Sohar PoultrySmn Power Holding Saog
Shell Oman Marketing - PrefShell Oman Marketing
Sharqiyah Desalination Co SaSembcorp Salalah Power & Wat
Salalah Port ServicesSalalah Mills Co
Salalah Beach Resort SaogSahara Hospitality
Renaissance Services SaogRaysut Cement Co
Port Service CorporationPhoenix Power Co Saoc
Packaging Co LtdOoredoo
OminvestOman United Insurance Co
Oman Textile Holding Co SaogOman Telecommunications Co
Oman Refreshment CoOman Packaging
Oman Orix Leasing Co.Oman Oil Marketing Company
Oman National Engineering AnOman Investment & Finance
Oman Intl MarketingOman Hotels & Tourism CoOman Foods International
Oman Flour MillsOman Fisheries CoOman Fiber Optics
Oman Europe Foods IndustriesOman Education & Training In
Oman ChromiteOman Chlorine
Oman Ceramic ComOman Cement Co
Oman Cables IndustryOman Agricultural Dev
Oman & Emirates Inv(Om)50%Natl Aluminium Products
National SecuritiesNational Real Estate Develop
National PharmaceuticalNational Mineral Water
National Hospitality InstituNational Gas Co
National Finance CoNational Detergent Co Saog
National Biscuit IndustriesNational Bank Of Oman Saog
Muscat Thread Mills CoMuscat National Holding
Muscat Gases Company SaogMuscat Finance
Majan Glass CompanyMajan College
Hsbc Bank OmanHotels Management Co Interna
Gulf StoneGulf Plastic Industries Co
Gulf Mushroom CompanyGulf Investments Services
Gulf Invest. Serv. Pref-SharGulf International Chemicals
Gulf Hotels (Oman) Co LtdGlobal Fin Investment
Galfar Engineering&ContractGalfar Engineering -Prefer
Financial Services Co.Financial Corp/The
Dhofar UniversityDhofar Tourism
Dhofar PoultryDhofar Intl Development
Dhofar InsuranceDhofar Fisheries & Food Indu
Dhofar CattlefeedDhofar Beverages Co
Construction Materials IndComputer Stationery Inds
Bankmuscat SaogBank SoharBank Nizwa
Bank Dhofar Saog
0.43
1.00
3.43
0.13
0.13
0.11
0.13
1.34
0.35
0.21
0.74
1.05
1.97
4.59
2.45
0.65
1.45
1.38
2.50
0.13
0.99
0.12
0.14
0.48
0.66
0.46
0.20
0.40
1.48
2.25
0.29
0.13
1.95
0.21
0.19
0.52
0.24
0.00
0.42
0.06
5.26
1.00
0.16
3.64
0.51
0.45
0.43
1.51
1.75
0.10
0.22
0.17
5.00
0.11
0.06
2.05
0.33
0.13
0.64
3.75
0.27
0.13
1.86
0.83
0.13
0.20
0.52
0.10
1.25
0.11
0.39
0.39
0.09
0.12
0.29
10.50
0.11
0.06
0.39
0.17
0.11
1.49
0.49
0.18
0.38
0.21
1.28
0.22
0.26
0.03
0.26
0.45
0.16
0.07
0.28
0.00
0.00
0.00
2.46
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
-7.19
0.00
-2.40
0.00
0.00
0.00
2.21
0.00
2.56
-1.33
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
1.09
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
-9.52
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.64
-1.39
0.00
126
-
-
128,499
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
1,700
-
-
-
-
-
-
932,236
4,975
30,000
715,108
-
115,100
34,599
131,117
43,356
13,051
-
-
-
-
-
802,146
-
-
-
5,000
100
-
-
-
-
-
-
3,063
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
260,254
-
-
-
-
-
-
132,872
-
-
-
-
55,033
-
32,000
-
3,439
5,872
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
5,000
-
408,045
-
1,789,336
340,726
555,413
-
OMAN
Company Name Lt Price % Chg Volume
Areej Vegetable OilsAloula Co
Al-Omaniya Financial ServiceAl-Hassan Engineering Co
Al-Fajar Al-Alamia CoAl-Anwar Ceramic Tiles Co
Al Suwadi PowerAl Shurooq Inv Ser
Al Sharqiya Invest HoldingAl Maha Petroleum Products M
Al Maha Ceramics Co SaocAl Madina Takaful Co Saoc
Al Madina Investment CoAl Kamil Power Co
Al Jazerah Services -PfdAl Jazeera Steel Products Co
Al Jazeera ServicesAl Izz Islamic Bank
Al Buraimi HotelAl Batinah PowerAl Batinah Hotels
Al Batinah Dev & InvAl Anwar Holdings Saog
Ahli BankAcwa Power Barka Saog
Abrasives Manufacturing Co SA’saff a Foods Saog
0Man Oil Marketing Co-Pref#N/A Invalid Security#N/A Invalid Security#N/A Invalid Security#N/A Invalid Security#N/A Invalid Security#N/A Invalid Security#N/A Invalid Security
5.51
0.53
0.31
0.07
0.75
0.28
0.21
1.04
0.11
1.72
0.41
0.07
0.06
0.31
0.55
0.14
0.27
0.06
0.88
0.21
1.13
0.07
0.17
0.18
0.63
0.05
0.86
0.25
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
-6.04
0.00
0.00
0.96
0.00
-1.44
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
-3.45
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
-1.70
0.00
-4.27
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
-
-
-
-
-
8,060
-
-
792,488
-
23,250
-
100
-
-
73,397
-
-
-
32
-
-
1,170,918
196,020
21,000
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
OMAN
Company Name Lt Price % Chg Volume
Waha Capital PjscUnited Insurance Company
United Arab Bank PjscUnion National Bank/Abu Dhab
Union Insurance CoUnion Cement Co
Umm Al Qaiwain Cement IndustSharjah Islamic Bank
Sharjah Insurance CompanySharjah Group
Sharjah Cement & Indus DevelRas Al-Khaimah National Insu
Ras Al Khaimah White CementRas Al Khaimah Ceramics
Ras Al Khaimah Cement Co PscRas Al Khaima Poultry
Rak PropertiesOoredoo Qsc
Oman & Emirates Inv(Emir)50%Nbad Oneshare Msci Uae Etf
National Takaful CompanyNational Marine Dredging Co
National Investor Co/TheNational Corp Tourism & Hote
National Bank Of Umm Al QaiwNational Bank Of Ras Al-Khai
National Bank Of FujairahNational Bank Of Abu Dhabi
Methaq Takaful InsuranceManazel Real Estate Pjsc
Invest BankIntl Fish Farming Co Pjsc
Insurance HouseGulf Pharmaceutical Industri
Gulf Medical ProjectsGulf Cement Co
Fujairah Cement IndustriesFujairah Building Industries
Foodco Holding PjscFirst Gulf BankFinance House
Eshraq Properties Co PjscEmirates Telecom Group Co
Emirates Insurance Co. (Psc)Emirates Driving Company
Dana GasCommercial Bank Internationa
Bank Of SharjahAxa Green Crescent Insurance
Arkan Building Materials CoAlkhaleej InvestmentAldar Properties Pjsc
Al Wathba National InsuranceAl Khazna Insurance Co
Al Fujairah National InsuranAl Dhafra Insurance Co. P.S.
Al Buhaira National InsurancAl Ain Ahlia Ins. Co.
Agthia Group PjscAbu Dhabi Ship Building Co
Abu Dhabi Natl Co For BuildiAbu Dhabi National Takaful C
Abu Dhabi National InsuranceAbu Dhabi National Hotels
Abu Dhabi National Energy CoAbu Dhabi Islamic Bank
2.02
2.00
4.77
3.25
1.21
1.20
0.90
1.33
3.85
1.50
1.01
4.10
1.16
3.35
0.82
1.99
0.56
73.00
1.38
6.26
1.08
4.30
0.63
3.81
3.30
5.50
4.79
8.00
0.63
0.56
1.71
6.95
0.81
2.40
2.25
0.97
1.25
1.71
4.05
11.65
1.93
0.60
16.25
6.72
6.25
0.49
2.24
1.37
0.91
0.92
2.22
2.36
4.50
0.28
300.00
4.80
2.70
60.00
7.01
2.74
0.42
5.25
2.00
2.50
0.40
3.50
1.00
0.00
0.00
-1.22
0.00
0.84
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
1.52
0.00
-1.49
-1.75
-1.35
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
2.17
5.00
1.82
0.00
6.92
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
1.30
0.00
0.00
1.25
0.00
0.81
-3.92
0.00
0.00
5.81
0.00
0.00
-0.84
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
-1.27
-8.67
2.44
0.00
1.01
0.00
0.00
1.45
622,994
-
-
486,512
-
35,773
-
176,483
-
-
15,000
-
-
2,463,676
432,729
2,794
8,726,132
1,001
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
316,679
-
257,198
29,941,844
85,603,933
-
6,696
-
1,674,972
-
300,000
-
-
-
551,602
-
32,022,439
1,610,377
-
13,914
52,746,876
-
-
20,000
503,741
-
12,819,431
-
-
-
-
-
-
4,456
11,450
403,000
-
11,000
-
52,010
839,550
UAE
Company Name Lt Price % Chg Volume
Zain Bahrain BsccUnited Paper Industries Bsc
United Gulf Investment CorpUnited Gulf BankTrafco Group Bsc
Takaful International CoTaib Bank -$Us
Seef PropertiesSecurities & Investment Co
National Hotels CoNational Bank Of Bahrain Bsc
Nass Corp BscKhaleeji Commercial Bank
Ithmaar Bank BscInvestcorp Bank -$Us
Inovest Co BscGulf Monetary Group
Gulf Hotel Group B.S.CGlobal Investment House Kpsc
Gfh Financial Group BscEsterad Investment Co B.S.C.
Delmon Poultry CoBmmi Bsc
Bmb Investment BankBbk Bsc
Bankmuscat SaogBanader Hotels Co
Bahrain Tourism CoBahrain Telecom Co
Bahrain Ship Repair & EnginBahrain National Holding
Bahrain Kuwait InsuranceBahrain Islamic Bank
Bahrain Flour Mills CoBahrain Family Leisure Co
Bahrain Duty Free ComplexBahrain Commercial Facilitie
Bahrain Cinema CoBahrain Car Park Co
Arab Insurance Group(Bsc)-$Arab Banking Corp Bsc-$Us
Aluminium Bahrain BscAlbaraka Banking Group
Al-Salam BankAl-Ahlia Insurance Co
0.17
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.20
0.00
0.00
0.69
0.12
0.07
0.10
6.60
0.00
0.00
0.78
0.00
0.15
0.19
0.00
0.85
0.00
0.38
0.00
`
0.23
0.31
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.14
0.00
0.00
0.89
0.00
1.17
0.00
0.00
0.48
0.34
0.52
0.09
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
3.13
-4.76
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
4.00
0.00
0.00
19,100
-
-
-
-
-
-
10,000
-
-
10,000
534,500
1,142,000
100,000
220,697
-
-
3,066
-
43,000
42,033
-
5,744
-
20,000
-
650,820
10,108
15,238
-
-
-
7,664
-
-
51,500
-
6,321
-
-
102,100
20,000
28,000
86,538
-
BAHRAIN
Company Name Lt Price % Chg Volume
Boubyan Intl Industries HoldGulf Investment House Ksc
Boubyan Bank K.S.CAhli United Bank B.S.C
Osos Holding Group CoAl-Eid Food Ksc
Qurain Petrochemical IndustrAdvanced Technology Co
Ekttitab Holding Co SakKout Food Group Ksc
Real Estate Trade Centers CoAcico Industries Co Kscc
Kipco Asset Management CoNational Petroleum ServicesAlimtiaz Investment Co Kscc
Ras Al Khaimah White CementKuwait Reinsurance Co Ksc
Kuwait & Gulf Link TransportHuman Soft Holding Co Ksc
Automated Systems Co KsccMetal & Recycling Co
Gulf Franchising Holding CoAl-Enma’a Real Estate Co
National Mobile TelecommuniAl Bareeq Holding Co Kscc
Housing Finance Co SakAl Salam Group Holding Co
United Foodstuff IndustriesAl Aman Investment Company
Mashaer Holdings Co KscManazel Holding
Mushrif Trading & ContractinTijara And Real Estate Inves
Kuwait Building MaterialsJazeera Airways Co Ksc
Commercial Real Estate CoFuture Communications Co
National International CoTaameer Real Estate Invest C
Gulf Cement CoHeavy Engineering And Ship B
Refrigeration Industries & SNational Real Estate Co
Al Safat Energy Holding CompKuwait National Cinema CoDanah Alsafat Foodstuff Co
Independent Petroleum GroupKuwait Real Estate Co Ksc
Salhia Real Estate Co KscGulf Cable & Electrical IndAl Nawadi Holding Co Ksc
Kuwait Finance HouseGulf North Africa Holding Co
Hilal Cement CoOsoul Investment Kscc
Gulf Insurance Group KscKuwait Food Co (Americana)
Umm Al Qaiwain Cement IndustAayan Leasing & Investment
26.00
19.50
385.00
192.00
83.00
100.00
168.00
0.00
26.00
650.00
34.00
290.00
108.00
600.00
76.00
95.00
0.00
42.00
910.00
295.00
57.00
31.00
54.00
1,060.00
0.00
25.00
29.00
96.00
56.00
98.00
17.00
69.00
39.50
0.00
810.00
78.00
112.00
47.50
20.50
76.00
146.00
320.00
89.00
9.50
1,120.00
69.00
320.00
45.50
340.00
345.00
0.00
480.00
27.00
132.00
31.00
0.00
2,300.00
70.00
41.50
-3.70
-4.88
1.32
-3.03
-1.19
0.00
0.00
0.00
4.00
0.00
3.03
7.41
0.00
0.00
-1.30
0.00
0.00
0.00
5.81
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
-3.85
0.00
0.00
0.00
-2.00
-10.53
-1.43
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
-4.17
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
1.05
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
-1.71
0.00
2.47
1,208,098
651,001
867,460
890,817
164,125
5,000
284,477
-
881,000
20
2,000
31,256
10
98
727,666
68,000
-
157,000
140
1,760
10
500
45,001
5,136
-
1,575,563
593,498
1
4,429,850
67,701
1,612,000
396,100
20
-
571
741,530
1,946
696
270,100
91,592
183
750
130,000
1,061,508
67
40,000
24,576
725,000
5,000
90
-
3,383,915
1,112,630
2,012
14,438
-
26,390
32,500
1,099
KUWAIT
Company Name Lt Price % Chg Volume
8 Gulf TimesTuesday, February 16, 2016
BUSINESS
Apple IncMicrosoft Corp
Exxon Mobil CorpGeneral Electric Co
Johnson & JohnsonJpmorgan Chase & Co
Procter & Gamble Co/ThePfizer Inc
Wal-Mart Stores IncWalt Disney Co/The
Coca-Cola Co/TheVerizon Communications Inc
Visa Inc-Class A SharesHome Depot Inc
Chevron CorpIntel Corp
Merck & Co. Inc.Cisco Systems Inc
Intl Business Machines CorpNike Inc -Cl B
Unitedhealth Group IncMcdonald’s Corp
Boeing Co/The3M Co
United Technologies CorpGoldman Sachs Group Inc
American Express CoDu Pont (E.I.) De Nemours
Caterpillar IncTravelers Cos Inc/The
93.99
50.50
81.03
28.26
101.82
57.49
80.99
29.36
66.18
91.15
43.11
50.11
70.42
116.32
85.43
28.64
49.03
25.11
121.04
56.42
111.82
117.93
108.63
153.96
85.95
146.13
52.66
58.40
63.15
107.49
0.31
1.63
1.80
2.95
0.12
8.33
1.36
0.79
1.32
0.93
1.65
1.46
2.85
2.69
2.94
1.49
0.37
1.74
2.71
0.75
1.08
1.03
0.18
2.18
1.52
3.87
3.03
3.14
2.83
3.58
40,351,381
34,243,324
16,687,846
57,645,610
9,035,013
37,011,352
9,306,055
32,543,171
9,695,461
10,786,093
15,222,405
20,990,916
8,710,244
5,361,634
9,835,059
19,698,998
13,598,265
49,753,603
4,936,514
10,229,492
2,552,095
8,552,812
12,973,383
2,292,155
5,886,307
9,009,284
6,107,686
5,399,520
4,297,399
2,095,910
DJIA
Company Name Lt Price % Chg Volume
Wpp PlcWorldpay Group Plc
Wolseley PlcWhitbread Plc
Vodafone Group PlcUnited Utilities Group Plc
Unilever PlcTui Ag-Di
Travis Perkins PlcTesco Plc
Taylor Wimpey PlcStandard Life Plc
Standard Chartered PlcSt James’s Place Plc
Sse PlcSports Direct International
Smiths Group PlcSmith & Nephew Plc
Sky PlcShire Plc
Severn Trent PlcSchroders Plc
Sainsbury (J) PlcSage Group Plc/The
Sabmiller PlcRsa Insurance Group Plc
Royal Mail PlcRoyal Dutch Shell Plc-B ShsRoyal Dutch Shell Plc-A Shs
Royal Bank Of Scotland GroupRolls-Royce Holdings Plc
Rio Tinto PlcRexam Plc
Relx PlcReckitt Benckiser Group Plc
Randgold Resources LtdPrudential Plc
Provident Financial PlcPersimmon Plc
Pearson PlcOld Mutual Plc
Next PlcNational Grid Plc
Mondi PlcMerlin Entertainment
Marks & Spencer Group PlcLondon Stock Exchange Group
Lloyds Banking Group PlcLegal & General Group PlcLand Securities Group Plc
Kingfisher PlcJohnson Matthey Plc
Itv PlcIntu Properties Plc
Intl Consolidated Airline-DiIntertek Group Plc
Intercontinental Hotels GrouInmarsat Plc
Imperial Brands PlcHsbc Holdings Plc
Hikma Pharmaceuticals PlcHargreaves Lansdown Plc
Hammerson PlcGlencore Plc
Glaxosmithkline PlcGkn Plc
Fresnillo PlcExperian Plc
Easyjet PlcDixons Carphone Plc
Direct Line Insurance GroupDiageo Plc
Dcc PlcCrh Plc
Compass Group PlcCoca-Cola Hbc Ag-Di
Centrica PlcCarnival Plc
Capita PlcBurberry Group Plc
Bunzl PlcBt Group Plc
British Land Co PlcBritish American Tobacco Plc
Bp PlcBhp Billiton Plc
Berkeley Group HoldingsBarratt Developments Plc
Barclays PlcBae Systems Plc
Babcock Intl Group PlcAviva Plc
Astrazeneca PlcAssociated British Foods Plc
Ashtead Group PlcArm Holdings Plc
Antofagasta PlcAnglo American Plc
Admiral Group PlcAberdeen Asset Mgmt Plc
3I Group Plc#N/A!
1,440.00
297.10
3,516.00
3,798.00
210.65
922.50
3,018.50
1,017.00
1,768.00
179.10
173.20
343.70
445.35
861.50
1,369.00
387.40
945.50
1,096.00
1,000.00
3,793.00
2,106.00
2,451.00
247.50
574.00
4,150.00
397.10
433.20
1,540.00
1,541.50
245.50
602.50
1,851.00
598.00
1,169.00
6,358.00
5,995.00
1,206.50
3,109.00
1,930.00
779.50
166.60
6,895.00
955.50
1,253.00
402.70
426.70
2,345.00
60.03
213.40
1,025.00
333.40
2,324.00
245.10
282.70
503.00
2,730.00
2,310.00
971.50
3,646.50
444.05
1,873.00
1,172.00
561.50
100.50
1,410.00
265.80
867.50
1,126.00
1,512.00
443.50
367.20
1,805.50
5,415.00
1,743.00
1,222.00
1,335.00
191.50
3,139.00
1,095.00
1,210.00
1,841.00
458.90
676.00
3,787.50
334.95
698.10
3,202.00
555.50
160.90
480.40
892.00
430.80
4,147.00
3,128.00
818.00
904.50
441.90
387.80
1,704.00
229.10
411.20
0.00
3.52
3.41
3.66
2.45
2.53
1.88
2.51
0.89
2.55
1.19
1.41
3.09
3.81
3.80
1.71
2.00
3.22
2.91
2.30
4.23
2.23
2.85
3.43
1.41
0.05
2.03
1.33
0.92
1.05
2.25
-0.58
0.19
0.67
2.63
6.57
-2.60
4.23
2.98
1.85
2.43
4.06
2.00
1.93
2.62
2.10
2.23
2.54
2.65
2.74
2.91
1.68
3.38
1.66
2.50
4.84
2.32
1.58
2.64
2.62
0.83
1.24
3.72
4.95
2.07
3.41
4.07
-3.29
2.18
1.75
2.88
2.63
2.70
1.12
3.75
2.69
2.46
1.00
1.06
1.96
3.07
2.85
2.38
3.60
2.13
0.74
0.22
0.66
1.93
2.35
2.85
2.71
2.77
2.48
2.49
1.61
2.15
1.98
3.70
1.79
3.95
2.57
0.00
960,767
1,813,760
221,782
209,559
18,694,054
350,559
915,975
224,356
225,043
10,975,317
3,383,666
1,452,516
3,458,242
573,636
738,989
404,058
387,323
776,879
929,675
857,989
132,063
154,775
2,797,763
927,595
696,448
951,657
1,181,316
5,210,496
4,025,904
4,058,129
5,699,065
3,135,126
527,043
1,247,014
911,471
289,864
4,514,827
142,149
303,246
670,439
3,736,940
200,915
2,230,531
356,498
333,873
1,809,243
450,432
67,547,365
6,823,519
878,299
1,646,746
122,914
2,363,880
567,278
4,835,301
89,027
245,029
389,523
1,043,815
12,398,944
162,716
407,384
1,141,477
25,415,736
4,452,926
2,168,825
870,371
491,187
408,741
570,520
1,334,359
1,490,666
91,813
554,649
1,633,906
120,499
4,242,752
150,521
714,249
682,858
203,219
6,809,719
2,055,414
760,353
13,302,347
4,090,617
296,334
1,694,628
23,769,654
2,073,204
360,159
4,004,062
868,230
156,638
832,577
1,197,277
1,244,688
7,288,762
223,779
1,725,383
479,152
-
FTSE 100
Company Name Lt Price % Chg Volume
East Japan Railway CoItochu Corp
Fujifilm Holdings CorpYamato Holdings Co Ltd
Chubu Electric Power Co IncMitsubishi Estate Co Ltd
Mitsubishi Heavy IndustriesToshiba Corp
Shiseido Co LtdShionogi & Co Ltd
Tokyo Gas Co LtdTokyo Electron Ltd
Panasonic CorpFujitsu Ltd
Central Japan Railway CoT&D Holdings Inc
Toyota Motor CorpKddi Corp
Nitto Denko Corp
10,145.00
1,316.50
4,299.00
2,349.00
1,493.50
2,122.50
385.70
161.50
2,257.50
4,652.00
557.20
6,538.00
887.40
382.30
21,475.00
1,152.00
6,256.00
2,956.50
5,681.00
10.25
12.19
9.98
7.90
5.62
7.50
9.98
2.22
7.24
7.49
7.15
6.57
10.69
7.30
10.47
12.72
9.56
8.75
8.94
1,802,200
11,898,800
2,853,700
4,387,700
3,439,100
8,026,000
23,804,000
70,534,000
4,450,100
1,665,000
14,947,000
1,328,200
29,405,900
14,197,000
636,700
8,626,700
17,902,900
9,508,200
1,845,100
TOKYO
Company Name Lt Price % Chg Volume
Rakuten IncKyocera Corp
Nissan Motor Co LtdHitachi Ltd
Takeda Pharmaceutical Co LtdJfe Holdings Inc
Ana Holdings IncMitsubishi Electric Corp
Sumitomo Mitsui Financial GrHonda Motor Co Ltd
Fast Retailing Co LtdMs&Ad Insurance Group Holdin
Kubota CorpSeven & I Holdings Co Ltd
Inpex CorpResona Holdings Inc
Asahi Kasei CorpKirin Holdings Co Ltd
Marubeni CorpMitsubishi Ufj Financial Gro
Mitsubishi Chemical HoldingsFanuc Corp
Daito Trust Construct Co LtdOtsuka Holdings Co Ltd
Oriental Land Co LtdSekisui House Ltd
Secom Co LtdTokio Marine Holdings Inc
Aeon Co LtdMitsui & Co Ltd
Kao CorpDai-Ichi Life Insurance
Mazda Motor CorpKomatsu Ltd
West Japan Railway CoMurata Manufacturing Co Ltd
Kansai Electric Power Co IncDenso Corp
Sompo Japan Nipponkoa HoldinDaiwa House Industry Co Ltd
Jx Holdings IncNippon Steel & Sumitomo Meta
Suzuki Motor CorpNippon Telegraph & Telephone
Ajinomoto Co IncMitsui Fudosan Co Ltd
Ono Pharmaceutical Co LtdDaikin Industries Ltd
Bank Of Yokohama Ltd/TheToray Industries IncAstellas Pharma Inc
Bridgestone CorpSony CorpHoya Corp
Sumitomo Mitsui Trust HoldinJapan Tobacco Inc
Osaka Gas Co LtdSumitomo Electric Industries
Daiwa Securities Group IncSoftbank Group Corp
Mizuho Financial Group IncNomura Holdings Inc
Daiichi Sankyo Co LtdFuji Heavy Industries Ltd
Ntt Docomo IncSumitomo Realty & Developmen
Sumitomo Metal Mining Co LtdOrix Corp
Asahi Group Holdings LtdKeyence Corp
Nidec CorpIsuzu Motors Ltd
Unicharm CorpShin-Etsu Chemical Co Ltd
Smc CorpMitsubishi CorpNintendo Co Ltd
Eisai Co LtdSumitomo Corp
Canon IncJapan Airlines Co Ltd
991.00
4,977.00
990.30
465.50
5,498.00
1,339.50
311.40
1,057.00
3,156.00
2,955.50
33,220.00
2,859.00
1,430.00
4,648.00
945.70
409.50
703.80
1,593.00
547.20
484.80
610.30
16,545.00
14,900.00
4,200.00
8,145.00
1,773.00
8,197.00
3,723.00
1,393.00
1,294.50
5,778.00
1,340.50
1,611.00
1,725.50
7,035.00
12,750.00
1,307.50
4,260.00
2,959.00
3,015.00
456.50
1,926.00
2,877.50
4,910.00
2,892.00
2,501.50
19,010.00
7,504.00
492.50
938.40
1,606.00
3,984.00
2,447.00
4,003.00
319.00
4,532.00
449.30
1,364.50
646.80
4,400.00
168.30
495.00
2,258.50
3,767.00
2,653.00
2,908.00
1,123.00
1,366.50
3,542.00
55,400.00
7,077.00
1,089.00
2,315.00
5,675.00
27,120.00
1,730.50
15,750.00
7,133.00
1,087.50
3,219.00
4,062.00
-1.29
6.12
6.71
8.00
8.08
8.02
10.07
11.44
10.37
8.00
2.56
12.78
8.91
5.06
7.62
8.59
8.95
8.37
10.17
8.65
12.33
7.37
5.26
11.29
6.47
10.02
6.29
11.13
-3.26
10.03
7.32
12.41
8.41
10.15
11.49
9.16
6.56
9.51
10.10
9.54
7.61
7.93
7.73
6.60
5.53
10.27
7.31
8.80
8.65
7.44
7.28
11.60
8.42
8.07
9.28
9.87
8.03
8.77
9.42
5.67
8.44
10.84
6.18
8.50
6.33
8.73
8.29
8.24
6.43
7.45
8.00
11.70
12.93
9.51
10.51
10.43
9.76
3.92
10.29
7.80
10.02
21,798,900
2,995,700
27,362,600
37,328,000
3,125,600
6,807,700
29,287,000
8,787,000
21,355,000
7,807,800
1,016,700
2,677,800
7,853,100
4,515,000
12,262,400
21,356,700
7,428,000
5,447,700
15,777,000
166,270,400
9,093,900
1,973,900
729,700
3,112,300
2,200,200
4,277,700
1,378,400
5,388,700
11,645,500
18,055,000
2,395,800
13,987,300
13,159,500
6,074,000
1,300,500
1,631,100
4,259,100
2,895,800
3,010,800
3,766,800
17,892,800
5,205,300
2,236,700
5,813,100
2,171,000
8,331,000
653,200
2,902,100
12,476,000
9,065,000
11,900,200
5,009,900
13,347,800
1,715,000
37,812,000
6,921,700
11,896,000
4,065,200
16,750,000
9,986,100
290,219,800
54,239,700
4,169,400
6,010,100
8,798,300
3,777,000
5,439,000
14,736,700
2,089,500
372,800
1,777,900
5,907,100
6,195,000
1,829,900
400,400
9,201,300
902,800
2,125,400
7,490,200
7,957,600
4,008,900
TOKYO
Company Name Lt Price % Chg Volume
Aluminum Corp Of China Ltd-HBank Of East Asia
Bank Of China Ltd-HBank Of Communications Co-H
Belle International HoldingsBoc Hong Kong Holdings Ltd
Cathay Pacific AirwaysCk Hutchison Holdings Ltd
China Coal Energy Co-HChina Construction Bank-H
China Life Insurance Co-HChina Merchants Hldgs Intl
China Mobile LtdChina Overseas Land & Invest
China Petroleum & Chemical-HChina Resources Beer Holdin
China Resources Land LtdChina Resources Power Holdin
China Shenhua Energy Co-HChina Unicom Hong Kong Ltd
Citic LtdClp Holdings Ltd
Cnooc LtdCosco Pacific Ltd
Esprit Holdings LtdFih Mobile Ltd
Hang Lung Properties LtdHang Seng Bank Ltd
Henderson Land Development
2.40
23.10
2.92
4.50
5.04
19.66
11.60
93.50
2.51
4.53
17.18
21.30
83.10
21.75
4.27
12.64
17.48
12.30
11.10
8.35
10.36
66.80
7.96
8.80
7.50
2.72
13.46
126.50
40.10
3.45
2.44
2.82
5.39
2.86
3.58
2.11
1.69
5.46
5.10
5.27
6.50
1.09
4.07
3.64
1.61
1.75
4.95
4.72
3.60
2.37
0.83
6.42
2.44
2.88
3.82
1.05
1.93
3.22
15,508,167
5,442,663
397,162,123
31,974,454
13,692,198
10,952,910
2,560,997
7,392,584
7,250,594
246,792,948
58,276,488
3,108,059
11,178,636
24,066,916
67,762,991
8,405,187
15,266,618
7,921,310
13,830,775
29,428,014
15,899,087
4,401,891
108,436,996
7,677,160
1,722,242
5,283,819
5,829,834
2,173,681
4,514,948
HONG KONG
Company Name Lt Price % Chg Volume
Hong Kong & China GasHong Kong Exchanges & Clear
Hsbc Holdings PlcHutchison Whampoa Ltd
Ind & Comm Bk Of China-HLi & Fung Ltd
Mtr CorpNew World Development
Petrochina Co Ltd-HPing An Insurance Group Co-H
Power Assets Holdings LtdSino Land Co
Sun Hung Kai PropertiesSwire Pacific Ltd - Cl ATencent Holdings Ltd
Wharf Holdings Ltd
13.94
167.50
50.25
0.00
3.91
4.57
35.55
6.16
4.67
32.55
73.15
10.16
82.60
73.70
138.20
36.70
2.05
2.76
4.47
0.00
4.83
-1.08
0.00
1.82
3.78
6.37
1.53
0.40
2.23
2.79
3.68
1.10
6,625,012
5,381,943
27,861,491
-
230,828,071
13,729,491
2,393,046
13,486,288
92,044,719
53,927,103
3,075,613
3,876,029
5,138,106
895,251
21,699,418
4,625,013
HONG KONG
Company Name Lt Price % Chg Volume
Zee Entertainment EnterpriseYes Bank Ltd
Wipro LtdVedanta Ltd
Ultratech Cement LtdTech Mahindra Ltd
Tata Steel LtdTata Power Co Ltd
Tata Motors LtdTata Consultancy Svcs Ltd
Sun Pharmaceutical IndusState Bank Of India
Reliance Industries LtdPunjab National Bank
Power Grid Corp Of India LtdOil & Natural Gas Corp Ltd
Ntpc LtdMaruti Suzuki India Ltd
Mahindra & Mahindra LtdLupin Ltd
Larsen & Toubro LtdKotak Mahindra Bank Ltd
Itc LtdInfosys Ltd
Indusind Bank LtdIdea Cellular Ltd
Icici Bank LtdHousing Development Finance
Hindustan Unilever LtdHindalco Industries Ltd
Hero Motocorp LtdHdfc Bank Limited
Hcl Technologies LtdGrasim Industries Ltd
Gail India LtdDr. Reddy’s Laboratories
Coal India LtdCipla Ltd
Cairn India LtdBosch Ltd
Bharti Airtel LtdBharat Petroleum Corp Ltd
Bharat Heavy ElectricalsBank Of Baroda
Bajaj Auto LtdAxis Bank Ltd
Asian Paints LtdAmbuja Cements Ltd
Adani Ports And Special EconAcc Ltd
383.90
753.40
525.75
75.00
2,802.35
430.30
246.70
59.55
317.25
2,269.15
850.20
167.85
946.75
76.50
138.70
200.35
124.80
3,711.25
1,226.80
1,798.45
1,149.40
625.25
303.70
1,091.75
823.70
109.20
203.50
1,080.45
804.70
67.00
2,507.35
973.60
827.10
3,472.40
334.15
2,859.05
324.25
539.70
125.00
16,447.15
318.90
779.75
107.95
139.35
2,342.10
417.65
858.70
198.00
191.15
1,256.55
3.62
3.43
1.63
18.58
1.25
0.07
13.43
5.03
6.33
1.91
0.34
8.43
4.43
3.87
0.25
3.67
0.69
4.55
5.28
2.40
9.09
0.52
1.20
0.65
1.45
-0.41
5.14
-0.30
-0.97
10.02
0.73
0.23
3.61
2.62
2.83
0.41
7.07
2.10
5.09
3.13
-1.74
0.90
3.35
22.56
1.64
6.79
0.44
1.72
7.36
2.91
4,003,524
4,033,304
1,018,346
43,265,560
189,852
1,986,933
16,291,794
12,525,983
20,487,491
1,993,985
3,793,181
40,468,041
4,696,771
17,042,091
4,829,176
5,237,063
3,919,175
1,260,399
963,062
1,098,133
4,348,862
1,344,072
8,238,107
4,057,751
2,258,899
4,915,449
33,945,010
4,424,267
1,285,641
19,140,404
435,330
2,970,566
1,411,601
65,110
1,807,724
419,328
5,593,621
2,998,401
6,585,984
17,685
5,370,866
1,620,495
16,004,716
62,391,655
331,272
14,736,502
762,679
1,360,304
9,547,861
142,343
SENSEX
Company Name Lt Price % Chg Volume
WORLD INDICESIndices Lt Price Change
GCC INDICESIndices Lt Price Change
Dow Jones Indus. AvgS&P 500 Index
Nasdaq Composite IndexS&P/Tsx Composite Index
Mexico Bolsa IndexBrazil Bovespa Stock Idx
Ftse 100 IndexCac 40 Index
Dax IndexIbex 35 Tr
Nikkei 225Japan Topix
Hang Seng IndexAll Ordinaries Indx
Nzx All IndexBse Sensex 30 Index
Nse S&P Cnx Nifty IndexStraits Times Index
Karachi All Share IndexJakarta Composite Index
15,973.84
1,864.78
4,337.51
12,381.24
42,416.44
40,452.83
5,835.59
4,133.38
9,226.92
8,179.40
16,022.58
1,292.23
18,918.14
4,893.44
1,161.97
23,554.12
7,162.95
2,607.90
22,159.65
4,740.73
+313.66
+35.70
+70.68
+293.87
+57.18
+644.78
+127.99
+138.32
+259.41
+258.60
+1,069.97
+95.95
+598.56
+76.84
+18.08
+568.00
+182.00
+67.95
+246.61
+26.33
Doha Securities MarketSaudi Tadawul
Kuwait Stocks ExchangeBahrain Stock Exchage
Oman Stock MarketAbudhabi Stock MarketDubai Financial Market
9,857.20
5,691.25
5,139.13
1,166.85
5,349.53
4,107.42
3,003.95
+256.23
+133.33
+8.08
+0.80
-15.76
+32.19
-7.52
“Information contained herein is believed to be reliable and had been obtained from sources believed to be reliable. The accuracy and completeness cannot be guaranteed. This publication is for providing information only and is not intended as an off er or solicitation for a purchase or sale of any of the financial instruments mentioned. Gulf Times and Doha Bank or any of their employees shall not be held accountable and will not accept any losses or liabilities for actions based on this data.”
CURRENCIESDOLLAR QATAR RIYAL SAUDI RIYAL UAE DIRHAMS BAHRAINI
DINARKUWAITI
DINAR
A man walks past the London Stock Exchange in the City of London. European stock markets pushed sharply higher yesterday with London closing 2% higher.
Europe equities rally as China avoids meltdown AFPLondon
European stock markets pushed sharply higher yesterday, build-ing on Asian gains after Shang-
hai avoided a sharp selloff on its return from holidays and banks were buoyed by HSBC’s decision to stay in London.
London closed 2% higher, with Frankfurt and Paris up around 3%.
The mood on markets brightened as Japanese investors shrugged off an economic contraction to propel Tokyo stocks more than 7% yesterday, leading an Asia recovery after last week’s hor-ror show.
Shanghai fell 0.6%, but losses were modest considering traders were play-ing catch-up with last week’s blood-bath across world stock markets.
“No severe selloff in Chinese mar-kets, after a week’s holiday, has allowed London-listed fi nancial stocks to break out of the doghouse and lead the FTSE higher, buoyed by HSBC’s decision to stay in the City,” CMC Markets analyst Jasper Lawler told AFP.
Markets had jumped higher last Fri-day, ending a brutal week on a positive note following solid US and German
economic data and an increase in oil prices.
Trading in the European afternoon session was dominated by comments by European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi as US markets were closed for the Presidents Day holiday.
Draghi said the ECB “will not hesi-tate to act” if needed to stimulate the economy and push up infl ation in the eurozone at its next monetary policy meeting in March.
While that helped European equities maintain their gains, the euro seemed to take Draghi’s words as a statement of intent, the currency tumbling just shy of 1% against the dollar” said Spreadex analyst Connor Campbell.
Asia-focused banking titan HSBC saw its share price rise 1.4% to 446.40 pence in London yesterday, as inves-tors welcomed news it would keep its headquarters in the British capital.
The lender’s Hong Kong-listed stock meanwhile rallied more than four%.
The news also lifted other banking stocks in London, with Lloyds Banking Group up 2.3% and Royal Bank of Scot-land adding 2.6%.
“HSBC’s decision to keep its head-quarters in London is a fi llip for the City and the Treasury,” said Russ
Mould, investment director at trading fi rm AJ Bell. “The government will be relieved that HSBC’s board decided unanimously to stay in the UK.”
Asian markets enjoyed a broadly healthy start to the week, but another poor trade report reinforced fears over China’s outlook.
Experts warned the gains were un-likely to be sustained for a long period, with the concerns that have wiped tril-lions off markets already this year—in-cluding the weak global economy and China’s slowdown—still unresolved.
Tokyo soared 7.2% by the close after losses of more than 11% last week that were fuelled by a surging yen as dealers fl ed into safe-haven investments.
News that the Japanese economy shrank in the fi nal quarter of last year — while dealing another blow to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s attempts to kickstart growth — fanned calls for the nation’s central bank to further ease monetary policy.
Mike van Dulken, analyst at Accendo Markets, said sentiment was buoyed yesterday by “hopes that the recent banks-led global market rout was over-done and more stimulus was primed af-ter poor Chinese trade data and Japanese GDP and industrial production.”
BUSINESS
Gulf Times Tuesday, February 16, 201614
HSBC keeps base in London, rejects move to Hong Kong ReutersLondon/Hong Kong
Banking group HSBC Holdings has decided to keep its headquarters in Britain, rejecting the option
of shifting its centre of gravity back to main profi t-generating hub Hong Kong after a 10-month review.
The decision by HSBC’s board, which Europe’s biggest bank said was unanimous, gives a boost to London’s status as a global fi nancial centre, un-der threat since the fi nancial crisis of 2007-09 from tougher regulation and rising costs.
Yet Chief Executive Stuart Gulliver immediately warned that the bank could not stick with the status quo were Britain to vote in favour of leav-ing the European Union in a promised referendum, saying it would consider moving around 1,000 employees from London to Paris.
Some investors had encouraged HSBC to consider moving its HQ from Britain, partly because of a tax on banks’ global balance sheets brought in after the fi nancial crisis which had cost it $1.1bn in 2014.
But following extensive lobbying by the banking industry, British fi nance minister George Osborne said in July he would halve the levy and, crucially for HSBC, no longer apply it to the over-seas assets of British banks, part of ef-forts to help to keep Britain an attrac-tive place for banks.
The bank denied using the threat of moving to force the British government to rein in the tax.
“We had no negotiation with the government,” HSBC Chairman Douglas Flint told BBC radio on Monday. “The government was very well aware of our view ... but there certainly was no pres-sure put on, or no negotiation”.
The waiver on applying the levy to HSBC’s overseas assets will only come fully into eff ect in 2021 at the earliest, leaving the bank exposed to shifting political winds in Britain in the interim, said Investec analyst Ian Gordon in a research note, who nonetheless kept a “buy” rating on its shares. Asked if the government had caved in to threats by the banks, a spokeswoman for Prime Minister David Cameron said Os-borne’s budget last year had set out that the levy was introduced to raise rev-enue and stabilise bank balance sheets. “It served its purpose, it worked but it risks doing harm if left unchanged, he (Osborne) said that clearly last sum-mer.”
A Reuters analysis showed that mov-
ing to Hong Kong might have actually increased the bank’s tax burden.
“Arguably, a more benign approach in the UK to the regulation of banks, and a less aggressive tone by politi-cians, also played an important part in the decision,” said Guy de Blonay, a fund manager at Jupiter Asset Manage-ment which holds shares in HSBC.
“The bank can now turn its attention to succession planning, likely to revolve around its Chairman Douglas Flint ini-tially (2017), and then CEO Stuart Gul-liver (2018)”.
The decision to stay in London comes after a tumultuous period for European banks, whose shares have tumbled on fears of a global economic
slowdown and the impact on earnings from a prolonged period of low or neg-ative interest rates.
HSBC shares are down more than 30% from last April when the group began its headquarters review, hit by China’s fl agging economic growth and market turmoil.
For Hong Kong, the chance of lur-ing back HSBC, short for Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corp, to its birthplace and to the heart of its Asian growth strategy has been lost for now.
“London is one of the world’s lead-ing international fi nancial centres and home to a large pool of highly skilled, international talent,” HSBC said in a statement. “It remains therefore ide-ally positioned to be the home base for a global fi nancial institution such as HSBC.”
Analysts estimated the cost of mov-ing out of London at between $1.5bn and $2.5bn, a hefty bill to swallow un-
less HSBC was able to achieve clear tax and regulatory advantages.
Hong Kong, where HSBC was found-ed about 150 years ago and where it em-ploys more than 20,000, was consid-ered the strongest relocation option as it accounts for 46% of HSBC’s pretax profi t.
But gyrations in Chinese markets coupled with concerns about China’s growing infl uence over Hong Kong had helped make it more likely the bank would stick to London.
HSBC said it remained committed to its Asia “Pivot” strategy, under which it plans to invest more into China’s Pearl River Delta north of Hong Kong which already accounts for half of HSBC’s China revenue.
The Hong Kong Monetary Author-ity, which had earlier said it would wel-come an HSBC move to Hong Kong, said it respected the board’s decision to maintain the status quo.
Deal or no deal; how to think and write about Opec By John Kemp London
“Will Saudi Arabia, Iran and Russia reach a deal to boost oil prices by cutting production?” is precisely the sort of forecasting challenge tackled in Philip Tetlock’s book on “Superforecasting”. I have no idea if Tetlock and his colleagues have put this particular question to the panel of forecasters assembled by the Good Judgment Project but their views would be fascinating. The question of whether there will be a deal has polarised opinion among oil analysts, traders and journalists, all of whom can cite reasons why an agreement will or will not be reached. Passions run high on the subject and perspectives are becoming increasingly entrenched, which should make a
neutral observer cautious about whether the professional forecasters are becoming overconfident. Like all forecasts in politics, economics and international relations, any prediction about whether there will be a deal must be probabilistic (“Superforecasting: the art and science of prediction”, Tetlock and Gardner, 2015). There is no clear answer. There must be some chance of a deal happening, however slim, so the probability must be greater than zero, but it is not certain to occur, so the probability must be less than one. Most of the expert commentary at the moment employs phrases such as “unlikely”, “highly unlikely” or “remains improbable” to convey the low probability of a deal. The problem is that these words, common in everyday speech, can convey widely diff erent estimates about
the probability of an event happening. Does unlikely correspond to a probability of less than 50%, less than 40%, less than 30% or something else? What do highly unlikely and improbable actually mean? The US intelligence community has been grappling ambiguity in the way ordinary language is used to express probability for over 50 years (“Words of estimative probability”, Kent, 1964). Sherman Kent, the father of modern intelligence analysis, even tried to map the terms used in common writing by analysts into numerical probabilities. Kent’s eff orts were never entirely accepted but have powerfully shaped the way in which intelligence analysts think about and express their forecasts. The best forecasts express likelihood and uncertainty in percentage terms so their accuracy can be evaluated after the fact and the forecasting process has improved over time (“Verification
of forecasts expressed in terms of probability”, Brier, 1950). Expressing forecasts in percentage terms becomes particularly important when the probability is likely to change over time in response to unfolding events. Good forecasts are regularly reviewed and updated in the light of new information that confirms or contradicts the original assessment (“Psychology of intelligence analysis”, Heuer, 1999). Any production-cutting deal between Opec and non-Opec countries could have a significant impact on oil prices if it were perceived as credible. So the probability of a deal must therefore weigh heavily in any forecast for oil prices even if the likelihood remains only 5%, 10% or 20%. The problem is that most major commentators have avoided issuing a forecast in percentage terms, making
it hard to assess the consequences and accuracy. Percentage forecasts would enable traders, investors and policymakers to understand how the forecast changes over time in response to comments from key participants and incoming data on supply, demand and stocks. If crude oil stocks around the world continue climbing, does that make a production-cutting deal more or less likely, and if so by how much? If US shale output starts to fall more quickly, does that increase or reduce the chance of a production-cutting deal? If Russia’s economy slows more than expected, or Saudi Arabia’s reserves fall faster than expected, what does that do to the prospect of a deal? The only way to think consistently about the oil market outlook is in terms of probabilities (and the degrees of uncertainty that surround them).
Given what we know about the past activities of the US intelligence community, it is probable or almost certain (using Kent’s terminology) that an intelligence analyst in Washington has already been asked to produce an estimate of the chance of a production-cutting deal for the president and other senior policymakers. The intelligence community’s forecast is almost certainly couched in probabilistic terms. The public discussion in the media and the markets should follow the same track. The next time someone says a production deal is unlikely or growing more probable, challenge them to put a percentage figure on that statement, and ask what would cause them to update that assessment.
John Kemp is a Reuters market analyst. The views expressed are his own.
A Swiss International aircraft flies past the HSBC headquarters building in the Canary Wharf financial district in east London. HSBC Holdings has decided to keep its headquarters in Britain, rejecting the option of shifting its centre of gravity back to main profit-generating hub Hong Kong after a 10-month review.
UK rate cut? 10% risk for economists at odds with markets BloombergLondon
Mark Carney has the back-ing of economists when he insists the next move in UK
interest rates is more likely to be up than down.
There’s only a 10% chance the Bank of England chief and his offi cials will cut the benchmark rate from its record- low 0.5%, according to Bloomberg’s monthly survey of economists. It’s a stand squarely at odds with interest-rate futures markets, which are pricing a more than 60% possibility.
Diff erences in focus may help ex-plain the gap. Economists looking at domestic data and the BoE’s latest jawboning predict a rate increase will
come in the fourth quarter of this year. Investors - close to panic mode amid international fi nancial- market tur-moil - are all but ruling out a hike for the next two years and are zeroing in on the case for a cut.
This week’s slew of UK data on prices and wages may help narrow the divide.
“The concerns that are driving this are very diffi cult to forecast and aren’t centered on our home turf,” said Ross Walker, an economist at Royal Bank of Scotland Group in London. “The market pricing does look extreme, but I wouldn’t be too dismissive about the way the risks are balanced.
The BoE’s hurdle for a rate cut is high at the moment because they’d need to see clearer evidence of a deterioration in the activity data.”
Only two of the 31 economists sur-
veyed - Jane Foley at Rabobank and Aurel BGC’s Jean-Louis Mourier - put the odds of the BoE lowering rates at more than 50%. Three said there is no chance.
Offi cial statistics point to a slow-down but not another recession as cheap borrowing costs and record employment keep consumers spend-ing. Weaker-than-forecast industrial production data last week underscored doubts about the global outlook.
Policy makers - who have kept the key rate unchanged since 2009 - see a darkening international picture off -setting resilient domestic growth and have signalled a willingness to keep policy loose until cost pressures in the economy start to build.
A report Tuesday is forecast to show inflation edged up to 0.3% in
January, still well below the central bank’s 2% target.
Further clues will come tomorrow, when labour-market data are released. BoE Deputy Governor Ben Broadbent has said there are some signs weak infl ation is holding back pay settle-ments. A BoE staff blog yesterday said low infl ation has dulled the response of pay to increased recruitment dif-fi culties. Earnings growth excluding bonuses probably slowed to 1.8% in the fourth quarter, the weakest pace in al-most a year, according to a Bloomberg survey.
“The BoE is very conscious as we go into the spring wage round that we may have some form of wage pause” in response to very low infl ation, said Bill O’Neill, head of the UK investment offi ce at UBS Wealth Management. “If
there was a second-round eff ect com-ing through - if there was evidence of that - I think there would be a response. We don’t think that would occur, but clearly there is a meaningful risk.”
The Chartered Institute of Person-nel and Development said yesterday its survey of more than 1,000 employers and human- resources professionals showed a rising proportion of fi rms feel no compulsion to match or raise their previous pay awards as low infl ation is boosting real wages.
Signs of a tightening labour market will probably be on display elsewhere, with Wednesday’s fi gures forecast to show unemployment falling to 5%, the lowest rate in more than a decade.
A separate release on Friday is pre-dicted to show retail sales rebounding in January.
Templeton’s $5.9bn bet on Brazil bondspaying off in 2016 BloombergLondon
While most investors were beating a furi-ous retreat from Bra-
zil in the fi nal three months of last year, Franklin Templeton’s Michael Hasenstab was busy more than doubling his invest-ments in the crisis-ridden na-tion’s debt to $5.9bn.
So far this year, the wager is paying off . The real- denomi-nated bonds have returned 4.7% in dollar terms in 2016, versus an average loss of 0.13% for lo-cal-currency debt in emerging markets. The gains are in stark contrast to last year’s rout, when Brazilian securities plummeted 33% as the currency sank, a re-cession deepened and impeach-ment proceedings against Presi-dent Dilma Rousseff began.
Hasenstab’s Brazil bet is fl ourishing four months after he said in a blog post that a selloff in emerging markets was creating “multi-decade opportunities.” He isn’t the only fund man-ager at Franklin Templeton who shares that view. Just last week, Mark Mobius, the chairman of the fi rm’s emerging-markets group, said at an event in Sao Paulo he was increasing invest-ments in Brazil in anticipation of a turnaround.
Many investors still remain skeptical, especially with Brazil poised for its deepest two-year recession in more than a century.
“It’s too early to get back in the game there,” said Sean Newman, a money manager at Invesco Ad-visers, which oversees $776bn. Assets are “going to get cheaper.”
He said the real hasn’t fully adjusted to a level that refl ects Brazil’s dire economic scenario. The real has lost 0.3% in 2016, after having plunged 33% last year.
Lisa Gallegos, a spokeswoman for Templeton, said the money manager wasn’t available to comment on Brazil.
Hasenstab boosted Brazilian bond ownership from $2.4bn at the end of September, making the country’s notes his third-biggest holding, data compiled by Bloomberg show. In the last three months of 2015, he en-tered into new positions in real-denominated bonds due January 2019 and 2025, both of which had slumped to record lows in September. Data on any changes to the fund’s holdings in 2016 isn’t yet publicly available.
Hasenstab is no stranger to contrarian trades. In his 21 years at Franklin Templeton, he’s made big bets on assets when they were tumbling. In July 2011, he famously snapped up Irish bonds as Europe’s debt crisis worsened, making billions on the trade when the country re-ceived an international bailout eight months later. But Hasen-stab’s wagers don’t always pay off . Just this year, his investment in Mongolian bonds has back-fi red as political instability roils the nation.
The volatility rocking global fi nancial markets has also hurt Hasenstab’s Franklin Templeton Global Bond Fund.
BUSINESS15Gulf Times
Tuesday, February 16, 2016
ECB ready to act if market turmoilthreatens growthoutlook: Draghi BloombergFrankfurt
The European Central Bank (ECB)
will take measures to ensure its
monetary policy reaches the real
economy if that appears threat-
ened by financial-market turbu-
lence, President Mario Draghi said.
The euro fell.
“In the light of the recent
financial turmoil, we will analyse
the state of transmission of
our monetary impulses by the
financial system and in particular
by banks,” Draghi told European
Parliament lawmakers in Brussels
yesterday. In addition, the ECB will
examine the impact of renewed
declines in energy prices and “if
either of these two factors entail
downward risks to price stability,
we will not hesitate to act,” he
said.
The Frankfurt-based ECB faces
its next policy decision on March
10 at a time when price gains in
the currency bloc are far below
the central bank’s goal of just
under 2%, depressed by slowing
global growth and an energy sup-
ply glut. Bank-led equity sell-off s
in the past week now threaten
to choke off a fragile recovery in
credit and stymie the euro area’s
recovery.
Referring to the global econo-
my, Draghi said that “a continu-
ation of the rebalancing process
is needed to secure sustainable
growth over the medium term.”
He also said this “could imply
some headwinds in the short term,
which will require close monitor-
ing of the related risks.”
As Draghi presented his
remarks, the euro fell and bank
stocks initially declined before
recovering. The Euro Stoxx Banks
Index rose 3.6% at 4:24 pm Frank-
furt time and the single currency
slid 1.1% to trade at $1.1135.
Attempting to draw a line under
the past week’s turmoil, which saw
one-day stock-price declines of
more than 10% at both Deutsche
Bank and Societe Generale, Draghi
underlined the ECB’s eff orts since
2014 to repair confidence in the
region’s banking sector.
“The fall in bank equity prices
was amplified by perceptions
that banks may have to do more
to adjust their business mod-
els to the lower growth/lower
interest-rate environment and to
the strengthened international
regulatory framework that has
been put in place since the crisis,”
he said. “However, we have to
acknowledge that the regulatory
overhaul since the start of the
crisis has laid the foundations for
durably increasing the resilience
not only of individual institutions
but also of the financial system as
a whole.”
Even though the ECB combed
the balance sheets of the euro-
area’s largest banks in 2014 prior
to becoming their supervisor,
investor concerns in recent weeks
have focused especially on the
pile of bad loans still present
at Italian lenders, and political
uncertainty over plans to reduce
them. Italian bank stocks have lost
almost 30% since the beginning
of the year.
Draghi said euro-area banks
are in a “good position” to bring
down non-performing loans in an
orderly manner over the next few
years, and added that they won’t
face additional legal capital re-
quirements. He dismissed a report
by Reuters yesterday that the cen-
tral bank is discussing including
asset-backed securities based on
Italian non-performing loans in its
asset- purchase programme.
“As far as I know, however, I’m
not aware of any talk or conversa-
tion,” he said. “We are not talking
about buying anything.”
Questioned about the UK’s
current negotiations with the
European Union over its contin-
ued place in the bloc, Draghi said
it should be an opportunity to
deepen the monetary union.
The ideal goal in the negotia-
tions should be to “anchor the UK
in the European Union,” Draghi
said, so that “both can draw ben-
efit from this.” He added that the
ECB isn’t party to the discussions.
Storm clouds gather on Italy’s budget horizon ReutersRome
Italy’s public fi nance diffi culties are set to deepen as its economy weak-ens, and it may be punished by the
markets even if Prime Minister Matteo Renzi reaches a compromise with the European Commission over this year’s budget.
Gross domestic product grew just 0.1% in the last quarter of 2015, data showed on Friday, as the recovery from a three-year recession petered out.
The offi cial forecast of 1.6% growth in 2016 already looks far out of reach. Tax revenues may also disappoint, making it less likely Italy can bring down its huge debt for the fi rst time in eight years as Renzi has promised.
In another blow, offi cials say privati-sations of the state railways and public air traffi c control company are unlikely to go ahead this year as planned due to diffi cult market conditions.
Before these setbacks, Renzi was al-ready locked in an unusually heated row with Brussels over his 2016 budget, which the Commission says risks break-ing the EU’s fi scal rules after he raised targets for the budget defi cit and public debt.
It will give a defi nitive verdict in the spring, and may ask for adjustments. Renzi has demanded more leeway in the rules and attacked the Commission’s “budget pedants”.
Experience suggests a face-saving
compromise will be reached. But the Commission knows it risks losing cred-ibility.
“Italy has benefi ted more than any other country from budget fl exibility,” its Deputy President Jyrki Katainen said this month. “If we go on with this fl exibil-ity of the rules we won’t have any more rules.”
But even if a deal is done, it will only push back the problems for a few more months, and they are getting bigger all the time.
Having delayed promised debt re-ductions for four years now, Rome would have to make a much bigger fiscal adjustment to meet its commit-ments in 2017.
Its public debt ratio of more than 130% of economic output is the second-high-est in the euro zone after Greece’s, and unless Renzi wins even more conces-sions he will have to fi nd cuts of more than €15bn ($17bn) in 2017.
Rome has not seen that kind of en-trenchment since the height of the 2011 debt crisis when former prime minister Mario Monti passed draconian measures to save the country from bankruptcy.
But Renzi faces a toxic combination of faltering growth, stalled privatisa-tions and, despite the shield of the Eu-ropean Central Bank’s bond-buying pro-gramme, higher borrowing costs.
There is also a growing risk of a full-blown Italian banking crisis. The coun-try’s lenders, burdened with some 200bn euros of bad loans, have lost almost 30% of their value on the Milan stock market
this year. The gap between the yields on 10-year government bonds (BTPs) yields and safer German Bunds has climbed to more than 1.3 percentage points from 0.9 points in December.
Some analysts fear Italy could follow Portugal, whose bond yields posted their biggest weekly rise for more than three years last week as investors fretted over Lisbon’s public fi nances and the health of the world economy.
“Italy is defi nitely vulnerable. As long as there is a risk-off environment, there is a risk that the BTP-Bund spread could widen further,” said Daniel Lenz, a bond strategist at DZ Bank.
Renzi must call an election by early 2018 at the latest.
He has seen austerity-minded govern-ments in Lisbon and Madrid thrown out of offi ce recently and does not want to follow suit.
His approval ratings have slumped over the last year and domestic hostility to cuts remains high due to the listless economy and high unemployment. He is under pressure from opposition par-ties eager to cash in on the strong rise in anti-European sentiment among ordi-nary Italians.
Nevertheless, Italy signed the tougher “fi scal compact” that the eurozone drew up in 2012 in response to the debt cri-sis, mandating steep annual debt falls. It even made annual balanced budgets a constitutional requirement.
But Rome has yet to put the rules into practice. Its debt has climbed steadily and parliament has voted each year to al-
low itself a special exemption to the bal-anced budget law. This year, if the Com-mission does not force Renzi to amend his budget, the defi cit will fall marginally to 2.4% of gross domestic product from 2.6% in 2015.
After cutting taxes by more than 5bn euros this year, Renzi has slated deeper cuts to corporate and income tax in 2017. At the same time, he has pledged to nar-row the defi cit in 2017 down to 1.1% of GDP. How he hopes to perform this feat has not yet been explained.
Gustavo Piga, an economics professor at Rome’s Tor Vergata University, urged him to take his dispute with the Com-mission even further and renege on his budget commitments for 2017.
“Italy needs real fi scal stimulus,” he said. “Renzi should tackle the 20% of wasteful spending in the state sector, while launching a programme of public investment and hiking the budget defi cit target to 4%.”
Renzi is unlikely to follow that advice, even with problems mounting from all sides.
Although growth is weakening, Italy has been out of recession for more than a year, meaning that under current rules justifi cation for more EU budget leeway has all but disappeared.
“There is no more room for fl exibility, and it wouldn’t be good for Italy either,” said Daniel Gros, head of the Brussels-based economic think-tank CEPS. “Now, with markets more averse to risk, Italy would be well advised to be very prudent.”
Swiss tit for tat with ECB hinges on currency market fallout BloombergNew York
Thomas Jordan’s next move once again hinges on the franc.
With the currency near its weakest level in a year, the Swiss National Bank president has proven he can hold his ground against markets. But global growth concerns and an equity rout could increase pressure, making Jordan’s job more complicated.
He also has to contend with the European Cen-tral Bank, which may pile on more stimulus next month and, potentially, weaken the euro versus the franc. While a majority of economists in Bloomb-erg’s monthly survey said the SNB may need to cut rates further below zero or intervene more heav-ily if the ECB acts, the caveat for action would be a surge in the franc.
“The reaction of the SNB will probably depend on the reaction of the exchange rate,” said Maxime Botteron, an economist at Credit Suisse Group AG in Zurich.
The most likely response to more ECB easing “is through foreign exchange interventions. However, we would not rule out an interest rate cut if the franc were to appreciate sharply.”
Jordan and his fellow rate setters have been con-tending with the fallout from euro-area decision-making for years, though they avoided having to adjust policy in December when new ECB meas-ures fell short of expectations.
That announcement failed to push the franc out of what economists typically consider the SNB’s comfort zone of below 1.07 per euro.
Yet with euro-area infl ation so weak, ECB Presi-dent Mario Draghi may now over-deliver at the central bank’s next meeting on March 10. That could mean the SNB, scheduled to meet a week later, is in for a fi ght this time around, though the franc’s recent weakness against the euro has given it more leeway.
The Swiss currency’s reaction to the latest gyra-tions in global markets has raised questions about
its traditional role as a haven. It traded as low 1.11997 per euro on February 4, and while it has appreciated since, it’s still far from the levels of a year ago after the SNB abandoned its cap.
It traded little changed at 1.10083 per euro in Zurich yesterday.
Soeren Hettler, a senior foreign-exchange ana-lyst at DZ Bank in Frankfurt, said it’s not simply about a reaction to the ECB, but will depend on the ripples into the currency market.
“If the franc appreciates markedly against the euro, the SNB will take its own measures,” he said. “If it does not, nothing has to be done.”
Should the ECB reduce its deposit rate, now at minus 0.3%, roughly three-quarters of economists surveyed by Bloomberg expect some form of SNB action. If policy makers in Frankfurt simply adjust their bond-buying programme, economists pri-marily expect Swiss currency interventions.
Jordan signaled last week that there’s room to further cut the deposit rate, currently at minus 0.75%.
According to the poll, the SNB can go as low as minus 1.25%. The central bank also has some fi re-power on interventions, with economists saying it can expand its balance sheet to 128% of gross do-mestic product, from roughly 100% now, before its credibility begins to suff er.
“The SNB must be happy about where the cur-rent Swiss franc exchange rate is against the euro,” said Alan McQuaid, chief economist at Merrion Capital in Dublin.
“A lot of ECB action in March is already priced in, so the euro is unlikely to weaken too much un-less we get another bazooka moment from Mario Draghi.”
A man looks on at the local market in downtown Rome. Italy’s public finance diff iculties are deepening as its economy weakens, and it may be punished by the markets even if Prime Minister Matteo Renzi reaches a compromise with the European Commission in a dispute over this year’s budget.
Eurozone long-term inflation expectations lift off new lowsReutersLondon
Eurozone long-term inflation expectations bounced off record lows yesterday after China’s central bank fixed the yuan rate stronger, easing some recent worries about a devaluation. Bond yields in the eurozone’s most indebted states fell and stress indicators in bank-to-bank lending eased as market concerns subsided that Chinese currency weakness would spread growth-crippling deflation across the developed world. Portuguese 10-year bond yields were a whole percentage point down from last week’s highs hit when investors became worried about China’s economic slowdown and the health of the world’s banks. Spot yuan jumped more than 1% to 6.4900 per dollar, its firmest this year, after the People’s Bank of China set its daily midpoint 0.3% stronger. The head of the bank was quoted as saying speculators should not be allowed to dominate market sentiment. The most widely followed measure of the market’s long-term inflation expectations for the euro zone - the five-year, five-year, breakeven forward, rose to 1.47% from a record low of 1.44% touched last week. The measure, which shows where markets expect 2026 inflation forecasts to be in 2021, remains well below the European Central Bank’s target of just below 2%. “We had a very strong
statement from the Chinese authorities signalling they are committed to a stable currency and that’s helped sentiment,” said RIA Capital Markets bond strategist Nick Stamenkovic. “But there’s still a lingering suspicion among investors that they might still devalue the yuan going forward.” German 10-year Bund yields rose 1 basis point to 0.27% as investors shifted to riskier assets such as stocks and higher-yielding debt. Stamenkovic said the underlying market mood remained fragile due to worries about banks, the uncertain outlook for China, and concerns about the US after its first interest rate rise in almost a decade last December. Ten-year Portuguese yields fell 22 basis points to 3.39%, a full percentage point below last week’s high. The sell-off in Portugal last week was a throwback to the 2011-2012 eurozone debt crisis, but some analysts said drawing such parallels is misguided given that the ECB is now buying bonds and could increase those purchases next month. “The ECB will not want to see the euro periphery trading once more as a credit market, having seemingly won the battle to restore confidence in 2012,” said Mark Dowding, co-head of investment grade debt at BlueBay Asset Management. In Italy, the treasury said the ECB was in talks with the government about buying bundles of bad loans as part of its asset-purchase programme and accepting them as collateral from banks in return for cash.
Jordan: For further cut in deposit rate.
Draghi: Signals tough measures to boost economy.
Tuesday, February 16, 2016
BUSINESSGULF TIMES
Can commodity prices expect some relief? By Dr R Seetharaman
The gold price was at $1237.97/ounce and silver price at $15.75/ounce by the end of last week. Gold had surged by close to 17% YTD and silver had surged by close to 13.5% YTD. Big sell-off in world stock markets this year sent investors and traders scrambling into the gold market as a safe haven.There are growing concerns about the collective health of the major world economies. There was near certainty at the start of the year that the Fed would raise rates several times in 2016 which had diminished now and hence also giving boost to precious metals. Last week, the Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen has stated that the US economy faces a number of global
threats that could hamper growth, but is still sticking to a plan of slowly hiking interest rates back to a more normal level over time. The dollar index was at 95.94 by the end of last week. The weakening of the dollar index in recent times due to mixed economic data from the US and delay in rate hikes also gave boost to the precious metals. The latest report from the World Gold Council shows that, since late 2015, the keen buyers have been investors and central banks.WTI and Brent were at $29.44/barrel and $33.36/barrel by the end of last week and had dropped by more than 20% YTD and 10% YTD respectively on concerns of supply glut in global oil market. However, oil prices had surged as much as 12% last Friday after fresh
hopes that Opec nations were set to cut oil production. Natural gas price was at $1.966/MMBTU by the end of last week
and had fallen by more than 16% YTD. Natural gas price fell on expectations of cooler weather contributing to lesser demand in air conditioning.Copper was at $4,506.75/tonne by the end of last week and had fallen by more than 4% in 2016 on concerns of Chinese slowdown. However, last week, copper had some support on hopes that Chinese commodity funds had accumulated long copper positions on the Shanghai Futures Exchanges. Nickel was at $7,789.5/tonne by the end of last week and had fallen by more than 11% in 2016 due to the oversupply and a decline in nickel-based stainless steel demand. Aluminum was at $1,502.5/tonne and capacity curtailments are supporting the aluminium price in recent times.Corn was at $3.63/ bushel by the end
of last week. It had declined to a one-month low last week on ample world inventories and slow demand for US supplies of the grain. Wheat was at $4.62 /bushel by the end of last week and had fallen by more than 3% YTD during this year. Wheat prices were down on concerns over demand for the US crop. Soybean was at $8.72/bushel by the end of last week and soybean prices slipped last week as progressing soybean harvest in South America pressurised prices.Cocoa was at $2,874/tonne by the end of last week and had fallen by more than 10% YTD. Cocoa prices had fallen this year on hopes of higher expectations of production from Ghana. Coff ee was at $117.50 /pound by the end of last week and had fallen by
more than 9% YTD. Brazil forecast that coff ee farmers will have a huge harvest season this year, creating an oversupply of beans, which has led to the drop in prices. Sugar was at $13.12/pound by the end of last week and had fallen by more than 12% YTD. Favourable weather sentiments from Brazilian sugarcane production regions dragged sugar prices down.The tumbling commodity prices have resulted in correction in global capital markets and rush of funds to precious metals as safe havens. It needs to be seen whether this will continue further or whether they can obtain some relief, amidst expectations of actions.
Dr R Seetharaman is Group CEO ofDoha Bank.
BANKING ON KNOWLEDGE
BG acquisition a major boost for Shell’s oil, gas reserves By Ben van Beurden
Yesterday saw the birth of a new player in
the global energy industry. In the midst of
some of the toughest market conditions
seen in decades, the joining together
of Shell and BG creates a company of
extraordinary strengths – a combination
greater than the sum of our parts. I feel
privileged to be part of this historic, trans-
formative moment.
It has been an intense 10 months since
we first announced the combination
with BG and yesterday was a very special
milestone for us – off icially the first day of
operations for the combined company.
It has also been a period of great volatility.
Although the oil price has fallen since our
announcement, I remain convinced of the
strategic and financial merits of the deal.
Over time, I expect the fundamentals
of energy supply and demand to reassert
themselves and the strategic and eco-
nomic benefits of the deal to fully deliver
for shareholders.
The deal reinvigorates Shell and will be
a springboard for further transformation.
We now plan to shape a simpler, leaner,
more agile and competitive company
focusing on our priorities for growth in liq-
uefied natural gas (LNG) and deep water.
The acquisition significantly boosts our
oil and gas reserves and production ca-
pacity, and is expected to provide a strong
injection to our operating cash flow. It
underpins our role as one of the world’s
largest independent producers of LNG.
But this deal is not about size. It is about
quality. The combined value of our exist-
ing and potential energy projects creates
a company more able to brave the cycles
in our industry, and strengthens our ability
to pay the dividend at any oil price that
might reasonably be expected.
Shell has acquired major oil and gas
projects in Brazil and Australia, and inter-
ests in other key countries, although there
is no change to Shell’s business in Qatar.
The deep-water interests in Brazil we
now own were one of the major drivers of
this deal. Brazil is a country we know well,
through the exploration and production
aspects of our business, our retail outlets
and our low-carbon biofuel joint venture. It
is quite simply a country of the highest stra-
tegic importance to us, a land with plenty of
potential for growth. Our global deep-water
experience and technical expertise will help
us build on our existing relationship with
the national oil company Petrobras. The
Libra joint venture already plans to develop
a major oil field 170 kilometres off the coast
of Brazil. Our newly acquired deep-water
operations off Brazil will now add to current
production from our Parque das Conchas
oil and gas project.
We see potential for immediate benefits
from our and BG’s complementary LNG
operations in Australia and Trinidad and
Tobago, as well as in Asia, a crucial and
growing market.
Other clear benefits include BG’s strong
position in trading and shipping, which will
bolster Shell’s capabilities, volumes and
relationships in these core areas for the fu-
ture development of the global gas market.
We are determined to use this coming
together to achieve eff iciencies – at $33bn
our planned capital investment in 2016 is
considerably less than the combined an-
nual spending of both companies in recent
years. Over the next three years we plan
to sell assets, as well as make significant
savings in overlapping costs and reduced
spending on exploration. We have already
announced plans to reduce staff and con-
tractors, which in these harsh economic
times is a diff icult but necessary step.
This timely rejuvenation of Shell
sharpens our ability to adapt and thrive
in an energy landscape that will continue
to change. It’s clear that business as usual
isn’t good enough if the world is to tackle
climate change, while making vital energy
available to a growing population in need
of a decent standard of living.
A global energy transition is under way.
I want Shell to be part of this transition
by producing more natural gas to replace
coal in power generation; continuing to in-
vest in the development of energy sources
for the future, such as low-carbon biofuels
and hydrogen as a fuel for transport; and
by helping to develop carbon capture
and storage. We will continue to advocate
government-led carbon-pricing systems.
This is one of the largest acquisitions
in UK corporate history and the biggest
in the energy industry for many years.
However, we mustn’t forget that people
make companies and we will make sure
that our combined teams blend together
smoothly. There is much to learn from
one another. Those who have worked
hard to build BG’s impressive portfolio will
find they are among like-minded people.
Bright, inventive, resilient people who care
about the industry they work in, and about
the health of our planet.
To create a more structured and
transparent process for integration of the
companies, we have set up a transition
organisation. Each existing part of Shell’s
business will be swift to understand the
activities and support needed for our new
assets and businesses.
We must now set about delivering the
value we’ve promised. Ahead lie several
months of detailed collaboration between
colleagues from both Shell and BG to
achieve full integration towards the end
of this year.
In my 32 years with Shell I have some-
times heard people say, “This company is
like an ocean-going tanker. It takes an age
to turn.” With the completion of this deal,
we have truly changed course – and are
now going full speed ahead.
Ben van Beurden is chief executive off icer of
Royal Dutch Shell.
FOCUS
Airline industry to generate $700bn in GDP, 33mn jobs in Asia-Pacifi c this year: IATA Airline industry will generate
more than $700bn in GDP and 33mn jobs in the Asia-Pacifi c
region this year, International Air Transport Association (IATA) Director General and CEO Tony Tyler has said.
“Airlines will transport 3.8bn pas-sengers and 53mn tonnes of air cargo this year. In doing so, they will sup-port some $2.4tn in economic activity and some 58mn jobs,” Tyler said at the Singapore Airshow Aviation Leader-ship Summit hosted by the Singapore Government, Experia Events and IATA.
By 2034, global demand will reach 7bn passengers, but that demand can only be accommodated through a working together approach by all avia-tion stakeholders including govern-ments,” Tyler said.
He cited the collaborative event as an example of the working together ap-proach. “It’s great that we are looking at the challenges of future growth to-gether with all stakeholders.”
Tyler identifi ed three examples where partnerships are vital to meet-
ing forecast demand for connectivity - safety, sustainability and infrastruc-ture development.
“Safety is our highest priority and we are seeing steady progress through our partnership approach involving airlines, airports, air navigation serv-ices providers, manufacturers, govern-ments and other stakeholders.
If we look at jet aircraft, in 2015 we had one major accident for every 3.1mn fl ights. That’s a signifi cant improve-ment on the fi ve-year average (2010-2014) of one accident for every 2.2mn fl ights.
Yet the last two years have also seen events that can only be classifi ed as ‘unthinkable’, including the disappear-ance of an aircraft, the downing of an aircraft by a missile, and the deliberate destruction of an aircraft by a suicidal pilot.
We must add to that the loss of an aircraft in what is suspected of being an act of terrorism.”
He said, “There are no simple solu-tions to the issues raised by these ter-
rible tragedies. But we must honour those who lost their lives, and their friends and loved ones, by re-dedi-cating ourselves to making fl ying even safer. Working with our partners in government and industry will drive im-provements based on global standards and best practices.”
“Environmental sustainability is our licence to grow,” said Tyler. The aviation industry has adopted a four-pillar strategy based on technology, operations, infrastructure, and mar-ket-based measures to address its CO2 emissions, and has adopted ambitious carbon reduction targets: A 1.5% an-nual average improvement in fuel ef-fi ciency to 2020, capping net carbon emissions with carbon-neutral growth from 2020, cutting net carbon emis-sions in half by 2050 as compared to 2005 levels.
“We are seeing success through our partnership approach. Fuel effi ciency is improving around 2% a year.
Sustainable fuels for aviation have matured with the knowledge that they
are safe and eff ective. And earlier this month, a CO2 standard was agreed that will institutionalise the continu-ous technical improvements that come with every new generation of aircraft and engines.
“Now we need governments to step up at the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) Assembly this au-tumn to agree a mandatory global car-bon off set scheme to be in place in time for 2020.
Our membership is doing all it can to provide support to this bold initiative,” Tyler said.
On infrastructure development, Tyler said, “We will add 3.2bn new air travellers in less than two decades. Of these, 1.8bn—56%-will be in Asia-Pacifi c—the vast majority on routes linked to China.
If we can realise that growth po-tential, then jobs and economic ac-tivity will follow. By 2034 aviation in the region could be supporting over 70mn jobs and some $1.3tn in eco-nomic activity.
But that’s dependent on the industry having suffi cient infrastructure,” Tyler said.Tyler said that many governments in the Asia-Pacifi c region value highly the economic contribution of connec-tivity enabled by aviation and work to sustain it.
However, Tyler cautioned that “it will be a challenge to keep up infra-structure development in line with growing demand—and to ensure that that skies can still operate effi ciently as the industry grows.
The Gulf hubs already face a similar challenge where much more coordina-tion in airspace management is need-ed. Europe probably faces the greatest risk.
Air traffi c management is an expen-sive and disjointed mess as a result of governments’ protection of narrow do-mestic interests at the expense of Con-tinental success.
Moreover, a Eurocontrol study es-timates that European airports could also face a capacity crunch—with a 12% shortfall against demand by 2035.”
Tyler: Partnerships are vital for safety, sustainability and infrastructure development.
Italian trade team onvisit in Qatar
A group of selected Italian companies in the electro-technical and electronic
sectors are in Qatar on a two-day business mission “Technology Days 2016”, which started yes-terday.
Italian Trade Agency with ANIE (Italian Federation of Electrotech-nical and Electronic Industry) is undertaking the mission, which is aimed at presenting their latest technical solutions and consoli-date business relationship with Qatari companies.
The purpose of this event is to present technological solutions in the sector but also to create synergies with the companies operating in Qatar, taking in consideration the needs of the Qatari market, said a spokesman of Italian Trade Agency.
The visiting delegation in-clude companies active in the contract and building sectors as Daldoss Elevetronic (specialised in vertical transport as elevators and platform lifts); ILC (pro-viding the national and foreign market with tailor-made solu-tions, from the component to the most sophisticated elevator); Ferrara Ascensori & Energia (de-signs and manufactures latest-generation elevators ); Dapa (automation for elevator); Ital-ian Top Gears (components for elevators and escalators); Ca-raglio (Caraglio plans, produces and installs electrical systems, electro industrial equipments, instrumental devices); and Zepa (cooking technology).
Egyptian pound falls to all-time low
The Egyptian pound weakened
to 9 against the dollar on the
black market for the first time
ever yesterday from 8.85 a day
earlier, as people rushed to buy
the US currency, two traders
told Reuters.
Egypt, which depends on
imports for its food and energy,
is facing a foreign currency
crisis and authorities are under
increasing pressure to devalue
the pound. Three exchange
bureaus in downtown Cairo told
Reuters yesterday they did not
have any dollars available.