GT EXCLUSIVE | Page 2
FED FOCUS | Page 5
Malaysia
revives waqf
segment
Markets
brace for
Yellen talk
Wednesday, July 12, 2017
Shawwal 18, 1438 AH
GULF TIMES
PRIVATE SECTOR AID: Page 16
QDB expects
growth in Qatar
PPP projects
BUSINESS
Mannai Corp raises
stake in France’s Gfi
Informatique to 81%
Mannai Corporation has raised its stake in France’s Gfi
Informatique to about 81% through acquiring an additional
11.23mn shares for about €90mn.
The Qatari company bought this additional 17% stake through an
off-market deal with Boussard and Gavaudan (B&G) at 8euros per
share.
However, Mannai said it would further buy from Apax France
(jointly with Altamir) and B&G, which together continue to hold a
15% stake.
Gfi Informatique is a major player in value-added IT services
and software in Europe, and occupies a strategic position in its
differentiated approach to global firms and niche entities. It is
listed on the regulated market of Euronext Paris.
“Mannai Corporation will further acquire off-market from Apax
France (Altamir) and B&G a stake representing about 15% of the
share capital and voting rights of Gfi Informatique in 2018, subject
to the applicable regulatory approvals,” the Doha-based entity
said.
Gfi Informatique, which has around 14,000 employees and
generated revenues of €1.02bn in 2016, currently has eight shared
service centres, four of which in France and the rest in Spain,
Portugal, Morocco and Poland. The group has over 40 offices in
France and further presence in eight additional countries.
QNB’s total assets expanded 11% to QR768bn, the highest ever achieved by the group, driven by an 11% increase in loans and advances to QR552bn
QNB posts 7% jump in
H1 profit to QR6.7bn
Q
NB Group, the largest financial
institution in the Middle East and
Africa (MEA) region, has reported
a 7% jump year-on-year in net profit to
QR6.7bn in the first half of this year.
The January-June earnings performance reflects the lender’s success in resilience and maintaining strong growth
while controlling costs.
Total assets expanded 11% to QR768bn,
the highest ever achieved by the group, a
bank spokesman yesterday said after the
board meeting. The asset growth was
driven by an 11% increase in loans and
advances to QR552bn.
QNB Group was successful in attracting new customer deposits, which grew
15% to QR562bn, which led to its loan-
to-deposit ratio reach 98.3% compared
to 101.7% in the comparable period of
2016.
“This clearly demonstrates the success
of QNB’s strategy to diversify its funding
sources,” the spokesman said.
The prudent cost control policy and
strong revenue generating capability
helped QNB improve the efficiency ratio
(cost-to-income ratio) to 29.3% at the
end of June 30, 2017, which is considered
one of the best ratios among financial institutions in the region. In the previous
year period, the efficiency ratio stood at
30.4%.
The group was able to maintain the
ratio of non-performing loans to gross
loans at 1.8%, a level considered one of
the lowest amongst financial institutional in the MEA region, reflecting the high
quality of its loan book and the effective
management of credit risk.
The conservative policy in regard to
provisioning continued with the coverage ratio reaching 110% at the end of June
30, 2017.
QNB, which benefits from a highly
diversified international and local funding base spread across MEA, Europe and
Asia, has diversified its wholesale funding pools in terms of currencies, tenors
and product mix and follows a very conservative approach to manage its liquidity needs.
Based on this, the bank decreased its
loans-to-deposit ratio to 98.3% in the
review period compared to 101.7% in
January-June 2016 and improved liquid
assets, which comprise cash and cash
equivalents to QR65bn or 8% of total assets.
Capital adequacy ratio stood at 15.6%
at the end of June 30, 2017, which is higher than the regulatory minimum requirements of the Qatar Central Bank and the
Basel Committee.
“The group is keen to maintain a strong
capitalisation in order to support future
growth targets,” the spokesman said.
Total equity increased 1% year-onyear to QR74bn during January-June this
year. Earnings-per-share stood at QR7
against QR6.7 in the corresponding period of 2016.
Egypt inflation rises again,
expected to keep going up
Reuters
Cairo
Egypt’s core inflation rose in June and is expected to rise even
more after the government’s recent decision to increase fuel
and electricity prices. Import-dependent Egypt has been hit
by soaring inflation since it floated its currency in November,
allowing the pound to roughly halve in value.
The float marked the opening of a three-year, $12bn International
Monetary Fund reform programme that includes tax increases
and subsidy cuts.
Core inflation, which strips out volatile items like food, increased
to 31.95% year-on-year in June from 30.57% in May, the central
bank said on Monday. nnual urban consumer price inflation rose
slightly in June to 29.8% from 29.7% in May, the official statistics
agency, CAPMAS, said.
Last week, the government increased electricity prices by up to
42% this fiscal year for households.
A week earlier, it raised fuel prices by up to 50% to help meet the
terms of its IMF loan agreement.
Rising prices present a challenge for President Abdel Fattah
al-Sisi and his government, which have pledged to push ahead
with sensitive austerity measures like fuel and electricity price
increases. Although the monthly inflation rate in Egyptian cities
eased to 0.8% in June from 1.7% in May, government officials and
analysts expect the higher fuel prices to add 3 to 4.5 percentage
points to year-on-year inflation in the coming months.
US, UK funds flock to Qatar bourse: Al-Mansoori
Al-Mansoori: Global interest.
The American and British
funds have increasingly
entered the Qatar Stock
Exchange (QSE), where
portfolios of the siege
countries account for less
than 1% of the bourse’s
capitalisation and therefore
their exit will not have
“significant” impact, according
to a top official of the bourse.
Moreover, the QSE, the
second-largest bourse
in the Gulf Cooperation
Council (GCC) by market
capitalisation, has proved
its ability to counter the
repercussions of the
current blockade to remain
attractive for investments,
based on strong economic
fundamentals.
In an interview to Qatar
Television, QSE chief
executive Rashid bin Ali
al-Mansoori said some
Saudi and Emirati portfolios
had tried to “distract” the
market in the first two days
of the crisis by offering large
quantities of shares for sale.
“However, these attempts
have failed and the market
has corrected itself since local
investors as well as American
and British portfolios have
entered the market with a
buy and consequentially the
average daily trading value
has increased from QR250mn
to QR450mn per day,” he said.
Highlighting that QSE is the
only market where the GCC
nationals enjoy the same
privileges as those for Qatari
citizens, he said the size of the
portfolios belonging to the
blockade countries does not
exceed QR6bn compared to the
bourse’s market capitalisation
exceeding QR500bn.
“The exit of these portfolios
will not have any significant
impact on the Qatari market,
given their small percentage
of the market and the
readiness of other local and
international portfolios to
enter the market in a bullish
trend considering the buying
opportunities,” he said.
Al-Mansoori had said earlier
that two global investors from
the UK and Hong Kong had
held talks with the bourse on
establishing exchange traded
fund and commodity fund
respectively. Efforts are also
on to allow omnibus accounts
for custodians and the launch
of market makers, pending
approval from the Qatar
Financial Market Authority.
He said the QSE has currently
received more than 140
investor applications from
new foreign investment
portfolios wishing to enter
the bourse and that the
market has also witnessed
great interest from Qatari
investors and businessmen
who entered the market to
buy during the crisis.
Confident that Qatar could
weather the blockade,
he said the bourse is well
prepared and enjoying
advanced infrastructure,
fair and orderly market,
healthy investor relations and
transparency practices, and
robust regulatory framework
combined with a clear
long-term strategy (five-year
business plan).
“This strategy is mainly
based on the development
of the initial public offering
market through listing
more companies in order
to enhance liquidity in
the market, as well as the
diversification of investment
instruments and innovative
services,” he added.
Wednesday, July 12, 2017
2 ISLAMIC FINANCE
GULF
TIMES
EDUCATION/FAQ on Musharakah
Is it permissible to contract a
Musharakah for construction of
property, where the client share
is the value of land he owns and
the bank’s share is the value of
the building to be constructed?
Furthermore, is it permissible to
contract an agreement that the
bank will sell its shares to the
client upon completion of the
contract and that the client will
be appointed contractor for the
project?
It is permissible to enter into a
Musharakah contract for construction
on the property that is in the
ownership of the client. The client’s
share in the Musharakah will be equal
to the value of the land while the
bank’s share will be equal to the value
of the building to be constructed.
Must profit shares be
proportionate to investment
amounts, as is the case with the
shares of losses?
Profit shares need not be
proportionate to investment amounts
and may reflect varying amounts of
time, effort and risk undertaken by
different partners, but silent partners
may not take a greater percentage
than their investment amount, though
they may take less.
What are the different types of offer
in Shariah?
Whether an offer from the buyer to
the seller or from the seller to the
buyer, an offer is of three types: 1)
Written offer: Contracts involving
any level of detail and complexity
require a written offer; 2) Spoken offer:
Suffices for transactions involving a
straightforward purchase, such as
buying food from a vendor at a market;
3) Unspoken offer: The three most
common types of unspoken offer are
the indicated offer, by hand signal (or
other form of signalling) between two
parties familiar with the transaction,
such as in a stock exchange; the
implied offer, a transaction whose
details are understood beforehand by
both parties, such as at a supermarket;
and the credited offer, in which
payment occurs at the end of a
designated period, such as a utility
charge at the end of the month to a
homeowner.
In a Musharakah that is managed
by a single partner is it permissible
to make this partner liable for
administrative expenses of
the Musharakah in return for a
certain fee in consideration of his
management?
It is not permissible to make one of the
partners liable for the expenses of the
Musharakah. Such expenses will be
charged to the Musharakah in actual,
whenever possible, or a reasonable
estimate.
Of what form should the capital
investment be?
Capital investment may be contributed
in cash, in kind, or a mix of both to be
used in the business, in which case
the in kind asset’s market value is
assessed and agreed upon, forming
the contributing partner’s share in the
business.
Is it permissible for partners
to charge expenses to the
Musharakah by estimating the
expenses as a percentage of the
capital?
It is not permissible to charge
expenses to a Musharakah based on
the capital invested. Rather, expenses
may only be charged in accordance
with prevalent market prices.
In the case of a Musharakah
contracted for the purpose of
financing the purchase of property,
is it permissible to make the
partner who will be the eventual
owner liable for insuring the
property?
Insurance is the responsibility of both
partners and it will not be permissible
to make one of the partners liable to
Malaysia is reviving
widely untapped waqf
segment of finance
By Arno Maierbrugger
Gulf Times Correspondent
Bangkok
I
n a world’s first, Malaysia two
weeks ago saw the initial public offering (IPO) of waqf shares
through a company that manages endowed land in the country’s
southernmost state of Johor. The
step is widely seen as an innovative
strategy in Islamic finance for effective development of waqf properties in order to maximise benefits
for the community.
Waqf, under Islamic law, is a
charitable endowment which involves donating a building, plot
of land or other tangible assets for
religious or charitable purposes
with no intention of reclaiming the
assets. The donated assets are normally held by a charitable trust in a
system that Western law defines as
usufruct.
In this case, Waqaf An-Nur Corp,
an company set up by Johor Corp, a
government-linked entity seeking
to improve economic and societal
development in the state, is offering
shares worth around $20mn backed
by endowed land to retail and institutional investors and intends
to use the proceeds to upgrade regional transport infrastructure in
the state’s capital of Johor Bahru.
Waqaf An-Nur Corp has been
established to manage the assets of
Johor Corp endowed for waqf. For
the parent group, it plays the role
of a Maukuf Alaihi, an institution
entitled to receive waqf property
through shares and other forms
of company securities collectively
allocated into waqf. Besides infrastructure, the firm manages clinics,
hospitals and community centres
and provides start-up financing
and interest-free capital to smallscale entrepreneurs to start or grow
their businesses, organises community workers and provides contributions to the society via general
welfare allocations.
Waqaf An-Nur Corp – a charitable organisation in Johor Bahru backed by waqf – is operating community services
such as clinics and hospitals. PICTURE: Wancorp
The funds raised from the Shariah-compliant waqf IPO of the
“Larkin Sentral Waqaf Properties
Fund” will be used to renovate and
upgrade the main and largest public
transport terminal in Johor Bahru,
Larkin Sentral, and its adjacent
market, and for the acquisition of
land for the construction of a multi-storey carpark by 2019.
Investors in the waqf shares will
be eligible for tax deduction of up
Gulf Times
Exclusive
to 7% in case they are individuals
and 10% in case they are companies
or other institutional shareholders,
namely retirement funds, cooperatives, foundations or workers’
pension funds. The dividend from
the waqf shares is aimed at helping
small and low-income vendors and
single-mother groups by reducing
rental rates for the market’s shop
lots to a reasonable level.
“This launch is a moment that
can be considered historic to the
country as it is the launch of the
first public offering of waqf shares
in the world,” said Mohamed Khaled Nordin, chairman of Waqaf An-
Nur Corp. “Indirectly, it is also an
example of an innovation in ensuring the waqf system can continue to
be strengthened with better governance.”
Observers say that this first-ever
waqf IPO may have an impact not
just on Malaysia’s Islamic finance
landscape, but even at a global
range as it could potentially open
new avenues for the waqf segment,
which is believed to hold substantially valued asset across the Muslim world, but is widely considered
as untapped.
Generally seen as an important Islamic institution that underlies basic economic development, waqf has a long history in
the Muslim world of inspiring
economic growth and expansion,
with benefits encompassing commerce, education, health, social
and spiritual dimensions. However,
in Malaysia over the past century
– particularly as a consequence of
British colonial rule – Muslims at
all levels had come to consider that
the waqf system was an ancient institution mainly for the upkeep of
cemeteries and mosques, a notion
that changed only in the recent past
with the growing importance of Islamic finance and improved regulation of Islamic asset management
in Malaysia.
“People used to describe waqf
only as a charitable system involving assets such as land and money,”
noted Kamaruzzaman Bin Abu
Kassim, CEO and president of Johor Corp
“However, the real meaning of
waqf is wider and includes various
aspects as long as its intention and
purpose are beneficial to the community. Our waqf IPO is changing
the perception as it gives the opportunity to participate in contributing something to the community
through the way of Islamic finance.
It is also not exclusive to Muslims,
as non-Muslims can also participate on the basis of social responsibility,” he added.
bear insurance premiums. However,
the bank may consider recovering its
insurance expense by building them
into the amount of rent payable to it by
the other partner.
In the case of a Musharakah
contracted for the purpose of
financing the purchase of property,
is it permissible to make the
partner who will be the eventual
owner liable to bear registration
and other ancillary expenses?
It is permissible to make such a partner
liable to bear registration charges and
other ancillary expenses in light of
the fact that such a partner will be the
eventual owner of the property.
Source: Ethica Institute of Islamic
Finance via Bloomberg
‘Saudi to issue domestic
sukuk this month’
Reuters
Dubai
Saudi Arabia will issue a local currency sukuk, or
Islamic bond, this month, Saudi Finance Minister
Mohammed al-Jadaan told Al Arabiya News on
the sidelines of the G20 summit in Hamburg.
The government is expected to tap both the
local and international bond markets this year,
depending on the level of demand and the
pricing it can obtain, al-Jadaan said in May.
Saudi Arabia issued its first international bond
of $17.5bn last year and a debut international
sukuk of $9bn in April as it seeks to plug a
budget deficit caused by lower oil prices.
The minister said in May that the state’s budget
deficit would be funded mainly through
international and local debt, while drawing
down the government’s reserves would be a last
resort.
Dana Gas aims to
propose new sukuk
terms in weeks
Reuters
Dubai
Abu Dhabi-listed Dana Gas aims to
communicate proposed terms of a restructured
sukuk issue in coming weeks, chief executive
Patrick Allman-Ward said last Thursday.
He was speaking in a conference call to
brief holders of the company’s $700mn of
outstanding sukuk, which will mature in October.
There was no question and answer session
in the call, and no immediate response from
creditors.
“The company would look to communicate to
the market the terms for a new restructured
sukuk instrument and the process for holders
to participate in such a legal and enforceable
instrument over the coming weeks,” AllmanWard said.
In mid-June, Dana stunned creditors by
announcing it would halt payments on its
existing four-year sukuk because they no
longer complied with changing interpretations
of the Islamic Shariah code, and had thus
become unlawful in the UAE. Dana said it would
exchange the sukuk for new Islamic instruments
with lower profit rates than the existing paper.
Allman-Ward said on Thursday that the
mudaraba structure of the outstanding sukuk —
a form of investment management partnership
— had become obsolete since 2007, when
Dana originally issued the debt and when that
structure was common.
Many features of mudaraba have now been
discredited, he said. “The sukuk market has simply
evolved and no longer regards a pure mudaraba
structure such as ours as being Shariah-compliant
and, in the case of the UAE, lawful.”
Investors and bankers in Islamic finance are
concerned that other sukuk issuers could
imitate Dana in refusing to redeem paper on the
grounds that it has lost its Shariah-compliance.
Amid Dana debacle, Islamic finance
seeks safeguards on illegality claims
Reuters
Sydney/Kuala Lumpur
T
he Islamic finance industry is seeking ways to
safeguard deals against
challenges to their religious permissibility, after a case in the
UAE raised the risk that issuers
of Islamic bonds could refuse to
redeem them after such a challenge.
Bankers and lawyers say several mechanisms, new and old,
could address the problem,
though it may be impossible to
remove the risk entirely.
Legal provisions in contracts
for financial instruments could
prevent their Shariah-compliance from being questioned after
they are issued. Investors may
also screen scholars who certify
instruments as Shariah-compliant more carefully, and pay more
attention to what mechanisms,
such as courts, exist to rule on
potential disputes.
Last month, Sharjah-based
Dana Gas declared it would not
make payments on $700mn of
sukuk maturing this October because Islamic finance standards
had changed since the instruments were issued four years
ago.
The change in standards
meant the instruments were no
longer Shariah-compliant and
had become “unlawful” in the
UAE, Dana argued.
This raised concern across the
Islamic finance industry that
more companies could avoid redeeming sukuk by adopting the
same argument as Dana.
The outcome of the Dana case,
which is being fought in British
and UAE courts, could hurt liquidity and growth in the global
sukuk market, Moody’s said.
To try to avoid similar cases
in future, investors may demand
more detailed and restrictive
language in sukuk documentation.
Such language already exists
for some sukuk, but it is not used
consistently and is not standardised.
“We foresee sukuk investors
increasingly demanding Shariah
assurances which could include
a Shariah undertaking in the
form of an explicit waiver of any
defence of non-compliance,”
said Mohammad Hasif Murad,
investment manager at Aberdeen Islamic Asset Management
in Malaysia.
Some issuers in Indonesia
go further by stipulating that if
their sukuk cease to be Shariahcompliant, they will be declared
in default, mature immediately
and become repayable to investors.
Sukuk issued by Maybank Indonesia, BRI Syariah and Bank
Jambi include such clauses, according to Fitch Ratings.
They all used an investment
management partnership structure known as mudaraba, the
same format employed by Dana.
But early redemption is not
fundamentally desirable for is-
suers or investors, which may
limit wide use of such clauses
in the Gulf region, said a Dubaibased partner of an international
law firm.
Also, such clauses may not
suffice against an issuer in financial distress seeking to force a restructuring aggressively or delay
repayment, said the lawyer.
“This is part of the risk that
investors run in our region. Such
risk already tends to be priced
into instruments issued out of
the Middle East.”
Investors may therefore cast a
more watchful eye on the groups
of scholars who provide Shariah
endorsements for sukuk.
“With this case, we will be
more stringent when looking at
what are the pledges made, who
Last month, Sharjah-based Dana Gas declared it would not make
payments on $700mn of sukuk maturing this October because
Islamic finance standards had changed since the instruments were
issued four years ago.
are the Shariah councils,” said
Heddy Humaizi Hussain, director of institutional sales and
marketing at Kuala Lumpurbased financial firm Saturna.
At present, sukuk issuers generally choose the scholars who
certify their instruments.
Some analysts think that
model could eventually change
under pressure from investors,
if that is necessary to maintain
the credibility of Islamic finance.
Issuers could be required to
have an independent Shariah
board that answers to directors
and shareholders rather than to
management, said Sheikh Yusuf
Talal DeLorenzo, a scholar with
over three decades of experience
in Islamic finance.
“Certainly in Muslim-majority jurisdictions this should be
the case, whether it’s an airport
authority, or a shipbuilder, or a
real estate developer,” he said.
Malaysia has succeeded in
limiting disputes over Shariah
compliance partly because it has
country-level Shariah boards
within its central bank and capital markets regulator.
These boards tend to create
a national consensus on standards.
4
Gulf Times
Wednesday, July 12, 2017
BUSINESS
Emerging currencies
suffer hefty losses
Reuters
London
Emerging currencies suffered
hefty losses yesterday, with the
South African rand tumbling
more than 1% at one point as
investors sold down assets
deemed most vulnerable
to tighter global monetary
conditions.
Global markets face a squeeze
in coming months as the
US Federal Reserve starts
unwinding its balance sheet
and raises rates further,l while
the eurozone too has hinted at
reducing stimulus.
That recently lifted Treasury and
German yields to two-month
highs and six-month highs
respectively.
While emerging equities are
seen as relatively resilient due
to firmer growth and earnings,
especially in Asia, currencies
are likely to be at the sharp
end, with the Turkish lira and
South African rand regarded
as vulnerable due to current
account deficits and messy
internal politics.
The rand hit two-month lows
while the lira lost almost 1% to
trade just off recent 2-1/2 month
lows.
The rouble, meanwhile
shrugged off a slight oil price
rise to also lose 1% to a new sixmonth low.
“A couple of things are
changing.
If you look at most of G10s there
is a rise in real yields and it
effectively indicates the period
of abnormally low interest rates
is coming to an end.
That’s leading to reappraisal
of what’s good value in G10 as
well as emerging markets,” said
Peter Kinsella, head of research
at Commonwealth Bank of
Australia
“Second is oil prices — Opec is
talking of further supply cuts
which shows they are finding it
hard to balance markets.
Falling oil prices are net-net
positive for G10 and net-net
negative for EM.”
Kinsella said, however, that
while currencies were the
first line of defence, emerging
equity and debt markets were
supported by valuations which
are less rich than during the
2013 selloff.
Also within emerging
currencies, jitters over threats to
the South African central bank’s
independence and a continued
crackdown in Turkey on people
suspected of involvement in
last year’s failed coup were
exacerbating risks for these
markets.
Asian currencies on the other
hand were relatively solid, with
the rupee and Korean won
slipping only marginally.
JPMorgan said it had turned
underweight in many EMEA
emerging currencies, but
named the rand its “hedge of
choice” due to domestic as well
as external risks.
“The political climate in South
Africa is likely to remain
excessively noisy till the end
of the year, tail risks of local
bond ratings downgrades are
growing, and investors till
now have been too sanguine
on the outlook for local
markets,” JPM said in a note
to clients.
However, MSCI’s benchmark
emerging equity index rose
0.7% as shares tracked global
stocks higher.
In bond markets, Indonesia
continued to market bonds,
even adding a euro tranche to
the two-dollar tranches, quoting
its 10-year dollar note at 4.25%.
Societe Generale strategist
Regis Chatellier said he had
adjusted his portfolio in favour
of shorter-duration emerging
debt especially in central
Europe, to guard against the
rise in core rates. “After such a
long rally a reduction in balance
sheets is going to hurt a bit,”
he said.
People walk outside the Hong Kong Stock Exchange building. The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index of mainland companies listed in Hong Kong touched post-October 2015
highs in the first half.
China hedge funds bounce
back from their worst
performance in five years
Bloomberg
Hong Kong
C
hina-focused
hedge
funds
bounced back from their worst
performance in five years and
trounced global counterparts.
After an annual loss last year, Greater
China hedge funds added more than 13%
on average in the first half of 2017 to rank
among the top-performing strategies in
the world, according to preliminary data
from Eurekahedge.
Hedge funds from Greenwoods Asset
Management, Springs Capital and SPQ
Asia Capital were among standout performers with gains of 20% or more.
Hedge funds worldwide are struggling
with investor redemptions after central
bank intervention suppressed volatility
and sapped returns.
China funds were a rare pocket of outperformance as global hedge funds on
average gained about 2.4% in the first
half, according to Hedge Fund Research
data on Monday.
Investors are taking notice: the majority of China-focused hedge funds saw
inflows in May for the first time since
2015, according to a report by research
firm eVestment.
While Greater China equity funds
overall benefited from surging Hong
Kong-listed shares and large-cap stocks
on the mainland, well-timed bets on
technology, Internet and consumer companies drove returns at some of the top
performers.
In recent years, China-focused hedge
funds have helped shield investors from
losses in falling markets and have roughly kept pace with benchmarks in volatile
conditions, said Peter Laurelli, global
head of research at eVestment.
China funds’ average performance in
the first half was twice the 6.3% gain in
a HFR index tracking equity-focused
funds globally, benefiting from investments in healthcare and emerging markets.
The Hang Seng China Enterprises
Index of mainland companies listed in
Hong Kong touched post-October 2015
highs in the first half.
The MSCI China Index added about
24% through June 30.
China’s initiation into MSCI Inc’s indexes has further boosted the outlook for
the nation’s largest stocks.
Greenwoods’ $1.6bn Golden China
Fund made nearly 27% in the first half,
according to an estimate sent to investors.
Performance was boosted by bullish
bets on consumer stocks listed in Hong
Kong and China, and Internet-related
companies traded in the US, as well as
service companies on the Hong Kong
stock exchange, Joseph Zeng, chief exec-
Sensex rises further; rupee weakens
Bloomberg
Mumbai
I
ndian shares advanced a second
day, with the key indexes extending record highs, paced by a rally in
software exporters.
The benchmark S&P BSE Sensex
added 0.1% to close at 31,747.09 points
in Mumbai, while the NSE Nifty 50 Index gained 0.2%. The Sensex closed at
an all-time high level for the third day
in four trading sessions.
A relatively fast-growing economy,
policy reforms, strengthening currency and an improving earnings outlook
have boosted Indian shares this year,
with overseas and local funds buying
more than $14bn worth of equities, according to the latest data compiled by
Bloomberg.
That, “combined with a strong domestic demand environment and impressive progress on the structural
reforms front, has kept the investor
sentiments intact, despite the recent
run” in stocks, HSBC Securities &
Capital Markets (India) said in an investor note.
Six of the 13 sector gauges compiled
by BSE advanced, led by the S&P BSE
Information Technology Index’s 0.9%
gain. Infosys and Tata Consultancy
Services provided the biggest boosts
to the industry gauge before earnings
reports due later this week. The index
is still the worst performer in 2017 after the health-care measure.
“It is quite plausible that earnings growth compounds annually at
20% in the coming five years, led by
government infrastructure spending,
The rupee closed at 64.59 a dollar yesterday, down 0.09% from its Monday’s close of 64.53
consumption and exports,” Morgan
Stanley said in an investor note on July
10. The Narendra Modi government is
“on a path of re-election” in 2019, a
positive for stocks, the broker said.
Meanwhile the rupee yesterday
erased all the gains and closed marginally weaker against the US dollar ahead
of the key consumer price inflation and
industrial production data on July 12.
The rupee closed at 64.59 a dollar,
down 0.09% from its Monday’s close
of 64.53. The rupee opened at 64.46 a
dollar and touched a high of 64.45 — a
level last seen on June 29.
The government will issue industrial production and consumer price
inflation data for May and June respectively
According to DBS Bank report, inflation to slip 1.6% from 2.2% in May.
“Food inflation might slip deeper into
deflation on YoY terms on base effects,
but a modest rise is likely in sequential terms. Monsoon has been slightly
above normal, but flooding conditions
in some parts of the country has lifted
costs of perishables (particularly vegetables)”, the DBS Bank report added.
The 10-year bond yield ended at
6.485%, compared to its previous
close of 6.474%. Bond yields and prices move in opposite directions.
The benchmark Sensex index rose
0.10% or 31.45 points to close at
31,747.09. So far this year, it has risen
19.11%. So far this year, the rupee has
gained 5.25%, while foreign investors
bought $8.24bn and $14.47bn in local
equity and debt markets, respectively.
Asian currencies were trading
mixed. Philippines peso was up 0.14%,
Indonesian rupiah and Singapore dollar were up 0.06%. However, Japanese
yen was down 0.25%, South Korean
won 0.15%.
The dollar index, which measures
the US currency’s strength against
major currencies, was trading at
96.111, up 0.09% from its previous
close of 96.022.
utive officer of Greenwoods’ Hong Kong
company, said.
The SPQ Asia Opportunities Fund,
which gained 22% in the first half, was
helped by profitable investments in
technology and consumer discretionary
stocks, and companies that run afterschool education programs for young
students in China, according to Gregoire
Dechy, chief operating officer of Hong
Kong-based SPQ.
One of the fund’s picks was Momo,
the mobile social networking platform
whose shares have more than doubled
this year.
The fund makes three-fourths of its
investments in stocks with a market value of more than $5bn, Dechy said.
Other managers found opportunities
in overlooked areas.
Springs Capital’s China Opportunities Fund added more than 7.5% in
June, with 2017 gains topping 24%,
according to a person with knowledge
of the matter.
Profit at the fund, one of the rare offshore stock hedge funds that focuses
on yuan-denominated shares traded in
China, was driven by gains in chemical
materials, high-end manufacturing and
healthcare stocks, said the person.
It avoided large-cap stocks most popular with foreign investors in the yuan
shares market, the person said.
And while analysts’ forecasts com-
piled by Bloomberg show expectations
for a muted performance for China’s
broader stock market heading into the
second half, managers see some gains
set to continue in the medium- and
longer-term.
Greater China’s large companies, including blue-chips and leaders of small
industries, may outperform small- and
mid-cap stocks over the next three years
as large companies gain share when China’s slowing economy spurs industry
consolidation, according to a Pinpoint
Asset Management letter to investors
seen by Bloomberg.
The firm’s $883mn Pinpoint China
Fund added about 16% through June,
driven by gains in holdings of technology, media, telecommunications and
consumer stocks, according to Jennifer
Wong, the firm’s managing director of
investor relations.
APS Asset Management expects MSCI’s decision to include A-shares in its
indexes will have “enormous” implications over time, and November’s Communist Party congress may provide a
catalyst for stocks associated with China’s new economy, according to chief investment officer Wong Kok Hoi.
The firm’s $2bn A-share strategy benefited from bets on consumer and tech
stocks including Gree Electric Appliances of Zhuhai and Hangzhou Hikvision
Digital Technology Co, he said.
Asian markets extend rally
AFP
Hong Kong
Most Asian markets yesterday built on
the previous day’s rally after a broadly
positive lead from Europe and Wall
Street, while traders look ahead to the
start of US earnings.
Dealers remain upbeat after Friday’s
surprisingly strong US jobs data that
analysts said has put the Federal
Reserve on course for at least one
more interest rate hike this year,
boosting the dollar.
Eyes will now turn to Fed boss Janet
Yellen’s congressional testimony this
week for a better handle on the bank’s
plans for rates as well as winding down
its other stimulus put in place during
the financial crisis.
However, the key catalysts for business
this week will be the beginning of
the corporate report season, with
big-name firms including JP Morgan,
PepsiCo and Citigroup in line.
“Looking ahead, we think improving
corporate earnings are the key
ingredient needed to sustain the equity
bull market,” said Bob Doll, senior
portfolio manager and chief equity
strategist at Nuveen Asset Management.
“And with economic growth prospects
looking solid, we think earnings can
climb,” he told Bloomberg News.
On Asian equity markets Tokyo ended
0.6% higher while Hong Kong surged
1.5% and Sydney put on 0.1%. Seoul
added 0.6%, with Taipei more than 1%
up and Wellington 0.6% higher.
However, Shanghai eased 0.3% and
Singapore gave up 0.6%. Bets that
US borrowing costs will rise further
continue to underpin the dollar, which
held gains against the pound and euro.
However, while it pushed up against
the yen, it has struggled to break out,
despite the widening gap between US
and Japanese monetary policy.
Stephen Innes, senior trader at OANDA,
said in a note: “By all accounts with
the Bank of Japan and Fed divergence
still on the cards, (the dollar) should be
trading higher.”
But he said that ongoing geopolitical
fears following North Korea’s missile
test last week and questions about
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s
future after recent scandals and
an election setback “are weighing
on Japanese investors as a drive
for downside protection enters
the psyche”. He added: “It appears
these fears are tempering USD/JPY
upside despite the Fed maintaining
its tightening conviction, and BoJ
(keeping) its easing bias.”
Oil prices edged up for a second day
after last week’s losses, supported
by an expected drop in US stockpiles
but there are warnings of uncertainty
owing to heavy production by the US
and other countries not signed up to
the Opec-Russia cuts.
“The market is likely to see continuing
volatility,” David Lennox, a Sydneybased resource analyst at Fat Prophets,
said. “There is still a glut and there is
potential for further weakness.
Investors need to see good seasonal
demand from the US, otherwise there
will be pressure to the downside.”
In early European trade London
and Paris each edged up 0.1% while
Frankfurt tacked on 0.3%.
In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 closed up 0.6%
at 20,195.48 points; Hong Kong — Hang
Seng rose 1.5% at 25,877.64 points and
Shanghai — Composite closed down
0.3% at 3,203.04 points.
Gulf Times
Wednesday, July 12, 2017
5
BUSINESS
As MiFID approaches, specialist brokers advance, not retreat
Reuters
London
Brokers specialising in researching midcap stocks are sharpening their focus
and hiring rather than retreating ahead
of sweeping regulatory changes that on
the face of it could hurt their business.
The idea is that as big sell-side houses
cut coverage of niche areas, smaller
ones can hone in on them.
The Markets in Financial Instruments
Directive, or MiFID-II, comes into force
in Europe in less than six months and
one of the main impacts will be putting
an explicit price on research rather than
bundling payments along with trading
costs.
As a result, many brokers are jostling
for position on buy-side clients’
research lists — which are likely to
shrink as asset managers adapt to
paying directly for research.
“The equity research environment
is bloated — we are going to find out
who the really good houses are,”
said Michael Horan, head of trading
services at agency broker Pershing
Limited.
Although there is still significant
uncertainty over the impact, most
market participants believe there
will be significant churn in research
analyst staffing levels and a reduction
in coverage of small and mid-cap
companies in particular.
But several houses specialising in midcaps are responding to this threat by
drilling down into their speciality areas
in the hope that large brokers retreat
from the field, leaving a lucrative gap
to fill.
For example, private bank Berenberg
has added six new analysts to its UK
mid-cap team and plan to increase that
further by the end of the year.
Similarly, British mid-cap specialist
LME launches bid
for slice of $5tn
London gold market
Reuters
London
M
ore than two tonnes
of gold were traded
through the London
Metal Exchange’s new LMEprecious spot contract on its first
day as the exchange launched
its bid to take a slice of the
world’s biggest over-the-counter (OTC) gold market.
The LMEprecious suite
of gold and silver contracts
was developed with a group
of backers including banks
Goldman Sachs and Morgan
Stanley, which then set up
EOS Precious Metals to promote trade in the contracts
and benefit from a 50:50 revenue-sharing deal with the
LME.
The LME launched its contracts at 0000 GMT on Monday, though volumes did not
pick up until the start of the
European trading day at 0700
GMT.
By close of business on
Monday, 75,500 ounces (2.3
tonnes) of gold had traded on
the LMEprecious spot contract, exchange data showed.
That is worth some $91.3mn
at current spot prices.
“Typical interbank trade
between one party and another would be 5,000-10,000
ounces in a single trade,” said
Ross Norman, chief executive of bullion trader Sharps
Pixley.”It will be nice to see
what the trend is — if (it picks
up), you’d begin to think, here
we go.”
Market makers were quoting prices on spreads between
contracts out to June 2022.
A source at one of the EOS
partners said: “At this early
stage players are finding their
feet.
It may be a while until people start trading in size.”
As well as Goldman and
Morgan Stanley, the EOS partnership includes banks ICBC
Standard Societe Generale
and Natixis, proprietary trader OSTC and the World Gold
Council, an industry market
development body.
All the banks except Natixis
are general clearing members
of LMEPrecious, along with
brokers Marex Financial and
BOCI Global Commodities
(UK). OSTC, XTX Markets and
Morgan Stanley’s commodities unit are non-clearing
members, while Natixis is an
individual clearing member.
London’s gold trade is dominated by over-the-counter
(OTC) business conducted
bilaterally among networks of
brokers, banks and traders.
The LME’s new contracts
aim to capitalise on increasing regulatory scrutiny that is
raising costs for banks trading
gold over the counter.
US exchanges CME Group
and ICE have also launched
London gold contracts this
year, hoping to lure business
from the traditional OTC market, which is estimated to be
worth $5tn a year.
Both the LME, owned by
Hong Kong Exchanges and
Clearing, and ICE are in the
running to take over as operators of the global silver benchmark, the LBMA Silver Price,
when incumbents Thomson
Reuters and CME Group step
down.
On the gold front, meanwhile, CME Group’s introduction of a spot spread contract
in London this year and ICE’s
launch of a futures contract
in January have led market
participants to suggest that
market liquidity could be fractured.
“We will be monitoring
volumes and comparing with
LBMA to see how LME impinges on OTC volume,” Rhona O’Connell, head of research
and forecasts at GFMS, told
the Reuters Global Gold Forum
on Monday.
“With the wings of the
regulators beating ever closer
with respect to transparency,
then some OTC business may
well move onto the exchange.”
Increased scrutiny of London’s financial markets since
the LIBOR benchmark interest
rate scandal has led to tighter
regulatory capital requirements, increasing the push for
trades that were once routinely carried out between counter
parties to be performed on the
exchanges.
house Numis has added two analysts
to its team, and European peer Kepler
Cheuvreux said it would hire more
sector specialists in the coming months.
“So far as we are concerned, if small
and mid cap coverage thins out a little
bit in our core markets, that is just more
of an opportunity for us,” said David
Mortlock, head of Europe and head of
investment banking at Berenberg.
MiFID research “unbundling”
regulations aim to shift the model from
“push” — where brokers relentlessly
bombard fund managers with research,
hoping some of it sticks — to “pull”.
That’s when asset managers pick
brokers to receive research from, and
risk fines if any other analysis lands in
their inbox.
Brokerages, as a result, are under
pressure to stand out.
“There’s a tremendous contraction
of research provider lists going on
already,” said the head of account
management at a European broker.
Many have predicted that MiFID
will negatively impact coverage of
the smaller end of the market, with
brokers preferring to concentrate on
large stocks which frequently change
hands, generating more cash for
them.
“In those niche areas, we believe that
if you’re not in the top two or three
(brokers) then you may no longer get
onto broker lists,” said Hester White,
MiFID II spokesperson at Peel Hunt, a
UK-focused broker.
Brokers’ decisions to increase their
focus on small and mid-cap companies
could therefore seem counter-intuitive.
But a deeper focus on small- and
medium-sized companies is also a
response to demand from active asset
managers looking to cement their
performance so far this year by digging
deeper into lesser-known companies
and sectors, where bargains are more
likely than among extensively covered
large cap stocks.
Active asset managers are being
squeezed by a rapid surge in the
popularity of passive index-tracking
funds and ETFs, and many say the midand small-cap area offers the greatest
opportunities to find value as they seek
to justify higher fees.
“I think managers are going to focus
their research dollars where they can
make more than they have previously,”
said Berenberg’s Mortlock.
Furthermore, unbundling will enable
investors to reward brokers specifically
for high-quality research, for the first
time.
Gemma Hurtado de San Leandro, head
of Spanish equities at Mirabaud Asset
Management, said the regulation would
enable her to use large brokers to
execute trades fast and efficiently, while
rewarding specialised brokers for their
research.
“There are brokers that have a lot of
volume in the market and help me
with the execution of trades, but their
research doesn’t add value for me at
all,” she said.
Asset managers see research on
these areas as crucial to their ability to
bounce ideas off analysts in the know,
and be introduced to new companies
and investment propositions.
Some also set such research apart from
global investment bank analyses which
they see as too consensual.
For small, regional brokers long battling
against larger rivals which have enjoyed
economies of scale thanks to “bundled”
payments, the new rules are a chance
to claw back market share.
“What we really like are local brokers,”
said Thomas Brown, head of the
European opportunities fund at Miton.
“It’s very hard to get a differential view
on a stock where there’s already 36
analysts covering it.”
Markets brace for Yellen
talk as Fed sets its sights
on asset price inflation
Bloomberg
New York
F
or investors, there’s only one midyear market outlook that matters
this week: Janet Yellen’s.
And it’s not her thoughts on the prospect for inflation or labour-market tightness they’ll be most attuned to. Instead,
strategists will focus on any sign the Federal Reserve’s determined to step into a
fight against inflation in financial assets,
the one place it seems to be rising fastest.
It’s a shift for Fed watchers as the central bank chair prepares to testify to Congress today and tomorrow, just a week
after rhetoric from a trio of officials including Yellen suggested the Fed’s growing uncomfortable with elevated equity
valuations and persistently low Treasury
yields.
Indeed, indexes which track the dollar, Treasury yields, credit spreads and
stock prices imply that financial conditions have largely eased despite four rate
hikes since December 2015. For markets,
the main near-term risk is that Yellen
explicitly signals unease with the loosening, unleashing a wave of risk aversion in
markets.
A central bank intent on tightening financial conditions “would imply higher
volatility, lower equities, higher real rates
and wider credit spreads,” wrote Deutsche
Bank fixed income strategists led by Francis Yared. “Central banks are short financial conditions.”
The focus on asset prices hints at a fresh
rationale behind the Fed’s insistence on
moving forward with its tightening cycle
in the face of still-sluggish price pressures
– a desire to avoid repeats of the financial
excesses that developed during the dotcom and housing bubbles, and the busts
that followed.
Charles Himmelberg, co-chief markets
economist at Goldman Sachs, has long
been a proponent of the idea that the central bank will be there to throw cold water
on any signs of overheating financial markets during this tightening cycle.
Coming into 2017, he reiterated his
view that the classic “Fed Put” that suggests the central bank will prop up asset
prices had been replaced by the “Yellen
A runner passes the Federal Reserve building in Washington, DC. Strategists will focus on any sign the Fed’s determined to step into a
fight against inflation in financial assets, the one place it seems to be rising fastest.
Call” – that is, easing of financial conditions would be met with a more aggressive
withdrawal of monetary stimulus.
In his reading, such a reaction from
the Fed would be warranted to prevent an
overheating of the economy, but so far his
prediction hasn’t materialised.
“With financial conditions this easy,
if you don’t turn around the trend you’re
setting yourself up for too much growth,”
said Himmelberg in a phone interview.
“But the market still wants to rally, I think,
and it will take harsher language from the
Fed to knock this off.”
While recent Fedspeak has been decidedly hawkish – Vice Chair Stanley Fischer
highlighted a “notable uptick in risk appetites,” San Francisco Fed President
John Williams bluntly said the stock market “seems to be running very much on
fumes,” and Yellen said some asset prices
had become “somewhat rich” – assets
have shown little reaction. US stocks are
within striking distance of all-time highs,
and while yields have risen, they are only
at levels last seen in May.
This has implications for real economic
activity. The wealth effect from higher
stock prices is said to support consumer
spending; shrinking credit spreads can
make it more attractive for American
businesses to take on debt to expand their
operations, and a softer US dollar makes
goods and services produced domestically
less expensive for foreign buyers.
The Bank for International Settlements
judged financial instability to be a bigger
threat to the current expansion than a
rapid uptick in inflation that forces monetary policymakers to accelerate tightening until an economic downturn ensues.
Whether the Federal Reserve shares
that view – and, more importantly, is
willing to act upon it – is an open question. Financial conditions are a factor taken into account when formulating policy,
but it’s unclear whether Fed officials view
tighter financial conditions as the desired
end, and rate increases as the means to
achieve this.
Yellen, for her part, explicitly said at
the press conference following the June
meeting that the Fed doesn’t target financial conditions; New York Fed President
Bill Dudley, however, has deemed tighter
financial conditions to be “sort of the purpose of tightening monetary policy.”
Morgan Stanley global head of interest
rate strategy Matthew Hornbach cautions
that while financial conditions indexes are
“pretty bad at predicting future growth,”
they “remain a focus at the Fed, and the
fact remains they have not tightened.”
London Metal Exchange copper stocks become noise, not signal
By Andy Home
London
Stocks of copper registered with the
London Metal Exchange (LME) jumped by
a net 72,625 tonnes, or 30%, in the space
of just four days starting June 29.
That was courtesy of whoever warranted 86,950 tonnes of metal in LME
sheds.
It was the fourth time since December
that LME copper stocks have been rocked
by huge inflows.
All four “arrivals events” have been
unprecedented in scale, and the cumulative inflow has been in excess of 500,000
tonnes.
The London aluminium market has
grown accustomed to huge tonnages
appearing and disappearing in the LME
warehouse network.
But prior to last December the largest
concentrated warranting in the copper
market took place in February 2015, when
32,750 tonnes showed up on a single day.
These running stock shocks have
obscured any coherent market narrative
behind a lot of smoke and several mirrors.
Copper is a market that is collectively
trying to work out whether it is in supply
surplus or shortfall.
Opinions are divided.
The median forecast in the latest quarterly Reuters base metals poll of analysts
was for a 17,000-tonne deficit for 2017.
Well, good luck trying to discern such
a small market balance from LME stocks
right now.
Don’t despair, however. There’s a bigger
stocks picture which is generating a better
signal of copper’s supply-chain dynamics.
It’s just that the LME’s part in that picture appears to be changing.
This latest “arrivals event” is just
another whirl of a copper stocks merrygo-round that has been spinning for many
months. The previous three spins took
place in May, March and last December.
There was a precedent in August 2016
as well, although the warranting action in
that month was more dispersed.
There are two common themes to all
these stocks shocks. What enters the sys-
tem does so primarily at Asian locations.
Cumulative “arrivals event” inflows
have been concentrated on the ports of
Busan in South Korea, Singapore, Kaohsiung in Taiwan and Port Klang in Malaysia.
The only exception has been Rotterdam, which has seen significant inflows
over the same days. And what enters the
system doesn’t stay around for long.
May’s “arrivals event” saw 126,150
tonnes warranted in just three days, boosting headline stocks to a six-month high of
354,650 tonnes. By the time of the most
recent surge, however, they had fallen
back to 243,300 tonnes. What’s going on?
A big bull-bear battle is what’s going on.
One rooted in physical flow, warehousing and arbitrage dynamics.
Metal is being relentlessly shuffled
between LME and off-market storage and
between geographic locations.
Reading the game is hard because most
of it is taking place in the physical market
shadows. This feud has also become a battle of market narrative, each player using
LME stocks to express an opposing view.
The problem is that the smoke of battle
has hopelessly distorted any stocks’ pricing signal, bullish or bearish.
An LME copper stocks chart right now
looks like a badly drawn zig-zag.
And it’s getting worse, because this
merry-go-round seems to be turning ever
faster. There is some good news, though.
Firstly, it’s questionable just how
much these games with LME stocks have
impacted price.
LME three-month copper has held
station in a broad $5,420-6,205 range
since the start of December. Time-spreads,
which should be more sensitive to stocks
shocks, have largely held steady over the
same period.
The benchmark cash-to-three months
spread was valued at $28-per tonne contango at the close of Monday.
Secondly, LME stocks are only one third
of the visible copper stocks picture.
The other two components are the
Shanghai Futures Exchange (ShFE) and
CME (COMEX). Taking all three together, as
of last Friday the cumulative net change
so far this year was a build of 114,040
tonnes.
It’s not an outlandish signal, factoring in
both this year’s increased scrap availability and lower Chinese imports.
Nor is it dramatically out of line with the
latest market balance assessment from
the International Copper Study Group.
According to the ICSG, the global
refined market recorded a supply
surplus of 164,000 tonnes or, seasonally
adjusted, 72,000 tonnes in the first quarter of this year.
„ Andy Home is a columnist for Reuters.
The views expressed are those of the author.
6
Gulf Times
Wednesday, July 12, 2017
BUSINESS
SAUDI ARABIA
Company Name
QATAR
Company Name
Zad Holding Co
Widam Food Co
Vodafone Qatar
United Development Co
Salam International Investme
Qatar & Oman Investment Co
Qatar Navigation
Qatar National Cement Co
Qatar National Bank
Qatar Islamic Insurance
Qatar Industrial Manufactur
Qatar International Islamic
Qatari Investors Group
Qatar Islamic Bank
Qatar Gas Transport(Nakilat)
Qatar General Insurance & Re
Qatar German Co For Medical
Qatar Fuel Qsc
Qatar First Bank
Qatar Electricity & Water Co
Qatar Cinema & Film Distrib
Qatar Insurance Co
Ooredoo Qsc
National Leasing
Mazaya Qatar Real Estate Dev
Mesaieed Petrochemical Holdi
Al Meera Consumer Goods Co
Medicare Group
Mannai Corporation Qsc
Masraf Al Rayan
Al Khalij Commercial Bank
Industries Qatar
Islamic Holding Group
Gulf Warehousing Company
Gulf International Services
Ezdan Holding Group
Doha Insurance Co
Doha Bank Qsc
Dlala Holding
Commercial Bank Qsc
Barwa Real Estate Co
Al Khaleej Takaful Group
Aamal Co
Al Ahli Bank
Lt Price
74.00
56.90
8.13
16.97
9.15
8.30
74.40
67.00
128.50
63.00
42.25
54.50
45.10
89.70
18.00
31.00
7.62
110.20
7.69
186.90
29.00
67.20
90.80
13.74
10.55
13.20
134.70
79.70
72.20
40.00
13.20
95.80
50.90
45.50
21.43
12.15
14.00
30.00
18.87
29.85
32.85
16.70
10.90
32.00
% Chg
0.00
2.15
0.49
-0.59
0.00
2.47
0.27
0.75
1.18
0.00
1.68
-0.18
0.22
0.79
0.00
0.00
0.13
1.47
0.79
-0.05
0.00
-1.32
-0.22
-0.07
0.29
0.69
0.45
-0.38
0.00
0.38
-0.38
0.84
-0.97
0.89
0.66
0.66
0.00
0.67
-0.47
0.67
1.23
0.36
-0.37
0.00
Volume
32,393
1,832,659
302,630
64,125
68,705
79,574
5,406
238,918
593
446
138,015
7,861
46,234
241,932
23,489
40,081
350,884
36,357
180,316
66,196
45,626
32,385
193,899
46,117
4,553
524
222,584
8,283
113,413
1,318
6,196
94,947
277,535
431,784
20,668
114,079
105,271
26,875
14,041
-
SAUDI ARABIA
Company Name
United Wire Factories Compan
Etihad Etisalat Co
Dar Al Arkan Real Estate Dev
Saudi Hollandi Bank
Rabigh Refining And Petroche
Banque Saudi Fransi
Saudi Enaya Cooperative Insu
Mediterranean & Gulf Insuran
Saudi British Bank
Mohammad Al Mojil Group Co
Red Sea International Co
Takween Advanced Industries
Sabb Takaful
Saudi Arabian Fertilizer Co
National Gypsum
Saudi Ceramic Co
National Gas & Industrializa
Saudi Pharmaceutical Industr
Thimar
National Industrialization C
Saudi Transport And Investme
Saudi Electricity Co
Saudi Arabia Refineries Co
Arriyadh Development Company
Al-Baha Development & Invest
Saudi Research And Marketing
Aldrees Petroleum And Transp
Saudi Vitrified Clay Pipe Co
Jarir Marketing Co
Arab National Bank
Yanbu National Petrochemical
Arabian Cement
Middle East Specialized Cabl
Al Khaleej Training And Educ
Al Sagr Co-Operative Insuran
Trade Union Cooperative Insu
Arabia Insurance Cooperative
Saudi Chemical Company
Fawaz Abdulaziz Alhokair & C
Bupa Arabia For Cooperative
Wafa Insurance
Jabal Omar Development Co
Saudi Basic Industries Corp
Saudi Kayan Petrochemical Co
Etihad Atheeb Telecommunicat
Co For Cooperative Insurance
National Petrochemical Co
Gulf Union Cooperative Insur
Gulf General Cooperative Ins
Basic Chemical Industries
Saudi Steel Pipe Co
Buruj Cooperative Insurance
Mouwasat Medical Services Co
Southern Province Cement Co
Maadaniyah
Yamama Cement Co
Jazan Development Co
Zamil Industrial Investment
Alujain Corporation (Alco)
Tabuk Agricultural Developme
United Co-Operative Assuranc
Qassim Cement/The
Saudi Advanced Industries
Kingdom Holding Co
Saudi Arabian Amiantit Co
Al Jouf Agriculture Developm
Saudi Industrial Development
Bishah Agriculture
Riyad Bank
The National Agriculture Dev
Halwani Bros Co
Arabian Pipes Co
Eastern Province Cement Co
Al Gassim Investment Holding
Filing & Packing Materials M
Saudi Cable Co
Tihama Advertising & Public
Saudi Investment Bank/The
Astra Industrial Group
Saudi Public Transport Co
Taiba Holding Co
Saudi Industrial Export Co
Saudi Real Estate Co
Saudia Dairy & Foodstuff Co
National Shipping Co Of/The
Methanol Chemicals Co
Ace Arabia Cooperative Insur
Mobile Telecommunications Co
Saudi Arabian Coop Ins Co
Axa Cooperative Insurance
Alsorayai Group
Weqaya For Takaful Insurance
Bank Albilad
Al-Hassan G.I. Shaker Co
Wataniya Insurance Co
Abdullah Al Othaim Markets
Hail Cement
Lt Price
19.02
21.07
5.79
0.00
11.86
31.15
15.14
16.38
25.74
0.00
19.90
11.07
26.21
63.25
12.20
28.06
32.48
34.74
33.83
14.26
0.00
23.76
33.00
19.70
22.03
49.15
24.65
48.85
148.39
21.71
54.20
34.97
6.33
17.35
28.53
17.01
15.14
38.15
45.68
123.05
22.17
70.00
101.08
9.14
8.08
98.87
17.30
16.51
15.24
21.38
16.64
29.56
156.38
51.42
21.54
17.60
14.43
28.10
23.29
13.43
13.93
49.50
12.03
9.96
5.29
29.66
11.42
0.00
10.79
28.21
50.66
14.14
23.92
0.00
33.77
10.81
36.98
13.10
15.50
14.04
42.95
29.65
21.95
124.20
37.02
6.50
45.82
9.22
20.02
22.29
8.04
0.00
19.10
13.01
26.82
116.40
9.70
% Chg
-0.73
1.84
-4.93
0.00
-1.90
0.45
-1.11
-0.73
0.59
0.00
-0.35
-0.18
0.04
-0.88
-0.16
-3.27
-0.92
0.29
-1.49
-0.35
0.00
0.81
-0.81
-0.51
2.18
9.96
0.41
-0.10
2.40
0.88
0.95
-1.21
-0.94
2.06
-1.65
-1.45
1.00
-0.86
4.94
0.99
0.96
-0.67
-0.39
0.11
-2.18
2.12
-0.12
-1.20
-0.46
-0.23
7.91
-1.10
1.55
-4.78
-0.09
0.00
0.21
0.00
3.56
0.15
-1.35
-0.40
-0.25
0.00
-1.12
-0.77
-1.55
0.00
-0.37
1.22
-1.25
4.51
-0.33
0.00
-1.29
0.00
3.47
-0.53
0.26
-0.57
-0.76
-2.79
-1.88
-0.16
1.18
-0.91
0.07
-1.50
-0.15
1.18
-2.19
0.00
0.90
-0.61
-0.37
0.34
-0.82
Volume
134,935
595,385
79,320,254
995,280
320,460
93,452
151,177
40,237
157,129
223,930
69,072
34,606
37,998
337,952
91,195
44,895
372,276
656,166
1,747,269
449,860
92,468
1,568,084
1,044,791
150,679
30,239
322,406
210,556
285,449
252,542
241,131
432,873
148,708
130,876
672,003
43,590
690,799
28,577
239,391
279,593
4,135,879
3,332,800
345,883
87,501
41,334
154,649
119,322
94,269
1,237,985
148,716
29,299
176,055
65,085
217,960
76,344
21,393
2,076,080
878,056
561,948
45,341
129,546
68,170
631,740
56,577
892,991
920,393
683,200
11,534
1,437,631
104,132
61,579
1,736,651
72,594
65,135
206,947
18,941
284,867
192,342
9,735
351,853
392,925
53,488
3,616,810
126,591
524,461
272,986
278,909
568,073
144,220
10,262
101,607
Saudi Re For Cooperative Rei
Solidarity Saudi Takaful Co
Amana Cooperative Insurance
Alabdullatif Industrial Inv
Saudi Printing & Packaging C
Sanad Cooperative Insurance
Saudi Paper Manufacturing Co
Alinma Bank
Almarai Co
Falcom Saudi Equity Etf
United International Transpo
Hsbc Amanah Saudi 20 Etf
Saudi International Petroche
Falcom Petrochemical Etf
Walaa Cooperative Insurance
Bank Al-Jazira
Al Rajhi Bank
Samba Financial Group
United Electronics Co
Allied Cooperative Insurance
Malath Insurance
Alinma Tokio Marine
Arabian Shield Cooperative
Savola
Wafrah For Industry And Deve
Fitaihi Holding Group
Tourism Enterprise Co/ Shams
Sahara Petrochemical Co
Herfy Food Services Co
KUWAIT
Lt Price
6.45
16.53
17.09
12.92
17.65
0.00
6.79
14.70
85.22
28.50
21.01
29.55
14.00
26.70
29.06
11.76
64.91
24.68
39.87
13.29
18.70
24.94
47.94
47.03
21.83
12.54
28.58
13.18
54.95
% Chg
-1.53
-1.31
-0.58
-1.22
-0.23
0.00
-2.02
-0.54
1.30
-0.70
0.29
6.68
-0.85
0.00
1.08
0.00
0.73
-0.28
8.05
1.45
-1.63
-0.99
-2.16
1.23
-0.59
-0.40
-1.35
-0.90
-0.45
Volume
485,610
152,457
148,202
41,972
6,011,525
488,526
26,820,635
176,616
203,080
721,698
2,200
366,704
167,822
602,413
2,261,304
388,893
1,638,200
491,990
25,982
20,626
116,183
292,895
271,333
158,526
176,857
422,524
169,274
KUWAIT
Company Name
Securities Group Co
Sultan Center Food Products
Kuwait Foundry Co Sak
Kuwait Financial Centre Sak
Ajial Real Estate Entmt
Gulf Glass Manuf Co -Kscc
Kuwait Finance & Investment
National Industries Co Ksc
Kuwait Real Estate Holding C
Securities House/The
Boubyan Petrochemicals Co
Al Ahli Bank Of Kuwait
Ahli United Bank (Almutahed)
National Bank Of Kuwait
Commercial Bank Of Kuwait
Kuwait International Bank
Gulf Bank
Al-Massaleh Real Estate Co
Al Arabiya Real Estate Co
Kuwait Remal Real Estate Co
Alkout Industrial Projects C
A’ayan Real Estate Co Sak
Investors Holding Group Co.K
Al-Mazaya Holding Co
Al-Madar Finance & Invt Co
Gulf Petroleum Investment
Mabanee Co Sakc
City Group
Inovest Co Bsc
Kuwait Gypsum Manufacturing
Al-Deera Holding Co
Alshamel International Hold
Mena Real Estate Co
National Slaughter House
Amar Finance & Leasing Co
United Projects For Aviation
National Consumer Holding Co
Amwal International Investme
Jeeran Holdings
Equipment Holding Co K.S.C.C
Nafais Holding
Safwan Trading & Contracting
Arkan Al Kuwait Real Estate
Gfh Financial Group Bsc
Energy House Holding Co Kscp
Kuwait Slaughter House Co
Kuwait Co For Process Plant
Al Maidan Dental Clinic Co K
National Ranges Company
Al-Themar Real International
Al-Ahleia Insurance Co Sakp
Wethaq Takaful Insurance Co
Salbookh Trading Co Kscp
Aqar Real Estate Investments
Hayat Communications
Kuwait Packing Materials Mfg
Soor Fuel Marketing Co Ksc
Alargan International Real
Burgan Co For Well Drilling
Kuwait Resorts Co Kscc
Oula Fuel Marketing Co
Palms Agro Production Co
Ikarus Petroleum Industries
Mubarrad Transport Co
Al Mowasat Health Care Co
Shuaiba Industrial Co
Hits Telecom Holding
First Takaful Insurance Co
Kuwaiti Syrian Holding Co
National Cleaning Company
Eyas For High & Technical Ed
United Real Estate Company
Agility
Kuwait & Middle East Fin Inv
Fujairah Cement Industries
Livestock Transport & Tradng
International Resorts Co
National Industries Grp Hold
Marine Services Co Ksc
Warba Insurance Co
Kuwait United Poultry Co
First Dubai Real Estate Deve
Al Arabi Group Holding Co
Kuwait Hotels Sak
Mobile Telecommunications Co
Al Safat Real Estate Co
Tamdeen Real Estate Co Ksc
Al Mudon Intl Real Estate Co
Kuwait Cement Co Ksc
Sharjah Cement & Indus Devel
Kuwait Portland Cement Co
Educational Holding Group
Bahrain Kuwait Insurance
Asiya Capital Investments Co
Kuwait Investment Co
Burgan Bank
Kuwait Projects Co Holdings
Al Madina For Finance And In
Kuwait Insurance Co
Al Masaken Intl Real Estate
Intl Financial Advisors
First Investment Co Kscc
Al Mal Investment Company
Bayan Investment Co Kscc
Egypt Kuwait Holding Co Sae
Coast Investment Development
Privatization Holding Compan
Kuwait Medical Services Co
Injazzat Real State Company
Kuwait Cable Vision Sak
Sanam Real Estate Co Kscc
Ithmaar Holding Bsc
Aviation Lease And Finance C
Arzan Financial Group For Fi
Ajwan Gulf Real Estate Co
Kuwait Business Town Real Es
Future Kid Entertainment And
Specialities Group Holding C
Abyaar Real Eastate Developm
Dar Al Thuraya Real Estate C
Al-Dar National Real Estate
Kgl Logistics Company Kscc
Combined Group Contracting
Zima Holding Co Ksc
Qurain Holding Co
Lt Price
96.90
0.00
258.00
109.00
138.00
0.00
40.00
185.00
38.00
42.90
560.00
327.00
398.00
686.00
312.00
249.00
244.00
43.90
33.10
80.00
590.00
84.50
24.10
113.00
21.10
40.30
770.00
0.00
107.00
0.00
31.40
0.00
23.50
0.00
49.00
851.00
119.00
45.00
41.00
51.00
0.00
0.00
81.50
175.00
35.60
0.00
165.00
0.00
27.70
0.00
430.00
55.00
60.60
66.20
89.00
0.00
125.00
160.00
82.00
81.50
119.00
100.00
0.00
72.00
495.00
300.00
40.80
51.00
33.00
48.90
900.00
87.80
795.00
29.00
79.00
220.00
30.70
123.00
66.00
86.40
0.00
48.30
85.00
0.00
437.00
0.00
400.00
39.40
460.00
84.00
920.00
360.00
0.00
43.40
95.00
333.00
350.00
45.20
260.00
75.00
33.50
46.00
0.00
51.00
178.00
40.40
48.00
0.00
90.00
30.90
0.00
45.90
318.00
33.00
88.00
47.00
105.00
85.50
24.60
0.00
0.00
0.00
618.00
50.50
0.00
% Chg
0.00
0.00
-2.64
0.00
1.47
0.00
0.00
0.54
8.57
4.89
0.00
0.00
-1.24
0.15
0.32
0.00
2.09
9.75
3.44
0.00
0.00
0.00
4.78
0.89
-0.94
-0.98
1.32
0.00
3.88
0.00
2.95
0.00
-2.89
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
-6.25
0.00
2.00
0.00
0.00
-4.12
0.00
-8.48
0.00
0.00
0.00
2.97
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
9.88
0.00
1.63
0.00
-7.87
0.00
0.85
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
2.77
0.00
0.00
0.20
0.11
-0.23
1.92
0.00
0.00
0.00
-5.54
-1.60
0.00
20.00
0.00
0.84
0.00
0.00
4.80
0.00
0.00
3.68
0.00
0.00
2.22
3.15
0.00
0.00
-1.35
0.91
5.11
-3.83
0.00
0.00
5.35
0.00
0.00
0.39
-1.11
2.54
1.69
0.00
0.00
-0.32
0.00
3.38
0.32
3.13
19.57
0.43
0.00
-0.58
2.07
0.00
0.00
0.00
-0.16
3.06
0.00
Volume
50
53,345
1,250
158,674
15,516
11,000
1,000
1,475,200
111,691
1,569
12,600
2,102,229
3,819
2,778,294
550,133
60
1,577,199
2,864,100
76,481
13,920
3,711,034
933,611
984,800
630,588
286,339
1,429,586
6,399
82,700
2,000
3
50
599,606
186,200
1,761,580
76,000
20,640
47,176
2,500
750,168
17,782
500
145,500
473,560
334,976
15,092
11,500
4,573
62,544
95,350
20,574
10,000
51,000
3,000
3,275,000
1,500
72,150
32,910
11,701
30
1,142,509
250
1,267,900
201,000
1,459,600
960,339
195,639
4,208
97,000
149,790
7,682,289
100
418,006
100
100,000
17,500
253,762
4,635
2,056
95,229
912,406
202,000
10
2,000
1,509,560
115,750
1,099,300
30,000
2,241,371
154,000
100,000
4,510
1,477,245
36,000
166,595
100
160,000
14,780
353,801
9,648,856
57,500
10,005
-
Company Name
Boubyan Intl Industries Hold
Gulf Investment House Ksc
Boubyan Bank K.S.C
Ahli United Bank B.S.C
Osos Holding Group Co
Al-Eid Food Ksc
Qurain Petrochemical Industr
Advanced Technology Co
Ekttitab Holding Co Sak
Kout Food Group Ksc
Real Estate Trade Centers Co
Acico Industries Co Kscc
Kipco Asset Management Co
National Petroleum Services
Alimtiaz Investment Co Kscc
Ras Al Khaimah White Cement
Kuwait Reinsurance Co Ksc
Kuwait & Gulf Link Transport
Human Soft Holding Co Ksc
Automated Systems Co Kscc
Metal & Recycling Co
Gulf Franchising Holding Co
Al-Enma’a Real Estate Co
National Mobile Telecommuni
Al Bareeq Holding Co Kscc
Housing Finance Co Sak
Al Salam Group Holding Co
United Foodstuff Industries
Al Aman Investment Company
Mashaer Holdings Co Ksc
Manazel Holding
Mushrif Trading & Contractin
Tijara And Real Estate Inves
Kuwait Building Materials
Jazeera Airways Co Ksc
Commercial Real Estate Co
Future Communications Co
National International Co
Taameer Real Estate Invest C
Gulf Cement Co
Heavy Engineering And Ship B
Refrigeration Industries & S
National Real Estate Co
Al Safat Energy Holding Comp
Kuwait National Cinema Co
Danah Alsafat Foodstuff Co
Independent Petroleum Group
Kuwait Real Estate Co Ksc
Salhia Real Estate Co Ksc
Gulf Cable & Electrical Ind
Al Nawadi Holding Co Ksc
Kuwait Finance House
Gulf North Africa Holding Co
Hilal Cement Co
Osoul Investment Kscc
Gulf Insurance Group Ksc
Kuwait Food Co (Americana)
Umm Al Qaiwain Cement Indust
Aayan Leasing & Investment
Alrai Media Group Co Ksc
National Investments Co
Commercial Facilities Co
Taiba Kuwaiti Holding Co Ksc
Afaq Educational Services Co
Kuwait Pillars For Financial
Yiaco Medical Co. K.S.C.C
Dulaqan Real Estate Co
OMAN
Lt Price
38.50
36.40
409.00
207.00
122.00
0.00
339.00
0.00
37.30
0.00
42.50
260.00
77.70
1,560.00
169.00
85.00
186.00
0.00
4,260.00
181.00
80.00
70.00
41.00
1,165.00
0.00
0.00
47.00
0.00
42.50
0.00
45.30
0.00
58.00
0.00
476.00
73.50
0.00
60.00
36.00
73.80
209.00
0.00
115.00
37.00
1,350.00
69.00
330.00
57.50
385.00
419.00
0.00
493.00
35.90
0.00
59.00
501.00
2,418.00
0.00
40.90
120.00
103.00
171.00
0.00
130.00
0.00
181.00
0.00
% Chg
-1.28
1.39
0.25
0.00
0.00
0.00
2.42
0.00
0.81
0.00
0.00
3.59
-1.65
0.00
-1.17
-5.56
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
-8.05
16.67
-4.65
5.91
0.00
0.00
1.29
0.00
0.47
0.00
0.22
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.21
1.10
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.27
0.00
0.00
1.77
0.00
0.00
-4.03
0.00
3.05
0.26
-2.56
0.00
1.23
0.56
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.75
0.00
2.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
12.42
0.00
Volume
83,700
160,700
976,484
2,492,220
40,000
245,743
42,000
100
3,000
110,500
60
14,793,551
5,000
1,625
57,646
74,026
1,210
9,435
2,828,996
16,135
394,407
80,000
374,010
4,000
27,750
2,063,280
61,000
4,496,906
80,000
10,443
1,728,242
26,200
2,740
144,000
25
703,900
51,000
17,777
3,087,725
337,990
8,739
3,058
9
3,236,722
25,546
153,950
84,050
450
50
-
OMAN
Company Name
Voltamp Energy Saog
United Power/Energy Co- Pref
United Power Co Saog
United Finance Co
Ubar Hotels & Resorts
Takaful Oman
Taageer Finance
Sweets Of Oman
Sohar Power Co
Sohar Poultry
Smn Power Holding Saog
Shell Oman Marketing - Pref
Shell Oman Marketing
Sharqiyah Desalination Co Sa
Sembcorp Salalah Power & Wat
Salalah Port Services
Salalah Mills Co
Salalah Beach Resort Saog
Sahara Hospitality
Renaissance Services Saog
Raysut Cement Co
Port Service Corporation
Phoenix Power Co Saoc
Packaging Co Ltd
Ooredoo
Ominvest
Oman United Insurance Co
Oman Textile Holding Co Saog
Oman Telecommunications Co
Oman Refreshment Co
Oman Packaging
Oman Orix Leasing Co.
Oman Oil Marketing Company
Oman National Engineering An
Oman Investment & Finance
Oman Intl Marketing
Oman Hotels & Tourism Co
Oman Foods International
Oman Flour Mills
Oman Fisheries Co
Oman Fiber Optics
Oman Europe Foods Industries
Oman Education & Training In
Oman Chromite
Oman Chlorine
Oman Ceramic Company
Oman Cement Co
Oman Cables Industry
Oman Agricultural Dev
Oman & Emirates Inv(Om)50%
Natl Aluminium Products
National Securities
National Real Estate Develop
National Pharmaceutical
National Mineral Water
National Hospitality Institu
National Gas Co
National Finance Co
National Detergent Co Saog
National Biscuit Industries
National Bank Of Oman Saog
Muscat Thread Mills Co
Muscat National Holding
Muscat Gases Company Saog
Muscat Finance
Majan Glass Company
Majan College
Hsbc Bank Oman
Hotels Management Co Interna
Gulf Stone
Gulf Plastic Industries Co
Gulf Mushroom Company
Gulf Investments Services
Gulf Invest. Serv. Pref-Shar
Gulf International Chemicals
Gulf Hotels (Oman) Co Ltd
Global Fin Investment
Galfar Engineering&Contract
Galfar Engineering -Prefer
Financial Services Co.
Financial Corp/The
Dhofar University
Dhofar Tourism
Dhofar Poultry
Dhofar Intl Development
Dhofar Insurance
Dhofar Fisheries & Food Indu
Dhofar Cattlefeed
Lt Price
0.48
1.00
3.55
0.14
0.13
0.18
0.12
1.34
0.16
0.21
0.69
1.05
1.88
4.35
0.21
0.63
1.33
1.38
2.50
0.21
1.02
0.23
0.12
2.21
0.47
0.51
0.34
0.00
1.20
1.99
0.28
0.17
1.66
0.15
0.17
0.52
0.40
0.00
0.87
0.13
0.00
1.00
0.16
3.64
0.49
0.42
0.44
1.57
0.00
0.11
0.16
0.05
5.00
0.11
0.05
0.00
0.35
0.15
0.69
3.75
0.21
0.08
0.86
0.56
0.12
0.19
0.49
0.13
1.25
0.12
0.00
0.31
0.08
0.11
0.23
10.50
0.16
0.07
0.39
0.11
0.10
0.00
0.49
0.18
0.31
0.20
1.28
0.19
% Chg
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
0.94
0.00
1.35
0.00
0.00
2.17
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.84
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
8.03
-0.57
0.00
0.00
0.00
-2.24
-2.26
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
-1.35
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
0.95
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
Volume
100,000
158,918
2,110
25,000
75,028
6,000
10,000
921,844
318,232
118,953
222,748
36,526
15,000
772,693
74,182
28,191
710,954
100
152,705
100
104,556
-
Company Name
Dhofar Beverages Co
Construction Materials Ind
Computer Stationery Inds
Bankmuscat Saog
Bank Sohar
Bank Nizwa
Bank Dhofar Saog
Areej Vegetable Oils Saoc
Aloula Co
Al-Omaniya Financial Service
Al-Hassan Engineering Co
Al-Fajar Al-Alamia Co
Al-Anwar Ceramic Tiles Co
Al Suwadi Power
Al Shurooq Inv Ser
Al Sharqiya Invest Holding
Al Maha Petroleum Products M
Al Maha Ceramics Co Saoc
Al Madina Takaful Co Saoc
Al Madina Investment Co
Al Kamil Power Co
Al Jazerah Services -Pfd
Al Jazeera Steel Products Co
Al Jazeera Services
Al Izz Islamic Bank
Al Buraimi Hotel
Al Batinah Power
Al Batinah Hotels
Al Batinah Dev & Inv
Al Anwar Holdings Saog
Ahli Bank
Acwa Power Barka Saog
Abrasives Manufacturing Co S
A’saffa Foods Saog
0Man Oil Marketing Co-Pref
Lt Price
0.26
0.03
0.26
0.38
0.15
0.10
0.23
0.00
0.53
0.28
0.05
0.75
0.13
0.17
0.00
0.11
1.40
0.30
0.11
0.07
0.31
0.55
0.25
0.16
0.08
0.88
0.14
1.13
0.10
0.16
0.17
0.80
0.05
0.59
0.25
% Chg
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.69
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
-0.92
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
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
Volume
3,084,578
305,377
1,033,358
90,000
65,860
50,690
373,008
104,478
100
65,247
16,288
185,425
-
UAE
Company Name
Waha Capital Pjsc
United Insurance Company
United Arab Bank Pjsc
Union National Bank/Abu Dhab
Union Insurance Co
Union Cement Co
Umm Al Qaiwain Cement Indust
Sharjah Islamic Bank
Sharjah Insurance Company
Sharjah Group
Sharjah Cement & Indus Devel
Ras Al-Khaimah National Insu
Ras Al Khaimah White Cement
Ras Al Khaimah Ceramics
Ras Al Khaimah Cement Co Psc
Ras Al Khaima Poultry
Rak Properties
Ooredoo Qsc
Oman & Emirates Inv(Emir)50%
Nbad Oneshare Msci Uae Ucits
National Takaful Company
National Marine Dredging Co
National Investor Co/The
National Corp Tourism & Hote
National Bank Of Umm Al Qaiw
National Bank Of Ras Al-Khai
National Bank Of Fujairah
First Abu Dhabi Bank Pjsc
Methaq Takaful Insurance
Manazel Real Estate Pjsc
Invest Bank
Intl Fish Farming Co Pjsc
Insurance House
Gulf Pharmaceutical Ind Psc
Gulf Medical Projects
Gulf Cement Co
Fujairah Cement Industries
Fujairah Building Industries
Foodco Holding Pjsc
First Gulf Bank
Finance House
Eshraq Properties Co Pjsc
Emirates Telecom Group Co
Emirates Insurance Co. (Psc)
Emirates Driving Company
Dana Gas
Commercial Bank Internationa
Bank Of Sharjah
Axa Green Crescent Insurance
Arkan Building Materials Co
Alkhaleej Investment
Aldar Properties Pjsc
Al Wathba National Insurance
Al Khazna Insurance Co
Al Fujairah National Insuran
Al Dhafra Insurance Co. P.S.
Al Buhaira National Insuranc
Al Ain Ahlia Ins. Co.
Agthia Group Pjsc
Abu Dhabi Ship Building Co
Abu Dhabi Natl Co For Buildi
Abu Dhabi National Takaful C
Abu Dhabi National Insurance
Abu Dhabi National Hotels
Abu Dhabi National Energy Co
Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank
Lt Price
1.68
2.00
1.50
4.62
1.86
1.26
1.61
1.34
3.85
1.50
1.08
4.10
1.06
2.40
0.80
3.70
0.64
76.50
0.58
6.20
0.70
4.60
0.54
2.46
3.10
4.50
3.00
0.00
0.86
0.52
2.40
1.61
0.83
2.30
4.11
0.90
1.03
1.56
6.00
0.00
1.84
0.94
17.55
5.98
8.10
0.69
1.10
1.26
0.75
0.67
1.30
2.33
12.75
0.45
300.00
3.84
2.20
47.00
5.35
2.37
0.52
5.14
2.95
3.20
0.51
3.50
% Chg
-0.59
0.00
0.00
0.43
0.00
-6.67
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
3.90
0.00
-1.54
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
2.22
0.00
0.41
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
2.38
0.00
-5.51
1.26
0.00
0.00
0.00
-1.10
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
15.00
1.08
0.57
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
1.52
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
-0.37
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
3.23
0.00
-0.28
Volume
1,038,771
4,550
4,184
250,000
102,500
3,496,094
5,000
120,000
8,568
1,212,489
1,951,299
42,874
2,379,647
50,000
1,666
1,876,160
708,767
8,222,040
287,890
1,447,081
17,203
55,000
200,000
1,923,612
831,998
BAHRAIN
Company Name
Zain Bahrain Bscc
United Paper Industries Bsc
United Gulf Investment Corp
United Gulf Bank
Trafco Group Bsc
Takaful International Co
Taib Bank -$Us
Seef Properties
Securities & Investment Co
National Hotels Co
National Bank Of Bahrain Bsc
Nass Corp Bsc
Khaleeji Commercial Bank
Ithmaar Holding Bsc
Investcorp Bank -$Us
Inovest Co Bsc
Gulf Monetary Group
Gulf Hotel Group B.S.C
Gfh Financial Group Bsc
Esterad Investment Co B.S.C.
Delmon Poultry Co
Bmmi Bsc
Bmb Investment Bank
Bbk Bsc
Bankmuscat Saog
Banader Hotels Co
Bahrain Tourism Co
Bahrain Telecom Co
Bahrain Ship Repair & Engin
Bahrain National Holding
Bahrain Kuwait Insurance
Bahrain Islamic Bank
Bahrain Flour Mills Co
Bahrain Family Leisure Co
Bahrain Duty Free Complex
Bahrain Commercial Facilitie
Bahrain Cinema Co
Bahrain Car Park Co
Arab Insurance Group(Bsc)-$
Arab Banking Corp Bsc-$Us
Aluminium Bahrain Bsc
Albaraka Banking Group
Al-Salam Bank
Al-Ahlia Insurance Co
Ahli United Bank B.S.C
Lt Price
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.27
0.00
0.00
0.24
0.00
0.00
0.66
0.13
0.11
0.15
8.60
0.42
0.00
0.52
0.58
0.11
0.00
0.80
0.00
0.39
0.00
0.06
`
0.23
0.00
0.43
0.00
0.14
0.00
0.08
0.77
0.73
1.35
0.00
0.47
0.30
0.49
0.43
0.09
0.00
0.68
% Chg
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
3.81
3.45
0.00
6.41
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.51
0.00
0.00
0.00
-3.36
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
1.25
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
3.45
0.82
1.19
0.00
0.00
0.00
Volume
10,069
41,225
4,463
12,217
198,377
60,000
2,200
9,600
20,000
37,000
41,157
10,000
50,000
644,068
137,169
26,240
19,171
90,000
1,965
4,275
30,000
108,025
230,000
644,045
23,500
903,215
538,999
LATEST MARKET CLOSING FIGURES
Gulf Times
Wednesday, July 12, 2017
7
BUSINESS
DJIA
WORLD INDICES
Company Name
Apple Inc
Microsoft Corp
Exxon Mobil Corp
Johnson & Johnson
General Electric Co
Jpmorgan Chase & Co
Procter & Gamble Co/The
Wal-Mart Stores Inc
Verizon Communications Inc
Pfizer Inc
Visa Inc-Class A Shares
Chevron Corp
Coca-Cola Co/The
Intel Corp
Merck & Co. Inc.
Cisco Systems Inc
Home Depot Inc
Intl Business Machines Corp
Walt Disney Co/The
Unitedhealth Group Inc
3M Co
Mcdonald’s Corp
Nike Inc -Cl B
United Technologies Corp
Boeing Co/The
Goldman Sachs Group Inc
American Express Co
Du Pont (E.I.) De Nemours
Caterpillar Inc
Travelers Cos Inc/The
Lt Price
144.90
70.09
80.42
130.77
26.16
92.75
86.49
73.57
42.90
33.13
95.09
102.92
44.29
33.54
62.40
30.94
151.47
152.63
103.65
186.20
209.01
154.42
58.24
123.02
205.96
226.36
83.90
82.19
107.86
124.96
% Chg
-0.11
0.15
0.32
-0.59
0.46
-0.48
-0.69
0.46
-0.69
-0.84
0.00
-0.12
-0.20
-0.33
-0.68
-0.13
0.19
-0.51
0.06
-0.40
-0.70
-0.71
-0.83
-0.03
0.98
0.23
-0.47
-0.46
0.02
-0.64
8,224,680
7,126,921
4,240,917
1,471,916
12,891,714
5,592,736
2,595,812
3,683,332
4,579,308
4,378,348
2,375,830
1,697,331
4,856,008
7,775,314
2,356,468
4,229,993
1,846,904
1,069,094
1,427,816
767,732
444,375
773,181
2,778,801
843,715
1,144,135
1,111,691
971,436
448,228
989,617
318,711
FTSE 100
Company Name
Wpp Plc
Worldpay Group Plc
Wolseley Plc
Wm Morrison Supermarkets
Whitbread Plc
Vodafone Group Plc
United Utilities Group Plc
Unilever Plc
Tui Ag-Di
Travis Perkins Plc
Tesco Plc
Taylor Wimpey Plc
Standard Life Plc
Standard Chartered Plc
St James’s Place Plc
Sse Plc
Smith & Nephew Plc
Sky Plc
Shire Plc
Severn Trent Plc
Schroders Plc
Sainsbury (J) Plc
Sage Group Plc/The
Sabmiller Plc
Rsa Insurance Group Plc
Royal Mail Plc
Royal Dutch Shell Plc-B Shs
Royal Dutch Shell Plc-A Shs
Royal Bank Of Scotland Group
Rolls-Royce Holdings Plc
Rio Tinto Plc
Rexam Ltd
Relx Plc
Reckitt Benckiser Group Plc
Randgold Resources Ltd
Prudential Plc
Provident Financial Plc
Persimmon Plc
Pearson Plc
Paddy Power Betfair Plc
Old Mutual Plc
Next Plc
National Grid Plc
Mondi Plc
Merlin Entertainment
Mediclinic International Plc
Marks & Spencer Group Plc
London Stock Exchange Group
Lloyds Banking Group Plc
Legal & General Group Plc
Land Securities Group Plc
Kingfisher Plc
Johnson Matthey Plc
Itv Plc
Intu Properties Plc
Intl Consolidated Airline-Di
Intertek Group Plc
Intercontinental Hotels Grou
Inmarsat Plc
Informa Plc
Imperial Brands Plc
Hsbc Holdings Plc
Hargreaves Lansdown Plc
Hammerson Plc
Glencore Plc
Glaxosmithkline Plc
Gkn Plc
Fresnillo Plc
Experian Plc
Easyjet Plc
Dixons Carphone Plc
Direct Line Insurance Group
Diageo Plc
Dcc Plc
Crh Plc
Compass Group Plc
Coca-Cola Hbc Ag-Di
Centrica Plc
Carnival Plc
Capita Plc
Burberry Group Plc
Bunzl Plc
Bt Group Plc
British Land Co Plc
British American Tobacco Plc
Bp Plc
Bhp Billiton Plc
Berkeley Group Holdings/The
Barratt Developments Plc
Barclays Plc
Bae Systems Plc
Babcock Intl Group Plc
Aviva Plc
Astrazeneca Plc
Associated British Foods Plc
Ashtead Group Plc
Arm Holdings Plc
Antofagasta Plc
Anglo American Plc
Admiral Group Plc
3I Group Plc
#N/A
Lt Price
1,559.00
376.00
4,696.00
243.60
3,775.00
217.50
861.00
4,222.50
1,142.00
1,456.00
171.05
178.70
402.50
813.00
1,176.00
1,472.00
1,296.00
997.00
4,159.00
2,200.00
3,201.00
244.20
672.00
0.00
643.00
411.00
2,056.00
2,044.50
256.50
922.50
3,425.50
0.00
1,621.00
7,600.00
6,790.00
1,750.00
2,297.00
2,352.00
655.00
7,865.00
189.30
3,617.00
922.50
1,999.00
470.90
709.00
323.10
3,686.00
65.55
259.60
1,002.00
302.00
2,774.00
176.00
265.10
624.00
4,212.00
4,215.00
737.00
661.00
3,407.50
742.60
1,270.00
568.50
307.50
1,603.00
326.40
1,447.00
1,544.00
1,416.00
269.80
361.20
2,261.00
6,960.00
2,755.00
1,559.00
2,201.00
204.70
5,085.00
653.00
1,580.00
2,224.00
287.60
596.00
5,180.00
442.45
1,265.50
3,280.00
584.50
205.75
626.50
849.50
527.50
5,081.00
2,845.00
1,543.00
0.00
828.00
1,084.50
2,005.00
907.50
0.00
% Chg
-0.51
0.80
-0.09
0.33
-1.02
-1.11
-0.35
0.43
0.71
-0.95
0.00
-0.72
-1.32
0.07
-1.51
0.14
-0.54
0.10
-0.66
0.46
-0.74
-0.77
-0.59
0.00
0.00
-0.84
-0.15
0.17
0.04
-1.02
0.79
0.00
-0.86
-0.93
0.37
-2.70
-1.42
-0.97
-5.14
-1.69
-1.10
-2.06
-0.92
-1.09
-0.51
-1.66
-4.69
-1.21
-1.52
-1.70
-1.76
-1.47
-0.04
-0.85
-1.05
-1.50
-0.26
-1.82
-0.34
0.15
-0.80
0.58
-1.17
-1.13
2.14
-0.80
-0.15
1.19
-1.84
0.14
-2.95
-0.69
-1.01
0.22
-0.86
-1.39
-1.26
-0.97
-0.78
0.00
-2.47
-0.89
-0.28
-2.13
-0.58
-0.29
0.16
-1.50
-1.18
-0.94
-0.56
-1.74
-1.59
-0.96
-4.08
-1.53
0.00
0.49
1.54
-0.74
0.39
0.00
Volume
3,591,442
20,949,025
635,569
11,122,927
319,281
40,008,743
3,332,284
2,904,073
1,501,998
1,361,465
18,580,592
12,322,235
5,726,367
6,857,817
1,285,497
2,456,764
1,882,206
1,661,082
4,130,303
1,789,039
465,315
9,967,709
1,893,191
2,615,285
2,698,553
4,338,133
5,040,427
7,367,460
2,964,630
3,980,807
2,659,464
1,077,339
480,793
5,170,788
391,397
1,662,467
11,743,446
207,435
7,509,444
852,164
7,777,456
1,214,240
2,037,916
1,066,277
20,577,871
599,526
101,963,566
21,668,849
1,886,255
10,757,121
819,395
8,601,860
2,308,786
6,096,071
346,816
357,677
4,060,933
2,186,628
1,891,990
20,237,264
598,989
1,800,996
56,890,149
6,575,035
6,169,297
937,204
2,061,499
1,669,103
6,013,483
2,279,321
2,935,182
204,675
799,363
2,332,831
503,497
15,932,349
401,674
2,131,667
1,943,830
545,393
10,488,500
3,766,135
3,418,728
23,142,411
7,325,872
695,840
3,969,593
19,192,908
8,991,797
1,846,017
9,942,267
1,822,630
1,102,846
1,596,332
1,751,315
4,911,679
462,183
1,781,384
-
TOKYO
Company Name
East Japan Railway Co
Itochu Corp
Fujifilm Holdings Corp
Yamato Holdings Co Ltd
Chubu Electric Power Co Inc
Mitsubishi Estate Co Ltd
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries
Toshiba Corp
Shiseido Co Ltd
Shionogi & Co Ltd
Tokyo Gas Co Ltd
Tokyo Electron Ltd
Panasonic Corp
Fujitsu Ltd
Central Japan Railway Co
T&D Holdings Inc
Toyota Motor Corp
Kddi Corp
Nitto Denko Corp
Lt Price
10,885.00
1,732.00
4,143.00
2,249.00
1,455.00
2,045.50
456.70
250.90
3,848.00
5,995.00
577.20
15,670.00
1,521.00
837.30
17,915.00
1,731.50
6,263.00
2,929.00
9,814.00
% Chg
0.93
0.32
1.40
-0.73
0.28
0.37
-0.72
-1.84
-1.00
-0.15
0.16
0.58
1.98
2.00
-0.03
-1.34
1.23
0.69
1.05
Lt Price
Change
Dow Jones Indus. Avg
S&P 500 Index
Nasdaq Composite Index
S&P/Tsx Composite Index
Mexico Bolsa Index
Brazil Bovespa Stock Idx
Ftse 100 Index
Cac 40 Index
Dax Index
Ibex 35 Tr
Indices
21,368.90
2,420.09
6,176.09
15,064.71
50,690.29
63,307.16
7,329.76
5,140.60
12,437.02
10,445.60
-39.62
-7.34
-0.30
-40.58
+73.48
+281.69
-40.27
-25.04
-8.90
-63.90
Nikkei 225
Japan Topix
Hang Seng Index
All Ordinaries Indx
Nzx All Index
Bse Sensex 30 Index
Nse S&P Cnx Nifty Index
Straits Times Index
Karachi All Share Index
Jakarta Composite Index
20,195.48
1,627.14
25,877.64
5,768.47
1,394.78
31,747.09
9,786.05
3,218.80
30,948.79
5,773.33
+114.50
+11.66
+377.58
+5.60
+7.73
+31.45
+15.00
-27.55
-1,376.81
+1.82
Volume
Volume
643,000
3,736,700
1,611,100
1,063,500
1,226,200
3,805,200
20,563,000
54,130,000
1,387,600
1,183,900
3,742,000
970,700
6,353,200
8,702,000
378,600
2,364,700
8,830,800
7,619,800
749,300
TOKYO
Company Name
Rakuten Inc
Kyocera Corp
Nissan Motor Co Ltd
Hitachi Ltd
Takeda Pharmaceutical Co Ltd
Jfe Holdings Inc
Ana Holdings Inc
Mitsubishi Electric Corp
Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Gr
Honda Motor Co Ltd
Fast Retailing Co Ltd
Ms&Ad Insurance Group Holdin
Kubota Corp
Seven & I Holdings Co Ltd
Inpex Corp
Resona Holdings Inc
Asahi Kasei Corp
Kirin Holdings Co Ltd
Marubeni Corp
Mitsubishi Ufj Financial Gro
Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings
Fanuc Corp
Daito Trust Construct Co Ltd
Otsuka Holdings Co Ltd
Oriental Land Co Ltd
Sekisui House Ltd
Secom Co Ltd
Tokio Marine Holdings Inc
Aeon Co Ltd
Mitsui & Co Ltd
Kao Corp
Dai-Ichi Life Holdings Inc
Mazda Motor Corp
Komatsu Ltd
West Japan Railway Co
Murata Manufacturing Co Ltd
Kansai Electric Power Co Inc
Denso Corp
Sompo Holdings Inc
Daiwa House Industry Co Ltd
Jxtg Holdings Inc
Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Meta
Suzuki Motor Corp
Nippon Telegraph & Telephone
Ajinomoto Co Inc
Mitsui Fudosan Co Ltd
Ono Pharmaceutical Co Ltd
Daikin Industries Ltd
Bank Of Yokohama Ltd/The
Toray Industries Inc
Astellas Pharma Inc
Bridgestone Corp
Sony Corp
Hoya Corp
Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdin
Japan Tobacco Inc
Osaka Gas Co Ltd
Sumitomo Electric Industries
Daiwa Securities Group Inc
Softbank Group Corp
Mizuho Financial Group Inc
Nomura Holdings Inc
Daiichi Sankyo Co Ltd
Subaru Corp
Ntt Docomo Inc
Sumitomo Realty & Developmen
Sumitomo Metal Mining Co Ltd
Orix Corp
Asahi Group Holdings Ltd
Keyence Corp
Nidec Corp
Isuzu Motors Ltd
Unicharm Corp
Shin-Etsu Chemical Co Ltd
Smc Corp
Mitsubishi Corp
Nintendo Co Ltd
Eisai Co Ltd
Sumitomo Corp
Canon Inc
Japan Airlines Co Ltd
Lt Price
1,328.00
6,539.00
1,154.50
712.10
5,706.00
2,039.00
390.00
1,673.00
4,378.00
3,104.00
36,770.00
3,890.00
1,968.50
4,528.00
1,072.00
602.30
1,227.50
2,365.50
741.40
751.40
978.70
22,400.00
18,025.00
4,775.00
7,589.00
1,990.00
8,574.00
4,807.00
1,718.50
1,609.00
6,661.00
2,067.50
1,623.50
2,927.50
8,037.00
16,925.00
1,470.00
4,873.00
4,440.00
3,902.00
491.60
2,641.00
5,258.00
5,305.00
2,398.50
2,596.00
2,474.50
11,765.00
0.00
967.90
1,386.50
4,902.00
4,439.00
5,823.00
4,027.00
3,874.00
446.90
1,791.50
672.90
9,106.00
205.00
669.80
2,528.00
4,144.00
2,641.00
3,434.00
1,526.50
1,793.00
4,438.00
49,920.00
11,580.00
1,417.00
2,841.00
10,025.00
35,350.00
2,378.00
36,060.00
6,095.00
1,497.50
3,769.00
3,546.00
% Chg
0.80
0.48
0.22
1.58
0.21
0.25
1.35
0.21
0.11
0.00
-1.10
0.80
1.52
-0.15
0.42
-0.50
1.40
0.92
0.23
0.28
2.49
1.54
-0.47
0.63
1.04
0.66
-0.07
0.69
0.03
0.37
-0.61
-0.36
0.22
1.16
0.97
0.06
-1.18
1.16
0.63
1.35
1.05
-0.30
-1.77
1.43
1.27
-0.48
0.24
0.26
0.00
1.23
0.07
0.91
2.80
2.01
-0.30
0.44
0.63
-0.11
-0.44
1.99
0.20
0.83
0.64
0.63
0.71
0.23
1.29
0.50
1.37
1.84
1.18
0.39
0.44
0.60
0.80
-0.52
-1.12
0.11
0.57
0.56
1.08
Volume
4,486,900
747,000
10,884,900
16,526,000
977,000
2,069,100
12,124,000
3,574,700
4,214,700
4,620,600
403,500
1,872,500
3,617,600
1,988,200
2,844,500
8,960,500
3,035,000
1,329,400
5,939,300
45,578,800
5,646,200
838,000
253,700
1,090,000
616,900
2,398,700
488,800
1,761,700
2,224,500
3,124,500
1,640,300
2,967,100
2,928,000
3,356,200
421,700
923,400
3,258,400
1,704,800
912,100
1,700,200
10,647,200
2,657,300
4,710,500
2,914,000
1,586,900
2,732,800
1,697,500
689,400
3,595,900
4,233,000
1,841,400
9,695,500
976,100
840,700
2,853,000
4,215,000
2,130,400
6,743,000
5,525,400
66,906,900
15,169,600
1,511,100
3,538,400
4,007,800
1,162,000
3,869,000
4,293,300
1,127,100
247,000
739,900
1,939,000
1,009,000
788,100
152,700
5,041,300
3,508,800
332,800
2,589,100
3,455,500
1,378,600
SENSEX
Company Name
Zee Entertainment Enterprise
Yes Bank Ltd
Wipro Ltd
Vedanta Ltd
Ultratech Cement Ltd
Tech Mahindra Ltd
Tata Steel Ltd
Tata Power Co Ltd
Tata Motors Ltd
Tata Consultancy Svcs Ltd
Sun Pharmaceutical Indus
State Bank Of India
Reliance Industries Ltd
Punjab National Bank
Power Grid Corp Of India Ltd
Oil & Natural Gas Corp Ltd
Ntpc Ltd
Maruti Suzuki India Ltd
Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd
Lupin Ltd
Larsen & Toubro Ltd
Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd
Itc Ltd
Infosys Ltd
Indusind Bank Ltd
Idea Cellular Ltd
Icici Bank Ltd
Housing Development Finance
Hindustan Unilever Ltd
Hindalco Industries Ltd
Hero Motocorp Ltd
Hdfc Bank Limited
Hcl Technologies Ltd
Grasim Industries Ltd
Gail India Ltd
Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories
Coal India Ltd
Cipla Ltd
Cairn India Ltd
Bosch Ltd
Bharti Airtel Ltd
Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd
Bharat Heavy Electricals
Bank Of Baroda
Bajaj Auto Ltd
Axis Bank Ltd
Asian Paints Ltd
Ambuja Cements Ltd
Adani Ports And Special Econ
Acc Ltd
Lt Price
506.45
1,514.80
263.20
257.60
4,151.25
385.20
556.85
83.00
456.95
2,475.80
563.80
283.55
1,494.35
149.40
211.95
160.25
163.30
7,457.00
1,390.15
1,139.95
1,741.10
958.75
330.40
975.35
1,560.70
84.30
289.65
1,642.75
1,106.45
200.65
3,748.30
1,680.40
850.65
1,257.60
363.25
2,691.25
254.50
538.45
0.00
23,857.75
395.45
678.30
139.75
162.65
2,792.75
506.80
1,131.75
255.15
372.70
1,650.80
% Chg
0.14
0.13
-1.88
-1.19
0.39
0.29
-0.45
-0.54
2.24
1.68
0.02
-0.70
0.10
-2.51
0.28
-1.32
2.03
0.36
1.66
-0.77
0.52
-0.96
-0.87
1.91
0.02
-3.33
-0.62
0.24
0.93
2.48
0.46
0.24
0.12
0.17
-0.75
-1.28
-1.66
-1.96
0.00
-0.13
-2.53
2.05
1.53
-2.37
2.27
-0.62
0.35
0.29
-0.60
1.39
Volume
2,507,240
2,110,305
4,621,130
12,131,184
140,442
2,528,068
5,546,188
4,777,403
13,326,440
1,913,565
3,053,437
13,542,930
5,063,013
11,770,472
7,890,960
8,468,125
5,902,707
445,396
2,157,510
2,053,920
1,832,883
1,386,122
8,903,483
6,043,291
3,075,363
23,448,469
11,341,404
1,586,565
1,182,553
16,415,471
238,142
1,199,209
1,582,928
1,532,494
1,157,243
180,263
2,036,239
1,680,425
10,571
6,122,092
3,891,588
11,352,628
8,252,695
428,331
4,089,906
558,316
2,632,032
2,743,398
360,471
Shares in Marks & Spencer fell 4.7% yesterday, partly on the back of underwhelming food sales.
European stock markets
fall on real estate stocks
risk premium has decreased, which in
turn increases companies’ buybacks,
a trend which is likely to continue in
the short term as reduced uncertainties and a cyclical recovery decrease
the necessity to hold liquidity in cash,”
Bissat added.
Basic resources was the only other
sector in positive territory, up 0.5% as
metals prices gained.
Pearson wiped out early gains to fall
to the bottom of the STOXX, down
more than 5% after selling a 22% stake
in publisher Penguin Random House.
Analysts were concerned about what
this would mean for future dividends.
Analysts at Liberum, which has a
“sell” rating on the restructuring education publisher, were sceptical about
the details of the deal.
Marks & Spencer reported a rise in
full-price sales, but its shares fell 4.7%,
partly on the back of underwhelming
food sales.
Broker notes spurred some of the
biggest individual moves, with semiconductor maker AMS a top gainer after Credit Suisse upped its target price.
Peer STMicro – a supplier to tech
Reuters
London
E
uropean shares ended yesterday
on the backfoot as losses among
defensive consumer staples and
real estate stocks outweighed strength
in autos and miners.
The pan-European STOXX 600 was
down 0.7% at its close, while eurozone stocks and blue-chips fell 0.4%,
in muted trading punctuated by early
earnings updates and more corporate
deal-making.
Consumer staples including food
and drink companies and household
goods weighed, with real estate stocks
also falling 1.2%.
Auto stocks were a bright spot, up
1%, after data showed Chinese passenger car sales rose.
“We note that defensive equity sectors earnings have generally weakened
while cyclical sectors keep their positive momentum,” said Valentin Bissat,
equity analyst at Mirabaud Asset Management.
“Overall for the region, the equity
HONG KONG
Company Name
Aluminum Corp Of China Ltd-H
Bank Of East Asia Ltd
Bank Of China Ltd-H
Bank Of Communications Co-H
Belle International Holdings
Boc Hong Kong Holdings Ltd
Cathay Pacific Airways
Ck Hutchison Holdings Ltd
China Coal Energy Co-H
China Construction Bank-H
China Life Insurance Co-H
China Merchants Port Holding
China Mobile Ltd
China Overseas Land & Invest
China Petroleum & Chemical-H
China Resources Beer Holdin
China Resources Land Ltd
China Resources Power Holdin
China Shenhua Energy Co-H
China Unicom Hong Kong Ltd
Citic Ltd
Clp Holdings Ltd
Cnooc Ltd
Cosco Shipping Ports Ltd
Esprit Holdings Ltd
Fih Mobile Ltd
Hang Lung Properties Ltd
Hang Seng Bank Ltd
Henderson Land Development
giant Apple – received a boost after
JP Morgan raised it to “overweight”,
though it ended the session 0.4% lower.
“We believe that the market is too
cautious on STMicro,” wrote European
tech analyst Sandeep Deshpande.
Deshpande also said Apple suppliers would have a strong second half,
calling the market too sceptical and
predicting the semiconductor stocks
would meet or beat expectations.
In the incipient European earnings
season, a strong update from Danish
insurer Tryg pushed it up 3.6% to a
two-year high. Berenberg analyst Iain
Pearce said a special dividend could be
expected at year-end.
Randstad and Adecco both fell more
than 2%, targeted by Deutsche bank in
a note on staffing firms.
Analysts at Deutsche cut ratings for
the world’s two largest staffing companies, saying current employment levels
in the United States and Europe were
associated with peaking 12-month investor returns.
British recruitment firm Hays followed its European peers down 1.6%.
HONG KONG
Lt Price
4.07
33.20
3.66
5.58
6.11
37.50
12.66
98.95
3.70
6.18
24.60
21.90
81.00
23.65
5.84
18.80
22.80
15.08
17.18
10.92
11.56
81.70
8.54
9.05
4.04
2.37
19.70
164.00
43.55
% Chg
-2.40
1.07
1.95
1.64
-0.33
0.81
-0.63
0.71
-0.80
4.04
2.71
1.15
0.31
1.28
0.86
-0.74
1.11
0.13
1.54
0.74
0.52
0.06
0.23
-0.55
-0.49
-1.25
-0.71
0.49
0.35
Volume
37,720,087
767,442
463,202,956
43,016,182
43,661,705
10,775,188
9,666,100
3,255,518
16,605,936
475,332,101
59,846,854
2,590,856
18,157,431
24,583,845
106,466,469
5,538,182
7,641,233
5,769,081
20,218,048
35,252,917
11,743,000
1,868,171
40,265,728
1,204,370
4,014,466
8,916,696
3,302,979
487,092
2,098,058
Company Name
Hong Kong & China Gas
Hong Kong Exchanges & Clear
Hsbc Holdings Plc
Hutchison Whampoa Ltd
Ind & Comm Bk Of China-H
Li & Fung Ltd
Mtr Corp
New World Development
Petrochina Co Ltd-H
Ping An Insurance Group Co-H
Power Assets Holdings Ltd
Sino Land Co
Sun Hung Kai Properties
Swire Pacific Ltd - Cl A
Tencent Holdings Ltd
Wharf Holdings Ltd
Lt Price
14.70
202.40
75.05
0.00
5.02
2.88
44.65
9.94
4.78
55.10
68.55
12.68
115.90
76.10
278.40
65.05
% Chg
0.41
1.25
0.60
0.00
3.08
0.70
1.25
0.20
0.21
0.55
0.59
0.00
0.00
0.40
2.50
1.09
Volume
10,333,153
4,712,680
45,884,695
435,890,808
20,085,730
5,081,153
8,746,971
100,816,024
54,889,467
1,645,934
2,267,258
2,438,201
903,801
18,877,039
2,692,605
GCC INDICES
Indices
Doha Securities Market
Saudi Tadawul
Kuwait Stocks Exchange
Bahrain Stock Exchage
Oman Stock Market
Abudhabi Stock Market
Dubai Financial Market
Lt Price
9,030.16
7,245.39
6,778.62
1,311.82
5,171.19
4,408.66
3,439.88
Change
+35.04
+8.45
+30.08
+3.57
+12.36
+10.70
+21.94
“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 offer 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.”
CURRENCIES
DOLLAR
QATAR RIYAL
SAUDI RIYAL
UAE DIRHAMS
BAHRAINI
DINAR
KUWAITI
DINAR
Gulf Times
Wednesday, July 12, 2017
13
BUSINESS
Saudi Aramco
to meet Asia
demand
for August
crude in full
Reuters
Singapore/New Delhi
Saudi Aramco will meet the full
August crude oil requirements
of its customers in India and
southeast Asia as well as four of
its North Asian buyers, several
sources with knowledge of the
matter said yesterday.
This shows how Saudi Arabia,
the world’s biggest oil exporter,
aims to retain market share in
Asia, the region with the world’s
strongest demand growth.
Saudi Arabia has been cutting
exports to Europe and the United
States to comply with a production cut deal by the Organisation
of the Petroleum Exporting
Countries and some non-Opec
countries such as Russia. For
August, “there is no (supply) cut”
even for heavier grades such as
Arab Medium and Heavy crude
to south Asian customers, one of
the sources said. At least one of
the North Asian buyers will also
receive full supply of Arab Heavy
crude that it has requested.
This marks a change from
supply cuts to these buyers in
the first half this year as Saudi
Aramco cut output of cheaper
heavy crude to meet its Opec
quota. Saudi Aramco is selling
Arab Heavy crude in August at
the narrowest discount in more
than three years. The Opec cuts
drove up prices of Middle East
heavy-sour crude, or grades
with a high sulphur content,
pushing Asian refiners to seek
substitutes from Russia, Africa
and the United States.
Last week, India bought its
first ever US crude and its refiners plan to buy more.
Saudi continues to supply
slightly more light oil to Japan,
one of the sources said.
Saudi Arabia has increased
its market share in Japan, its
biggest Asian market, in the first
half this year. Japan’s imports of
Saudi crude between January
and June reached 1.3mn barrels
per day, 7.7% up on a year ago.
Tata Steel sells UK pipe
mills to Liberty House
Reuters
Bengaluru/London
I
ndia’s Tata Steel said yesterday it
had agreed to sell its pipe mills in the
north of England to UK-based metals and industrial group Liberty House
for an undisclosed sum.
The mills in Hartlepool employ 140
people and have a production capacity
of over 250,000 tonnes a year.
Tata Steel, Britain’s largest steelmaker, has been selling off parts of its
UK business since last year, when it announced talks to merge its British and
European steel assets with those of Germany’s Thyssenkrupp.
“With this sale, Tata Steel UK will
complete its portfolio restructuring to
focus on the strip products supply chain
linked to Port Talbot,” said Bimlendra
Jha, CEO of Tata Steel UK.
“The sale is also an important step
towards developing a more sustainable
future for the rest of our UK business.”
In February, Tata signed a £100mn
deal to sell its speciality steel business
to Liberty House, saving 1,700 jobs,
mostly in South Yorkshire, northern
England.
Under yesterday’s deal, Tata retained
ownership of a tube mill in Hartlepool
that is supplied with steel coils from
the European steel assets that it wants
to retain and merge with Thyssenkrupp.
Tata, whose UK business is centred
on the steelworks in Port Talbot, Wales,
said it will invest £1mn ($1.29mn) in the
Hartlepool tube mill, which employs
270 people.
Privately-owned Liberty, which plans
to list some of its businesses in 2018, has
been snapping up distressed steel assets
in Britain and around the world, including in the United States and Australia.
“This step will inspire investments
not only in Hartlepool but also in our
upstream plate mill at Dalzell (Scotland), and potentially... at Whyalla in
Australia in due course, to give us a
fully-integrated world class capability
to supply pipeline projects,” Liberty’s
executive chairman Sanjeev Gupta.
Tata Steel, Britain’s largest steelmaker, has been selling off parts of its UK business since last year, when it announced talks to merge its British and European steel assets
with those of Germany’s Thyssenkrupp.
The Hartlepool pipe mills make
heavy-duty steel pipe for the oil and gas
sector.
Liberty, which operates together
with energy and commodities business
SIMEC under the $9.4bn Gupta Family
Group (GFG) Alliance, said it is in talks
to secure a support package to recruit
more staff for the pipe mills business.
Gupta’s Liberty House is one of the
largest industrial employers in the UK
with a workforce of nearly 5,000 people.
Following yesterday’s deal, Tata re-
mains the largest UK steelmaker with a
workforce of 8,500 people.
The UK steel sector is emerging from
a crisis that saw some 5,000 jobs, a fifth
of the workforce, axed in 2015-16.
It is estimated that for every steel job
saved, four jobs are retained in related
CIC profit rises, seeks more US direct investment
Reuters
Beijing
C
hina’s sovereign wealth fund
China Investment Corp (CIC)
posted a 1.88% rise in 2016 net
profit, boosted by stronger returns from
its overseas portfolio.
Profit rose to $75.3bn from $73.9bn
a year earlier, its annual report showed
yesterday.
Total investment income was $83bn
in 2016, compared with $76.7bn in 2015.
Its accumulated annualised investment return rose to 4.76% last year.
The increase was bolstered by portfolio adjustment and high returns on
stock markets in Europe and the United
states, Li Wenping, managing director
of CIC’s financial department, told a
news conference.
The fund is seeking to increase direct
investment in the United States with
its newly-established New York office,
spokeswoman Liu Fangyu told Reuters.
That includes direct investments in
infrastructure and property.
Presently, 42% of CIC’s total overseas portfolio is in the United States,
but mostly in public markets, she said.
“We established the US office with
the mandates to explore the opportunities and…establish close relationships
with local partners, with the local government agencies and the local regula-
tory agencies,” she added. CIC, headquartered in Beijing, was founded in
2007 to help China earn a higher return
on its foreign exchange reserves.
The fund reported a 6.22% return on
its overseas investments in 2016, compared with a negative 2.96% in 2015.
“Eight years following the global financial crisis, major economies’ rounds
of easing policies and developed countries’ sluggish economic recovery led to
intensifying competition among global
funds, adding pressure on investment
returns,” CIC vice chairman and president Tu Guangshao said in the report.
“Potential risks are the rising uncertainties of global politics and policies,”
he said, referring to the outlook for 2017.
CIC invests overseas through two
subsidiaries, CIC International Co and
direct investment vehicle CIC Capital
Corp.
CIC Capital, launched in 2015, signed
16 deals worth $5bn last year.
Last month, CIC signed the buyout of
European warehouse firm Logicor Ltd
from Blackstone Group LP for €12.25bn
($13.95bn), Europe’s biggest private equity real estate deal.
Earlier this month, CIC joined a consortium led by TIAA Private Investments and Antarctica Capital LLC to
buy InterPark LLC, the largest owneroperator of parking infrastructure in
the United States from Alinda Capital
Partners LLC.
CIC started with initial funding of
$200bn.
By the end of 2016, its assets had surpassed $813.5bn.
Profit and loss from fair value changes recorded an increase of $23.5bn over
last year, primarily due to the reversal in
fair value of financial assets, Li said.
Through its Central Huijin Investment Ltd subsidiary, CIC is a shareholder in 18 Chinese state-owned
financial institutions, including the
country’s largest banks such as China
Development Bank Corp, Industrial and
Commercial Bank of China Ltd, China
Construction Bank Corp and Agricultural Bank of China Ltd, according to its
annual report.
In China, shoppers buy bad loans online with their groceries
Bloomberg
Beijing
Among the sneakers, diapers and pet
food for sale on Taobao, China’s biggest
e-commerce platform, is a listing that may
take up a little more space in the online
shopping basket.
For 4.15mn yuan ($610,000), customers on the site owned by e-retailing giant
Alibaba Group Holding Ltd can bid for
the debt of a steelmaker from Zhejiang,
a coastal province in eastern China. The
company has failed to pay back a 9.95mn
yuan loan, including interest, so a distressed asset manager is auctioning it off
to the highest online bidder.
It’s not the only bad debt for sale on
Taobao, which translates roughly as digging for treasure.
Used by millions of Chinese to buy everything from clothes to food and electronics, the platform, known for its bargains,
typically markets more than 1bn yuan of
soured assets a day, according to Bloomberg calculations. Recent listings include a
portfolio of 118 non-performing loans from
some companies in Yunnan province,
a villa seized by a bank in the southern
canal city of Shaoxing, and a property in
central Beijing that’s also in default.
“Financial technology and e-commerce
in China has reached a high level of sophistication,” said Xia Le, chief Asia economist at Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria
SA in Hong Kong. “Online platforms are
levelling the playing field in the distressed
On Taobao, distressed assets are typically advertised several weeks or months
before the auction date. E-commerce platforms provide access to more investors
and the lender has garnered interest for assets marketed on Taobao that failed to yield
inquiries offline
debt market as it means everybody gets
access to the same information.”
China’s embrace of e-retailing is helping
it tackle another byproduct of the country’s rapid economic evolution: the rise of
bad debt.
Slowing growth and an uptick in
corporate defaults has fuelled the market,
with NPLs at commercial banks more than
doubling over the past two years to 1.6tn
yuan as of the end of March. As Beijing
pushes lenders to find market-oriented
ways of dealing with soured loans, interest
in distressed debt has climbed, spurring
banks and asset managers to look beyond
traditional venues like auction houses and
exchanges to dispose of the assets.
China Cinda Asset Management Co –
one of the country’s biggest distressed
asset managers, and the firm marketing
the steel company’s debt – said last month
that it’s collaborating with Alibaba to set
up a special section on Taobao to auction
its wares. Though Alibaba declined to
provide data on actual sales, the advertising of such loans shows how interest in
the market for China’s distressed debt is
developing.
Following Taobao’s lead, more than 50
other websites marketing their services
to banks and other sellers of bad loans
emerged in China in the first half of last
year, according to a March report from
PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP. More than
20 financial institutions are listed as
partners on Taobao’s auction platform for
soured assets, including Shenzhen-based
Ping An Bank Co, Beijing’s China Minsheng
Banking Corp and China Citic Bank Corp.
But bad-loan investing isn’t like trading
equities or even ordinary debt, which
raises questions over the opening up of
the market to rank-and-file investors.
Interaction with the seller is important
in an NPL transaction and the deals can
take months to complete, says Andrew
Brown, a partner for macro and strategy in
Hong Kong at ShoreVest Capital Partners
Ltd, which invests in Chinese bad loans.
“The online auction sites open the marketplace up to potential buyers that may
not be as diligent in the required analysis
that we deem appropriate to price a
portfolio,” he said. “If you are developing
a platform for NPL portfolios, the question
is does it allow for appropriate time and
access to do the research? It’s not like buying and selling stocks.”
On Taobao, distressed assets are typically advertised several weeks or months
before the auction date. The listing for the
Zhejiang steelmaker’s debt says interested
investors can call a local branch of Cinda
for information on the offer, and includes
details and photos of the collateral: a 240
square-metre (2,580 square feet) apartment in the city of Hangzhou.
Industrial Bank Co, a lender based in
Fujian province, signed an asset disposal
cooperation agreement with Alibaba in
May. The bank sold 232mn yuan of NPLs
on Taobao between May 20 and the
end of June, according to Fang Zhiyong,
general manager of the special asset
management department.
E-commerce platforms provide access
to more investors and the lender has
garnered interest for assets marketed
on Taobao that failed to yield inquiries
offline. But while they can bring a level of
transparency to bad loan trading, sites like
Taobao also attract individual investors
who don’t typically have the skills needed
to do full due diligence on an NPL deal,
Fang said. Nonetheless, Taobao will be a
“key” channel for the bank in disposing
bad debt.
For Song Lingling, a partner at
Beijing-based distressed debt fund DCL
Investments, disposing of NPLs on web
platforms can be less complicated than
via auction houses, which usually charge
commissions. Her firm has used Taobao to
buy and sell soured assets.
Supply of bad loans in China is likely to
increase further, with most coming from
trust companies, Internet financing firms
and peer-to-peer lenders going forward,
according to Bald Eagle Asset Management.
“Conducting NPL auctions online has
increasingly become a trend,” Song said.
“More investors are using Taobao as a
platform because of the simplicity, transparency and confidentiality of the bidders’
identity.”
industries. Gupta first hit the headlines
last year when he offered to rescue all
the distressed UK steel plants owned
by Tata, but the Indian group eventually decided against selling its entire
UK business in favour of a tie-up with
Thyssenkrupp.
China
vehicle
sales
rebound
Reuters
Beijing
C
hina’s vehicle sales rebounded in June, the
country’s top industry
association said, shaking off
weakness seen in the previous
two months as carmakers grappled with a rollback in tax incentives that drove strong growth
last year.
Total vehicle sales hit 2.17mn
in June, up 4.5% from a year earlier, while sales for the first half
of the year rose 3.8% to 13.4mn
vehicles, the China Association
of Automobile Manufacturers
(CAAM) said yesterday.
The rise in sales, which industry insiders said was helped by
hefty discounting, lends a sheen
to the world’s largest auto market, but growth overall is struggling to keep pace with 2016
when the market grew at its fastest pace in three years.
Overall vehicle demand in
China would likely grow just
1-4% this year, mainly because
consumers made purchases last
year to benefit from lower tax
rates, said Yale Zhang, head of
Shanghai-based
consultancy
Automotive Foresight.
In January, CAAM predicted
sales would rise 5% this year,
slowing from 13.7% in 2016, citing the rollback of a tax incentive
for small-engine cars and economic pressures.
It stuck with that forecast
yesterday.
June’s rise, however, marks
an improvement from April and
May, when vehicle sales fell 2.2%
and 0.1%, respectively, registering two straight months of
declines for the first time since
2015. Peter Fleet, Ford Motor
Co’s Asia-Pacific chief, told Reuters average vehicle transaction
prices in China had fallen about
4% in the first half of this year
against 2016.
14
Gulf Times
Wednesday, July 12, 2017
BUSINESS
Japan MUFG
may disclose
information
on advisers to
improve
corporate
governance
Reuters
Tokyo
Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group
(MUFG) may disclose information on so-called special advisers – all former top executives
– and clarify the work they do,
as part of its efforts to improve
corporate governance, sources
at the bank with direct knowledge of the matter said.
The step would put the lender
among the first of major Japanese firms to review the role of
advisers after the government
this year called on firms to clarify
the status of former executives
who stay on company payrolls
as consultants. Prime Minister
Shinzo Abe’s administration has
made corporate governance a
key policy plank, keen to shake
up a business culture that has
often been criticised for putting
the interests of executives over
shareholders.
A trade ministry report
published in March noted there
were concerns that advisers at
Japanese firms can exert undue
influence over management
without being held accountable
to shareholders, and it urged
companies to shed light on their
roles. MUFG, Japan’s largest
lender by assets, has “less than
10” special advisers at its core
banking unit, all of them either
a former chairman or president,
said one of the sources.
“Given heightened public
interest in corporate governance, we have to clarify the role
of these advisers and make rules
for their compensation schemes.
And we plan to make public
what they do,” the person said,
adding that the board plans to
reach a conclusion by the end
of the financial year ending in
March. The sources declined to
be identified as they were not
authorised to discuss the matter
publicly. An MUFG spokesman
declined to comment.
Waseda University Professor
Hideaki Miyajima, an expert
on corporate governance, said
that while it was difficult to pin
down whether special advisers
at Japanese companies do tend
to exert undue influence over
management, it was important
that traditional companies like
MUFG address these concerns.
“I think the move is likely to
followed by companies that
have overseas operations or a
higher percentage of institutional investors as shareholders,” he added. Other Japanese
companies that have acted on
the issue of advisers include
department store operator
J.Front Retailing Co Ltd, which
abolished the title of corporate
counsel in May. Others have
sought to justify the rationale
behind the practice. Takeda
Pharmaceutical CEO Christophe
Weber wrote to shareholders in
June, making a case for appointing retiring chairman Yasuchika
Hasegawa as corporate counsel.
The MUFG review is not
seeking to do away with advisers, the sources said, adding
that they played an important
role as they serve on boards
of various foundations and
attend social functions as well
as funerals on behalf of current
management.
Defunct Mt Gox CEO denies
embezzlement as trial opens
Reuters
Tokyo
T
he 32-year-old chief executive
of defunct Mt Gox pleaded not
guilty yesterday to charges relating to the loss of hundreds of millions of
dollars worth of bitcoins and cash from
what was once the world’s biggest bitcoin exchange.
French national Mark Karpeles filed
the plea in response to charges of embezzlement and data manipulation at
the Tokyo District Court, according to a
pool report for foreign journalists.
Mt Gox once handled 80% of the
world’s bitcoin trades but filed for
bankruptcy in 2014 after losing some
850,000 bitcoins – then worth around
half a billion US dollars – and $28mn in
cash from its bank accounts.
In its bankruptcy filing, Tokyo-based
Mt Gox blamed hackers for the lost bitcoins, pointing to a software security
flaw.
Mt Gox subsequently said it had
found 200,000 of the missing bitcoins.
Karpeles was indicted for transferring ¥341mn ($3mn) from a Mt Gox account holding customer funds to an account in his name during September to
December 2013.
The prosecution also alleged Karpeles boosted the balance of an account
in his name in Mt Gox’s trading system.
In its opening statement to the court,
Karpeles’ defence team did not dispute
that the transfers took place, but denied
they amounted to embezzlement.
Karpeles told the court he was an information technology engineer.
“I swear to God that I am innocent,”
he said in Japanese to the three-judge
panel hearing his case, according to the
pool report.
The collapse of Mt Gox badly damaged the image of virtual currencies,
particularly among risk-averse Japanese investors and corporations.
But the bankruptcy also prompted Japan’s government to decide how to treat
bitcoin, and preceded a push by local
regulators to licence virtual currency
Mark Karpeles, chief executive of bitcoin exchange Mt Gox (left), attends a news conference after a trial on charges of embezzlement in Tokyo, yesterday. Karpeles was
indicted for transferring ¥341mn ($3mn) from a Mt Gox account holding customer funds to an account in his name during September to December 2013.
exchanges. Japan this year became the
first country to regulate exchanges at
the national level, part of a government
effort to exploit financial technology as
a means of stimulating the economy.
Interest in bitcoin among Japan’s
legions of individual investors – encouraged by Tokyo’s recognition of the
virtual currency as legal tender – has
spiked in recent months.
Still, institutional investors remain
wary, say those running virtual currency exchanges in Tokyo.
Japanese firms are also unenthusiastic: Only 4% of large and mid-sized
firms plan to use bitcoin in the near to
medium term, showed a Reuters poll
last month.
The value of bitcoin is highly volatile.
It hit a record high of $2,980 last month.
Like other virtual currencies, such
as Ethereum and Ripple, bitcoin has
no central authority and relies instead
on thousands of computers across the
world that validate transactions and
add new units to the system – technology known as blockchain.
Bitcoin can be traded on exchanges in
the same manner as stocks and bonds.
It has also become a mode of payment
for some retailers, and a way to transfer
funds without the need for a third party.
Toshiba in talks to revive stalled chip unit sale
Reuters
Tokyo
T
oshiba Corp is in talks with
Western Digital Corp and Taiwan’s Foxconn, as well as with
an already preferred bidder, as it seeks
to revive a stalled $18bn sale of its chip
business, banking sources said yesterday.
The Japanese conglomerate confirmed it was in talks with suitors, but
did not name them, noting it had been
unable to reach an agreement by a selfimposed June 28 deadline with its preferred bidder – a group that includes
state-backed fund Innovation Network
Corp of Japan (INCJ), the Development
Bank of Japan (DBJ), US private equity
firm Bain Capital and South Korean
chipmaker SK Hynix Inc.
A representative for Western Digital
declined to comment, and a representative for Foxconn, the world’s largest
contract electronics maker, formally
known as Hon Hai Precision Industry,
was not immediately available for comment. Talks with the preferred consortium have stalled over what sources say
are proposals by SK Hynix that it helps
fund a deal through convertible bonds
– a step that could eventually give it an
equity interest in the world’s second-
Toshiba doesn’t want its South Korean rival to have an equity or management influence in the chip business, a stance it has
taken to satisfy a Japanese government keen to keep Toshiba’s technology under domestic control.
largest maker of NAND flash memory
chips.
Toshiba doesn’t want its South Korean rival to have an equity or management influence in the chip business – a
stance it has taken to satisfy a Japanese
government keen to keep Toshiba’s
technology under domestic control.
Toshiba told its creditor banks at a
meeting yesterday that it had begun
talks with alternative bidders because
talks with the consortium had stalled,
the banking sources said.
They didn’t want to be identified as
they were not authorised to speak publicly on the matter.
“Toshiba had no option but to say
it’s in talks with other suitors because
the preferred consortium is falling
through,” said another official involved
in the talks, who also requested ano-
nymity as those negotiations are sensitive. Toshiba needs to sell its chip
business to plug a hole in its balance
sheet by the fiscal year-end in March,
to avoid an automatic delisting of its
shares from Tokyo’s stock market.
The 140-year-old laptops-to-nuclear conglomerate was still recovering from a $1.3bn accounting scandal in
2015 when it was hit by billions of dollars of cost overruns at its now bankrupt US nuclear unit Westinghouse in
December.
Sources have said that INCJ and DBJ,
said to be wary of SK Hynix, could back
a deal with Western Digital.
Toshiba executives, though, have
been reluctant to consider a deal with
Western Digital, with sources saying ties between the two companies
have been strained since Western Digital bought SanDisk, Toshiba’s memory
chip business partner, in May last year.
Last month, Western Digital sought a
US court injunction to prevent Toshiba
selling the chip unit without its consent.
A hearing on that request is scheduled for Friday.
In July 7 court documents, Western
Digital said it matched rival bidders’
offers to buy the flash memory unit –
though the actual dollar figure of the
bid was redacted.
China sets sights on oil benchmark after years of delays
Reuters
Beijing/Singapore
C
hina has opened more than
6,000 trading accounts for its
long-awaited crude futures
contract – with three-quarters coming
from individual traders – as it pushes
ahead with plans to compete with global pricing benchmarks.
China’s oil majors and about 150
brokerages have also registered, but
the strong interest by ‘mom-and-pop’
investors looks set to mark out China’s
crude futures from western counterparts, which are dominated by institutional investors.
Shanghai International Energy Exchange (INE), which will run China’s
contract, says it is finalising technical
issues.
The contract has faced years of delays and there is still no set date, but
INE and also trading participants now
say a launch this year is almost certain.
“The INE is striving to launch the
crude oil futures within this year,” a
spokeswoman said, adding that the exchange has conducted four trials to ensure it is technically ready.
Oil futures trading volume is small
during Asian hours despite the region’s
role as the world’s top consumer.
Shanghai’s crude futures are aimed
at giving China more clout in pricing
crude in Asia and a share of the trillions
of dollars in oil futures trade.
The INE hopes to attract foreign investors, and locally registered entities
of JPMorgan and UBS are among those
registered, although international
players have raised concerns, including
denomination in yuan, that may dampen early take-up.
Most oil trades are priced off two
crude derivatives, US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) and London’s Brent,
traded on the Intercontinental Exchange and the New York Mercantile
Exchange (NYMEX) owned by CME
Group.
Earlier attempts to establish an Asian
derivative crude contract by Singapore
and Tokyo foundered.
The only liquid crude futures in the
region is the Oman contract on the Dubai Mercantile Exchange.
Successful crude derivatives would
be the jewel in the crown in China’s
push to ramp up futures trading on
products from dates to steel to open
up markets and offer new avenues for
investors. While Chinese banks are
barred from futures trading, the new
market is expected to attract interest from deep-pocketed private equity
firms and funds, while state-owned oil
majors, like PetroChina and Sinopec
will provide liquidity.
PetroChina is set to register two accounts and Sinopec is setting up a trad-
ing outfit in Shanghai dedicated to the
contract, said senior company sources.
Independent refiners like Shandong
Chambroad Group have also joined,
while retail interest is strong.
Individuals already account for 80%
of turnover on China’s $8tn equity
markets, and day traders have whipsawed commodities from eggs to iron
ore in China over the past year.
Jin Changyi, a 40-year-old former
hotel owner from eastern China, who
began dabbling in Brent crude oil futures last year, has opened a 500,000yuan ($75,000) account with a Shanghai-based brokerage and plans to act as
a mini-broker for friends.
“The way it’s designed it won’t
fluctuate wildly. Compared to trading
Brent, the risks are more manageable,”
he told Reuters.
International interest at first may be
more muted.
Executives at international banks
and traders who have reviewed the
contract rules and specifications warn
of concerns including Beijing’s clampdown on capital outflows, unusually
small price limits and China’s heavy
handed intervention in commodity
markets last year.
“Everybody is staring at everybody
else,” said an official with a western
investment bank who declined to be
named due to company policy.
Reflecting a regulatory aim to stave
off price volatility, the Shanghai contract has a 4% daily price fluctuation
limit, half the limit for Chinese coking
coal.
China’s crude futures also do not
have a mechanism to reset limits after a
big price move, which means Shanghai
trading could freeze while prices still
move elsewhere.
For WTI, for example, a $10 a barrel
move activates circuit breakers to pause
trade briefly until a new limit of another
$10 is set. Industry players also worry
about delays in issuing rules over storage and grades for deliveries.
The INE has yet to finalise details of
warehouse tanks, including locations,
rules over fuel blending and price differentials between grades, all key for
helping industry participants decide on
whether or not to take deliveries.
The INE spokeswoman said it is
working on approved crude oil delivery
points, which are located in the peninsulas of Liaodong and Shandong, Yangtze River Delta and Pearl River Delta.
Local traders hope the contract will
take off.
“The contract will initially track
Brent and WTI markets,” said a derivatives trading manager with a Chinese
state oil company, who declined to be
named because he is not authorised to
speak to media.
“It won’t be an immediate success,
but we’re hopeful.”
Gulf Times
Wednesday, July 12, 2017
15
BUSINESS
Business casts doubt on UK-US post-Brexit trade deal
Bloomberg
London
The transatlantic trade deal US President
Donald Trump is offering UK Prime Minister Theresa May will ultimately prove easy
to promise and hard to deliver.
That’s the warning of business leaders
and trade analysts after Trump told May
last week that the post-Brexit accord she
hankers after can be lined up “very, very
quickly.”
The challenge for the UK with talks set
to begin this month is that America boasts
more leverage and negotiating know-how
than the UK does. That will potentially
force May to compromise on areas such as
financial regulation and food standards to
land the agreement she needs.
“The UK must be absolutely desperate
to demonstrate that it’s able to get something from the US,” said Peter Holmes, an
economist at the Trade Policy Observatory, a research group. “The US will make
demands that even a desperate British
government won’t be able to accede to.”
While the UK can’t formally sign deals
with other countries until it leaves the EU
in March 2019, it can prepare the groundwork in the hope of ratifying them soon
after. Conversations with the US are set to
begin on July 24.
Trade between the US and the U.K
amounted to a surplus £37bn ($47.6bn)
a year as of 2015, according to Britain’s
statistics office. By contrast, the US Bureau
of Economic Analysis calculated a surplus
of $11.9bn in the same year, providing an
awkward starting point, with both countries claiming to export more than they
import from each other.
“The USA has one of the best negotiating teams in the world in terms of trade
deals,” Paul Drechsler, president of the
Confederation of British Industry, a lobby
group, told Sky News. “We don’t want to
walk into a bear hug and I would be wary
of trying to be too fast. A trade deal is a
dog-eat-dog activity; it’s not a diplomatic
activity.”
The UK may already have a taste of
things to come from the inability of the
EU and US to agree a trade deal. Those
talks have been on hold since Trump took
power in January amid differences over
data privacy and the rolling back of financial regulations among other issues.
“You’re starting from the same point
and the same issues are going to come
up,” said Joseph Francois, managing director of the World Trade Institute, a group at
the University of Bern.
“There are bigger potential gains from
doing a deal with Europe than with the
UK on its own, just because Europe is a
bigger market,” said Thomas Sampson,
an economist at the Centre for Economic
Performance.
“The flip side of that would be that
because the UK is just one country rather
than a block of 27 countries it should
have more flexibility.” The UK is already
viewing a pact as a way for London-based
banks to secure easy access to Wall Street,
according to International Trade Secretary
Liam Fox. Yet that might require the UK to
accept weaker rules on finance, less than
10 years after the financial crisis.
Agriculture could also emerge as a
sticking point, according to Holmes.
“You can see a Trump administration coming to the UK and demanding a
loosening of sanitary regulations on food,
demanding that the UK allow hormonetreated beef to be sold in the UK and
for the UK to accept GM crops,” he said.
“There will be quite a reaction against it.”
Another wrinkle could emerge if the
US tries to win access for its companies
Vivendi is said to consider
3 top executives to run TI
Bloomberg
Milan
V
ivendi is considering using its
board clout at Telecom Italia
to install a trio of executives to
manage the phone company if it can’t
resolve differences with chief executive
officer Flavio Cattaneo, according to
people familiar with the matter.
Under the plan, Vivendi chief convergence officer Amos Genish would
oversee Italy’s largest carrier on the
operating side, while Telecom Italia
Deputy chairman Giuseppe Recchi
would see his powers increased, with a
focus on relationships with Italian regulators, said the people, who asked not
to be named because talks are private.
Both would work with Telecom Italia
executive chairman Arnaud de Puyfontaine, who is also Vivendi’s CEO,
they said.
The French media company led by
Chairman Vincent Bollore has taken a
more active role in managing Telecom
Italia since gaining a majority of board
seats earlier this year — despite owning only a 24% stake — and naming
De Puyfontaine chairman. Vivendi’s
growing influence has been met with
resistance from Cattaneo, and the relationship has frayed. Vivendi executives are also concerned his combative
style has damaged relations with the
government at a time when the phone
carrier is seeking to win broadband
contracts in rural communities.
Vivendi, which is Telecom Italia’s
largest shareholder, controls 10 of the
15 board seats. Executives there, who
are trying to put together a dominant
media group in Southern Europe, have
become frustrated with a CEO who
sometimes bucks instructions from
Paris. Cattaneo also hasn’t succeeded
in boosting Telecom Italia stock. It’s
dropped 16% during his tenure, though
he has overseen domestic cost-cutting
and wrung more revenue from broadband investments.
While Cattaneo could still reach
agreement to continue to stay on as
CEO, his comments on the matter
yesterday — denying any tensions and
stressing his independence — served to
further anger Vivendi executives, according to the people. Bloomberg News
reported on Friday that Cattaneo was
negotiating a possible exit after his dispute with Vivendi escalated.
Vivendi may change the governance
of the Italian company to avoid having
too much power given to a single executive, though management structure
is still being evaluated, the people said.
A cyclist passes the headquarters of Vivendi in Paris. Under the latest plan, Vivendi chief convergence officer Amos Genish would oversee Italy’s largest carrier on the
operating side, while Telecom Italia deputy chairman Giuseppe Recchi would see his powers increased, with a focus on relationships with Italian regulators. Both would
work with Telecom Italia executive chairman Arnaud de Puyfontaine, who is also Vivendi’s CEO, sources said.
While a deadline to resolve the issue
has been set by the end of this week, De
Puyfontaine was going to Rome as early
as yesterday to discuss the situation
with Cattaneo, one of the people said.
Representatives for Vivendi and Telecom Italia declined to comment. Cattaneo didn’t immediately respond to a
request for comment placed through
Telecom Italia.
The conflict with Cattaneo is another distraction for Vivendi, which
is already battling with former prime
minister Silvio Berlusconi’s family over
the control of broadcaster Mediaset.
Cattaneo, a media-industry veteran,
was hired in March 2016 with Vivendi’s
support and a mission to revitalise the
former monopoly. His aggressive costcutting style has created tensions inside the company, with hundreds of
managers moved to Rome from Milan
and Turin, one of the people said.
In the last few weeks, Cattaneo and
Telecom Italia clashed with the Italian
government over telecommunications
coverage in rural areas. The government engaged Open Fiber, a joint venture between Italy’s state lender CDP
and Enel, to build a new national fibre
network. Cattaneo, 54, may leave Telecom Italia after reporting first-half results on July 27, two of the people said.
While Recchi may have the Italian
title of “amministratore delegato,”
which translates as chief executive in
English, Genish would be the effective day-to-day manager running the
business, two of the people said. Appointing Genish, a Brazilian, as general manager would be less politically
problematic than naming him CEO,
they said. Genish has a successful
track record, most recently as CEO
of Telefonica’s Brazilian unit. Before
that, he was co-founder and head of
GVT Holding, a Brazilian telecommunications company that was controlled by Vivendi for a time.
Cattaneo’s contract calls for him to
get about €40mn ($45.6mn) in shares
and cash if he leaves the company
while it’s on track to beat its 2018 financial targets, according to a “special
award” clause he arranged when he was
hired. The bonus is linked to targets for
boosting operating profit and cutting
expenses and debt.
Telecom Italia rose as much as 2.4%
yesterday after Cattaneo, speaking at
an event in Rome, denied any tension
with Vivendi and said he planned to
stay until his contract expires in 2020.
“I am fine at Telecom and I don’t
have any tension with either shareholders, the board or the chairman,”
Cattaneo said in comments confirmed
by the company.
“I’ve always acted in the best interest of the company and of all its shareholders granting independence and respecting all corporate and Italian laws.”
to Britain’s state-run health service. May
declined to say in January whether the
National Health Service would be off-limits
for a trade deal although June’s election
may mean she has less room to manoeuvre on that now.
Still, the effort will be worth it, said
Gregor Irwin, chief economist at Global
Counsel, a consultancy.
He identified the US as one of the UK’s
prime targets for striking a deal. He calculated that the total value of US imports
expanded faster than those of other major
economies between 2010 and 2015 and
that although the US has modest average
tariff barriers with the UK, the scale of
trade means current barriers are still
significant.
Revised
Great Plains,
Westar deal
to form
$14bn utility
Bloomberg
New York
Westar Energy Inc and Great
Plains Energy Inc agreed to a
revised merger that would form
a $14bn holding company to operate regulated electric utilities
in Kansas and Missouri.
The companies’ boards of directors unanimously approved
a stock-for-stock merger with
no premium to be paid to either
company and no exchange
of cash, according to a joint
statement on Monday. The new
company, which has yet to be
named, will serve about 1mn
Kansas customers and nearly
600,000 customers in Missouri.
In April, Great Plains’s $8.6bn
cash and stock offer for Westar
was rejected by the Kansas
Corp Commission, which found
the merger was not in the
public interest. That transaction emerged during a surge in
utility tie-ups and acquisitions
as energy-efficient appliances
and resources such as rooftop
solar systems flatten demand
for power. Monday’s announcement comes days after Warren
Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway
Inc agreed to buy Oncor Electric
Delivery Co, the largest electrictransmission operator in Texas.
Monday’s announcement
“would seem to address the
issues raised in the order that
rejected the previous merger,”
Paul Patterson, a New York-based
analyst for Glenrock Associates,
said by phone. “This is an industry that has been consolidating
for some time and probably will
continue in the future.”
Kansas regulators had
balked at the premium Great
Plains agreed to pay for Westar,
citing cuts to its credit rating
that would increase borrowing
costs. Great Plains’s debt was
set to increase from more than
$4.2bn at the end of 2015 to
$12.2bn after assuming Westar’s
obligations and issuing $4.4bn
of new debt to finance the deal.
“We are confident we have
addressed the regulatory
concerns with our originallyproposed transaction,” Westar
chief executive officer Mark
Ruelle said in the statement.
“We appreciate the commission welcoming a different way to
combine these two companies,
preserving the unique value
available only through this particular business combination.”
Trump’s massive tax-cut plan faces ‘train wreck’ of a calendar
Bloomberg
Washington
C
ongress returns from its midsummer break today for a crucial three-week stretch that
will help determine whether President
Donald Trump can deliver on his promise of a historic tax cut.
Several obstacles await lawmakers, including an ongoing healthcare
fight, divisions among Republicans on
the basic parameters of a tax bill, and
a maelstrom of upcoming deadlines to
keep the government running and avert
a catastrophic default on US debt.
Republican leaders had hoped to
spend July working on what House
Speaker Paul Ryan has called a oncein-a-generation bid to overhaul the
US tax code. But the Senate remains
bogged down with the president’s call
for undoing Obamacare. With no clear
endgame for that effort, observers
question the prospects for tax legisla-
tion, which can’t move procedurally
until healthcare is off the agenda.
“The longer the healthcare debate
drags out, the harder it’ll be to get to the
finish line on tax reform,” said William
Galston, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.
“Healthcare and tax reform are linked
in very concrete ways,” he said, in part
because the Senate health bill would
establish a lower tax base by repealing
a number of taxes imposed by the 2010
Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare.
Meanwhile, House Republicans have
been delaying consideration of a fiscal 2018 budget resolution, the vehicle they plan to use for tax legislation.
Factions within the party disagree on
whether tax rate cuts for individuals
and businesses should be offset with
new revenue or spending cuts, or just
be allowed to add to the deficit. Debate
among conservative and moderate Republicans has focused on how deeply
they should cut “mandatory” safetynet spending.
“There’s a train wreck coming,” said G
William Hoagland, a senior vice-president at the Bipartisan Policy Center
in Washington and a former Republican staff director for the Senate Budget
Committee. “I don’t see a tax bill in 2017
at all. Not at all,” Hoagland said. “Not
comprehensive tax reform. No way.”
The Republican divisions are “too
stark, too great” to pass a budget resolution before the new fiscal year starts
in October, he said. Hoagland predicted
lawmakers will have to settle for stopgap measures to keep the government
open. “From my perspective and from
past experience, we’re very late on everything right now.”
His pessimism stands in contrast to
House Speaker Paul Ryan, whose office
sent e-mails to reporters last week proclaiming that “Tax reform is happening. Not next year or next Congress. It
is happening now, in 2017.” The legislation will be “transformational,” Ryan’s
e-mail said, not “some rinky-dink,
watered-down version of reform.”
Republican lawmakers and aides
have privately vented that the lack
of clarity from Trump on tax specifics has added chaos to the debate. The
only public guidance the White House
has released is a vague one-page blueprint in April that steered clear of tough
questions like whether a tax cut should
be paid for and how.
“We’re absolutely committed to getting tax reform done this year,” Treasury
Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Sunday on ABC’s This Week. “Our plan is to
have a full-blown release of the plan in
the beginning of September, with being
able to vote and getting this passed before the end of the year,” he said.
Mnuchin cited hundreds of meetings on the tax plan so far with House
and Senate leadership, business leaders, and others. White House spokeswoman Natalie Strom added that the
private talks are yielding progress, but
decisions won’t be “hashed out in the
press.”
The House Ways and Means Com-
mittee intends to hold two tax-overhaul hearings this month — though
neither will involve marking up actual
legislation. One will focus on benefits
for small businesses, and another will
explore benefits of simplifying the tax
code for families and individuals, said
the panel’s chairman, Representative
Kevin Brady of Texas.
Any more concrete discussions are
taking place behind closed doors. Ryan
and Brady, along with Senate Majority
Leader Mitch McConnell and Senate
Finance chairman Orrin Hatch, have
been meeting privately with top administration officials to try to agree on
a path forward for tax legislation. Gary
Cohn, Trump’s top economic adviser,
has said officials intend to release a
“unified” plan in early September.
By then, after a month-long recess in
August, Congress will have to pass a bill
to keep the government funded, extend
the Children’s Health-Care Program,
and continue federal flood insurance
— all by September 30. Calls to cancel
the August recess and keep working
in Washington are growing within the
Republican rank and file, but there’s no
indication that party leaders will comply.
By the middle of October, Congress
will also have to raise the debt ceiling, according to a recent report by
the Congressional Budget Office. Past
debt-ceiling votes have stirred opposition among many Republicans — a further division that may complicate the
politics of a tax-overhaul vote.
Arthur Laffer, the supply-side economist and cheerleader for tax cuts, says
he’s trying to remain optimistic. But as
Congress returns to its messy healthcare debate, he worries that the issue
has diminished the prospects for a tax
bill.
Lawmakers should have just swiftly
repealed Obamacare earlier this year
with a delayed enactment — perhaps
three or four years — and then moved
on to taxes, Laffer said.
“Now they’re caught in it.”
Wednesday, July 12, 2017
BUSINESS
GULF TIMES
Al-Attiyah attends World Petroleum Congress in Turkey
HE the Former Minister of Energy and Industry and President of Abdullah Bin Hamad Al-Attiyah International Foundation for Energy and Sustainable Development, Abdullah bin Hamad al-Attiyah, with US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, during the
five-day 22nd World Petroleum Congress being held in Istanbul, Turkey, (July 9 – 13). Aside from Tillerson, al-Attiyah also met with Opec secretary-general Sanusi Barkindo and held talks with IEA executive director Fatih Birol. Al-Attiyah also visited
the QP stand and attended several dialogue and meetings that tackled the global energy and petroleum industry. He also held dialogue on cooperation opportunities in the field of energy research between the Al Attiyah International Foundation for
Energy and Sustainable Development and other companies and institutes concerned.
QDB expects growth
in Qatar PPP projects
By Peter Alagos
Business Reporter
W
ith the private sector placed under the
spotlight
following
the economic blockade, more
public-private
partnerships
(PPPs) are expected to be forged
between government, semigovernment, and local companies, an official of Qatar Development Bank said.
“There is a very effective and
serious response from the government side to increase the
participation of the private sector and they’re doing that by
issuing the new PPP law, which
will be issued very soon through
the Ministry of Economy and
Commerce,” al-Khalifa told Gulf
Times yesterday.
He was speaking on the sidelines of ‘Buy Local Products’, a
QDB-led initiative aimed at encouraging SMEs to expand their
local supply in the plastics, iron
and steel, aluminium and copper, wood, and general building
materials sectors.
Citing initiatives like Moushtarayat and the new PPP law,
QDB CEO Abdulaziz bin Nasser
al-Khalifa said local companies
now have more opportunities to
participate in large-scale government-funded projects.
In 2016, al-Khalifa said QDB
launched the ‘1st Government
Procurement and Contracting Conference & Exhibition
(Moushtarayat)’ where more
than 450 procurement opportunities worth more than QR3bn
were offered to Qatar SMEs by
government and semi-government agencies.
He said the second Moushtarayat conference held early
HE the Minister of Municipality and Environment Mohamed bin Abdullah al-Rumaihi gestures while taking a venue-tour of the ‘Buy Local
Products’ initiative organised by Qatar Development Bank. Looking on are Qatar Chamber chairman Sheikh Khalifa bin Jassim al-Thani and
QDB CEO Abdulaziz bin Nasser al-Khalifa. PICTURE: Thajudheen
this year offered more than
2,000 procurement opportunities worth QR2.5bn.
“Taking that into consideration, as well as the current economic blockade, we believe that
local companies and SMEs have
a golden opportunity to capitalise on this and to be the supplier
of choice in the local market,” he
pointed out.
Al-Khalifa also stressed that
QDB is continuously working to
increase private sector participation in Qatar through funding,
promotion, and development
of manufacturing companies in
Qatar.
Asked about funding needs of
the local market, al-Khalifa said,
“QDB funding has now exceeded
QR7.5bn and it keeps growing.
What we are currently doing
with this initiative is to cater to
the requirement of local manufacturers.
“Whenever there is a requirement to increase production, we
fund those requirements. We
will always be responsive to the
needs of the market and whatever the market would request,
we will be able to answer.”
On the ‘Buy Local Products’
initiative, al-Khalifa said QDB
initially selected five major sec-
tors whose products have a
strong demand in the local market.
“We understand that Qatar has
many companies that are capable
of providing these services immediately to those sectors. This
is one of a series of networking
events that QDB will be initiating in the months to come to
strengthen the link between contractors and suppliers,” he said.
QSE gains for second day
By Santhosh V Perumal
Business Reporter
The Qatar Stock Exchange continued to witness gains for the second day
yesterday to surpass 9,000 levels, mainly on the back of strong buying
support from foreign institutions.
About 62% of the traded equities extended gains as the 20-stock Qatar
Index added 0.39% to 9,030.16 points. Consumer goods, banking, real
estate and industrials counters witnessed stronger demand in the market,
whose year-to-date losses were contained at 13.48%.
The market saw stronger gains in the first minutes, which took the index
to near 9,060 points, after which profit booking ensued for the next 180
minutes, trending towards 9,000 points. The buying support during the
remainder of the session led the index settle 35 points higher against the
previous close. Micro and large cap equities were seen outperforming the
index on the bourse, which also saw substantially weakened net selling by
Gulf institutions and Gulf individuals turn marginally bullish.
Islamic stocks were seen gaining faster than the main index and other
indices on the bourse, which, however, saw net selling by domestic institutions as well as local and non-Qatari retail investors. Market capitalisation
added expanded 0.57% or about QR3bn to QR487.2bn as micro, large, mid
and small cap equities gained 0.61%, 0.52, 0.39% and 0.15% respectively.
Trade turnover and volumes were on the decline on the bourse, where
telecom and banking sectors together accounted for more than 65% of the
total volumes.
The Total Return Index rose 0.39% to 15,143.04 points, All Share Index
by 0.48% to 2,567.81 points and Al Rayan Islamic Index by 0.49% to 3,575
points. The consumer goods index gained 0.77%, banks and financial
services (0.73%), realty (0.65%), industrials (0.5%) and transport (0.22%);
whereas insurance and telecom declined 1.06% and 0.1% respectively.
Major gainers included Qatar Oman Investment, QNB, Qatar Islamic
Bank, Commercial Bank, Doha Bank, Masraf Al Rayan, Qatar First Bank,
Industries Qatar, Gulf International Services, Mesaieed Petrochemical Holding, Barwa, Ezdan, Vodafone Qatar, Gulf Warehousing and Widam Food;
even as Qatar Insurance, Ooredoo and United Development Company
were among the losers. Non-Qatari institutions turned net buyers to the
tune of QR22.77mn compared with net sellers of QR37.83mn on Monday.
The GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) individuals were net buyers to the
extent of QR0.05mn against net sellers of QR1.18mn on July 10.
The GCC institutions’ net profit booking weakened considerably to
QR0.5mn compared to QR4.56mn the previous day.
However, local retail investors turned net sellers to the tune of
QR15.13mn against net buyers of QR30.23mn on Monday.
Domestic institutions were also net profit takers to the extent of
QR2.87mn compared with net buyers of QR11.15mn on July 10.
Non-Qatari retail investors turned net sellers to the tune of QR4.31mn
against net buyers of QR2.16mn the previous day.
Total trade volumes fell 33% to 5.52mn shares, value by 51% to
QR165.13mn and deals by 19% to 2,450. The banks and financial services
sector saw 47% plunge in trade volume to 1.69mn equities, 69% in value to
QR72.14mn and 25% in transactions to 781.
The industrials sector’s trade volume plummeted 47% to 0.47mn stocks,
value by 27% to QR23.08mn and deals by 16% to 437.
There was 44% shrinkage in the real estate sector’s trade volume to
0.72mn shares, 46% in value to QR12.29mn and 38% in transactions to 371.
The transport sector’s trade volume tanked 41% to 0.33mn equities, value
by 19% to QR10.55mn and deals by 27% to 285.
The market witnessed 11% decline in the telecom sector’s trade volume
to 1.9mn stocks, 14% in value to QR20.92mn and 1% in transactions to 207.
However, the insurance sector’s trade volume more than quadrupled
to 0.21mn shares and value grew almost seven-fold to QR12.58mn on 37%
jump in deals to 70.
BANKING ON KNOWLEDGE
Qatar’s financial stability is a resilient model
If we read the underlying statements
of Moody’s, it has moved from Aa2 to Aa3.
The Aa rating is a worthy credit and the
outlook has been put to negative. The S&P
has also placed credit watch at ‘AA- ‘ with
negative implications. This means the sovereign and institutional cost may go up.
By Dr R Seetharaman
When I meet people, I am often asked
about the current political crisis impacting
the GCC and Qatar and I have made an
attempt to respond to some of the key
questions raised, which are as follows:
Q. Could you give an insight into
Qatar’s economic fundamentals.
Qatar’s economy is strong and
diversified and the country is the second
biggest exporter of LNG. According to
last published data for Qatar, QR164bn is
the oil and gas revenues, QR112bn is from
investment revenues and QR61bn is from
other revenues. The GDP of close to 48%
comes from mining and quarrying (mainly
hydrocarbon) and remaining from the
non-hydrocarbon sector. Qatar’s economy
is expected to grow by 3.4% in 2017 and
will have a fiscal deficit of 7.7% in the year.
The Net Assets + Reserves is 2.5 times of
GDP. Qatar Central Bank had $40bn in
Q. How is the financial stability and
the Qatar economy is going to be
impacted by the current scenario?
We have a contingency plan whether
it is country or corporate. Plan A v/s Plan
B is being looked into. Alternate supply
chain has been thought through. Qatar
has also been able to obtain food supplies
from Iran, Turkey, UK and India.
cash reserves plus gold. In addition, the
Qatar Investment Authority has $300bn
in reserves. The economic progression is
sustainable.
Q. What is the impact of the crisis on
Qatar’s economy?
Q. Please give an insight on Qatar’s
financial stability.
Qatar’s banking assets growth was
more than 3% YTD till May 2017. The overall lending growth was more than 4% YTD
till May 2017. The government sector lending growth was more than 12% YTD till
May 2017. The real estate lending growth
was more than 5% YTD till May 2017. The
retail lending growth was more than 1%
YTD till May 2017. The contract sector
lending growth was flat till May 2017. The
services sector lending growth was 3% till
May 2017. The deposit growth was close
to 5% till May 2017. There is nothing that
can disturb the financial stability in the
medium and long term. Short-term turbulence, yes. Medium and long term, no.
and avoid reliance on just a few sources.
Q. How is the crisis going to impact
Qatar’s procurement strategy?
Qatar will have to diversify sources and
means of imports just as it does with its
investments and reserves to spread risk
Q. How has Qatar managed the
current scenario on non-food items
and project space?
All projects and businesses are running smoothly and will not be affected.
Q. How is the crisis going to impact
inflation?
According to IMF April 2017, inflation
in 2017 is expected to be above 2.6%. We
could see an increase in price of some of
the items due to rerouting of supply lines,
shipping costs, or price increase from the
sources. This is generally a cost push inflation in a possible range of over 1%.
Qatar’s 2017 Budget has allocated for
sectors such as health, education and
infrastructure (QR87.1bn), which is made
up nearly 44% of the total expenditure
in the 2017 budget. Growth will continue
through greater involvement of the
private sector. The Qatari businessmen
have implemented the plan in a very
smooth way, showing ability to manage
such sudden crisis. All import process is
being run by the private sector. They are
now offering initiatives to diversify the
economy, and solutions for many possible challenges could emerge. Regarding
non-food materials, Qatar has strategic
stocks which is enough for one year.
However, the country has immediately
started to import its needs without using
the strategic stocks. Many of the primary
construction materials are made in Qatar,
and there is enough stored materials to
run the projects.
Dr R Seetharaman is Group CEO of
Doha Bank.