ETFs set to debut on QSE; one-hundredth of indices' close ...

Wednesday, November 16, 2016Safar 16, 1438 AH

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Qatar infl ation drops 0.4% in October as transport, recreation, food costs decline

ETFs set to debut on QSE; one-hundredth of indices’ close seen indicative priceProposed ETFs seen off ering a “viable” strategy to grow with market at “considerably” lower costs

By Santhosh V PerumalBusiness Reporter

The indicative per unit value of exchange traded funds (ETFs), which will soon debut on the Qatar Stock Exchange

(QSE), has been fi xed at one-hundredth of the previous day’s close of the respective indices, it is learnt.

Multiple sources have confi rmed the pric-ing of the ETFs, but said it was only an indica-tive price. Two ETFs – sponsored by Masraf Al Rayan and Doha Bank – are expected to be launched soon.

Indications are that Masraf Al Rayan spon-sored-ETF would make its debut fi rst, fol-lowed by the Doha Bank sponsored fund.

“Both the ETFs are ready from the regula-tory point of view,” a source said.

The Masraf Al Rayan ETF, which will track the 17-stock Al Rayan Islamic index, will be managed by Al Rayan Investment Company, a subsidiary of the bank; while the Doha Bank ETF, following the 20-stock Qatar Index, have Amwal and Group Securities as fund manager and liquidity provider respectively.

ETFs provide investors with exposure to the index benchmark with a single trade and its pricing would be a function of the indices. For example, if ETFs were to be launched to-day, the unit price of Al Rayan ETF would be QR35.84 (the Al Rayan Islamic Index closed at 3,584.75.points yesterday and that of Doha Bank ETF would be QR96.79 (as the 20-stock Qatar Index closed at 9,679.92). On the pric-ing, the sources said the indicative (one-hundredth) pricing would appeal to investors

and further movement would depend on the market makers. “They (market makers) will largely tend to keep the unit prices as close to the proportion,” one of them said, adding the pricing aspects would be clearly mentioned in the prospectus.

The proposed ETFs off er not only an ex-panded portfolio, but give investors a “viable” strategy to grow with the market at “consid-erably” lower costs.

The move to launch ETFs comes in view of an analysis of 300 individual portfolios un-

dertaken by the QSE in which it found that the portfolios underperformed the index. Simi-larly, mutual funds, which often have higher management fees, were also seen underper-forming the index.

With ETFs – which are mostly (but not ex-clusively) index-based, open-ended funds that can be bought and sold as quickly and easily as ordinary shares on a stock exchange – an investor can buy them at much lower size, which will also considerably reduce out-go towards brokerage commissions.

Otherwise, replicating the index means placing at least entering 17 or 20 orders (de-pending on the indices), making it diffi cult to ensure all such orders are executed at the right prices.

Both the ETFs would provide dividends with the Doha Bank ETF off ering it in cash and the Al Rayan one reinvesting it.

The QSE’s fi rst phase of saw reforms in the cash market with an aim to enhancing liquidity through the introduction of liquidity providers. The launch of ETFs forms a part of the phase.

Doha Bank CEO calls for new business models to suit the ‘digital ecosystem’

Mideast soaring to new heights with more than $100bn airport projects

There is a need to transform business

models to explore the benefits of a dig-

ital ecosystem, said Doha Bank CEO Dr R

Seetharaman, who stressed that digital

transformation “will lead to creation of

new business models.”

Seetharaman was speaking during a

conference entitled ‘Evolving Digital Eco-

system and its Business Impact’ hosted

by Doha Bank yesterday at the Westin

Hotel. In attendance was Qatar Stock

Exchange CEO Rashid Ali al-Mansouri as

well as guests from leading corporates

and banks in Qatar.

“With Global growth still struggling to

accelerate, innovations in technology

can act as an enabler of growth. Digital

ecosystem is significantly more than

digital banking; it takes a holistic view of

the customer. The connectivity between

various service providers is lot more in a

digital ecosystem than in a digital bank-

ing environment,” Seetharaman said.

Seetharaman also highlighted how

banks should approach customers on

the digital space. He said exploring

and uncovering multiple channels of

communication to customers and other

banking partners “will be critical” for the

GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) banking

industry growth.

The Gulf banks should invest “wisely” to

understand customer analytics, as this

can help derive “eff icient channels.” As

digitisation of all industries continues,

Seetharaman said, consumers will

expect banking experiences to replicate

those in other industries.

“Little” has been invested on the GCC

fintech (financial technology) industry,

“but this is expected to change in the

coming years,” he said.

“GCC governments can play the role

of a facilitator in terms of policy and

regulation, and in providing the right

environment for innovation to flourish

to enable private sector to come up with

solutions.

“Cash has always reigned supreme in

the Middle East, even after the advent

of plastic, net banking, and other

alternative payment systems. But with

the increase in Internet and smartphone

penetration, digital payment systems

are gaining prominence in the region.

GCC banks are allocating resources

to adapt their business models to the

fintech revolution as they run the risk

of losing market shares to technology

innovators.”

Payfort Qatar country manager

Mahmoud Raef spoke on the changing

landscapes of online payments and gave

insights on market size and the outlook

for the online payment industry in the

Middle East region.

Master Card’s digital payments lead –

Middle East and Africa, Gaurang Shah,

on the other hand, spoke on new pay-

ment solutions and changing consumer

behaviour and its eff ect on payment

landscape.

More than $100bn worth of airport projects are underway and planned across the Middle East including expansion of Doha’s Hamad International Airport, according to MEED’s latest industry report, ‘Aviation and Airports 2016’. These projects are intended to address a capacity gap as airport passenger volumes across the Middle East have outstripped capacity by 11% last year. With these, an additional capacity of 400mn passengers a year can be accommodated across the region’s

airports over the next 10 to 20 years.The new and expanded airports are expected to be completed between end of 2016 and 2020. These include the Muscat International, Midfield Terminal Complex (Abu Dhabi), King Abdulaziz International (Jeddah) and the new passenger terminal at Bahrain International.The biggest potential for contracting and sub-contracting companies are expected to come from the construction of the next phase of Al-Maktoum International in Dubai, the further

expansion of Jeddah airport, Doha’s Hamad International Airport expansion, and the upgrade of airports in Iran.Travel demand, as reflected by double-digit average annual growths in most airports’ passenger volumes since 2010, and the overall economic expansion programmes prior to the oil price decline have fuelled the rapid expansion in aircraft fleet and airport capacity. Going forward, the staging of global events such as the Dubai Expo 2020 and 2022 FIFA World Cup in

Qatar are also expected to boost the region’s profile as a travel and tourism destination.The projected increase in passenger traff ic would necessitate new airplanes. According to the Middle East Aviation & Airports 2016 report, close to 1,300 aircraft worth an estimated $345bn are on order and pending delivery from Middle Eastern airlines. While Dubai’s Emirates Airline, Abu Dhabi’s Etihad Airways and Qatar Airways lead the region in terms of the value of on-order planes, most of

the smaller airlines have put in place restructuring programmes to enable them to contribute to the expansion of each state’s economy in view of lower oil income and increased urgency to diversify their economies away from oil.Close to 1,300 planes valued at an estimated $345bn are on order and pending delivery by airlines across the region – Qatar’s 369 is second highest in the entire region. Only the UAE with 552 aircraft either on order or pending delivery is ahead of Qatar in this respect. However, despite sterling growth in

recent years, there are early signs that the growth in the region’s aviation sector could potentially slow down as the global economy slows and drags travel demand along with it. Other threats include the political instability in many parts of the Middle East region, lack of state funding for future projects, as well as limited airspace allocation.These threats require adjustment in policies as well as a concerted eff ort between government and private stakeholders across the region.

GECF Doha meet seeks to further strengthen gas market

The 18th ministerial meeting of the Gas Ex-porting Countries Forum (GECF) in Doha tomorrow will further explore ways to

strengthen the global gas market, which faces nu-merous challenges including lower prices.

The Doha-headquartered GECF currently ac-counts for 42% of the global gas output, 67% of the world’s proven natural gas reserves, 40% of pipe gas transmission, and 85% of global LNG trade.

The GECF seeks to increase the level of coordi-nation and strengthen the collaboration among member countries, and to build a mechanism for a more meaningful dialogue between gas pro-ducers and consumers to ensure stability and security of supply and demand in global natural gas markets.

It also aims to support its members over their natural gas resources and their abilities to devel-op, preserve and use such resources for the benefi t of their peoples, through the exchange of experi-ence, views, information and coordination in gas-related matters.

Saudi Arabian Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih is expected to travel to the Qatari capital, Doha, this week for meetings with oil-producing coun-tries on the sidelines of an energy forum, three sources familiar with the matter said, accord-ing to a Reuters dispatch. Al-Falih is expected to meet other energy ministers from Opec and pos-sibly Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak on Friday, the sources said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

It was not immediately clear whether al-Falih would meet Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh, the sources said, as there was no confi rmation from Tehran yet on whether Zanganeh would at-tend the gas forum.

Qatar and Russia are members of the GECF, while Saudi Arabia is not.

The natural gas market is very dynamic and re-quires liquidity, fl exibility and transparency for it to function eff ectively, GECF noted. It, therefore, needs multiple supply sources, users and com-prehensive infrastructure for transmission and distribution. The natural gas market is highly de-veloped in the US Europe and Asia.

Al-Mansouri receives a token from Seetharaman during the conference.

Two ETFs – sponsored by Masraf Al Rayan and Doha Bank – are expected to be launched soon on the QSE. PICTURE: Noushad Thekkayil

BUSINESS

Gulf Times Wednesday, November 16, 20162

Opec to start fi nal diplomatic push on oil output cuts planBloombergKuwait

Opec nations embarked on a fi -nal diplomatic eff ort to secure a deal on oil cuts, with Qatar,

Algeria and Venezuela leading the push to overcome the divide between the group’s biggest producers, according to a delegate familiar with the talks.

The behind-the-scenes diplomacy comes after bilateral meetings over the weekend failed to resolve the rifts, leaving just two weeks to fi nalise an agreement before the November 30 ministerial meeting in Vienna, ac-cording to the delegate. Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Iran are still at odds over how to share output cuts, the person said.

The Organisation of Petroleum Ex-porting Countries has yet to fi nd a path to fi nalise the preliminary cuts deal reached in Algiers on September 28, which ended a two-year policy of pumping without limits. After an ini-tial rally to nearly $54 a barrel, Brent crude has dropped to $45 as doubts spread about the implementation of the agreement. Members’ total out-put is still growing as Libya and Ni-geria recover from violence that halted

production. Saudi Arabia, the group’s de-facto leader, is ready to cut pro-duction, but only if the eff ort is built around four pillars, said the delegate. All members must agree to collective action, pledge to share the burden of cuts equitably, and do so in a way that is transparent and has credibility with the market. The latter can be achieved by using Opec estimates of how much each member pumps, rather than rely-ing on the countries’ own estimates, the delegate said.

In practice, that means Saudi Arabia still thinks Iraq needs to cut output and Iran has to freeze production around current levels, the person said. Neither country has so far agreed to do that.

Iran is considering a proposal to freeze its oil production near the level the country says it pumps – near-ly 4mn barrels a day – rather than Opec’s estimate of about 3.7mn, the delegate said. Iraq is mulling a cut, but only from the oil ministry’s own level of about 4.8mn barrels a day, not the 4.6mn barrels a day Opec says it pumps, the person said.

“People are pretty pessimistic right now about a potential agreement,” BP chief executive offi cer Bob Dudley said in a Bloomberg Television inter-

view from Riyadh. “You see that in the price,” he said. If the talks fail, prices “will stay around the level we’re at.”

As Opec nations work to secure a deal, Algerian Prime Minister Abdel-malek Sellal led a delegation which includes the Energy Minister Noured-dine Boutarfa for a two-day visit to Saudi Arabia, state-run Algerian Press Service reported. Boutarfa plans to travel from there to Qatar, where sev-eral other Opec ministers are sched-uled to attend a gas forum on Novem-ber 17.

Qatar and Algeria were the archi-tects of previous attempts this year to reach an Opec deal to limit supply, while Venezuela’s energy minister played go-between for Iran and other members of the group. Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Iran are the largest produc-ers within Opec, accounting for about 55% of the group’s output, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Opec pledged in Algiers to bring its production down to a range of 32.5mn to 33mn barrels a day, which compares with output of 33.6mn last month. The group is also seeking cooperation from Russia and other producers out-side the group, although so far none have committed to curbing output.

IPO market remains subdued in GCC with no activity in third quarter, says PwCUncertainties across the region and no signs of oil prices hardening led Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) witness the most depressed primary market conditions during the third quarter (Q3) of this year, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).However, debt continued to be popular among the GCC markets, PwC said in a report.“The Q3 2016 saw no IPO (initial public off ering) activity across the GCC markets, thus reflecting the most depressed IPO market conditions since Q3 2015,” it said.Although activity in 2016 has generally been quite low, Q3 2016 levels perhaps best reflect the impact of uncertainties seen across the region, it said.As oil prices continue to show no signs of increasing significantly, regional governments have been grappling with its economic impacts and have started implementing measures to address them. However, in the short term, liquidity continues to be a problem for the regional economies, impacting equity markets, it said.“Cost cutting policies and austerity measures driven by the prolonged low oil prices result in higher volatility and uncertainty in the markets. Whilst many companies have expressed interest in going public, they are still waiting for investor sentiment to improve and liquidity to come back to the market. As a consequence, we would expect to see this trend continue into fourth quarter of 2016,” according to Steve Drake, Head of PwC Middle East’s Capital Markets and Accounting Advisory Services team in the Middle East.In the region, Q3 witnessed summer vacations, Ramadan and Eid, which usually slowdown IPOs. In the second quarter of 2016, there were two issuances by Al Yamamah Steel Industries Co and L’azurde Company for Jewellery, raising a total of $274mn.Bond and sukuk sales continued to be

popular in the GCC market during Q3, 2016 since crude prices remain low resulting in revenue shortfalls and the need for debt coverage, it said.“Should oil prices not increase significantly, there is likely to be a similar funding need for the fourth quarter (of 2016) as well,” the report added.The sovereign bonds continued to be active following a similar trend of large issuances last quarter. Bahrain issued about $790mn development bonds with a three-year maturity. More bonds are expected early next quarter from Oman, it said.In the corporate bond market, Burgan Senior issued its $500mn five-year bond carrying interest of 3.125%. Furthermore MAF Global Securities issued $300mn Notes due 2024 carrying interest of 4.75%. Both issuances were guaranteed by Burgan Bank, incorporated in Kuwait, and Al Futtaim Group, incorporated in Dubai, respectively.Emaar successfully issued a $750mn 10-year sukuk, guaranteed by Emaar Properties. Moreover, Qatar Islamic Bank issued about $550mn three-year sukuk to enhance its capital adequacy and support business growth.In Saudi Arabia, Bank Albilad issued $533mn 10-year sukuk with the bank having the right to call the sukuk at the end of the fifth year.On the sovereign front, the Central Bank of Bahrain issued Al Salam sukuk worth $469mn and Al Ijara worth $274mn. Al Salam has a maturity of 91 days compared to 182 days of Al Ijara.“Bond and sukuk markets continued to be active in Q3, 2016 however the value of transactions was lower compared to some notable issuances in the second quarter from regional governments. Markets are expected to continue to be active in the last quarter of the year, however increased demand for funding due to depressed oil prices might impact pricing,” Drake said.

ICBC becomes exchange settlement bank for Dubai commodities bourseReutersDubai

Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), the world’s largest bank by assets, has become a settlement bank for the Dubai Gold & Commodities Exchange (DGCX), the exchange said yesterday, allowing more investors to clear transactions in yuan.ICBC becomes the second Chinese bank to join DGCX’s wholly-owned subsidiary, Dubai Commodities Clearing Corp, as a clearing and settlement bank.Bank of China became a member in March. The four other settlement banks are Dubai-based Emirates NBD, Standard Chartered, HSBC and India’s Bank of Baroda.“The association will facilitate adequate yuan liquidity for trading and investment between the local

and Chinese economies. This will also lead the way for future product developments,” said Zhou Xiaodong, general manager of ICBC’s Abu Dhabi branch.Via ICBC members of Dubai Commodities Clearing Corp will be able to open settlement bank accounts and process settlement obligations for

yuan-denominated trades as well as use other services, DGCX said.Links between the exchange and China have grown recently, with DGCX signing a deal last month to become the first foreign market platform to use the Shanghai Gold Exchange’s new yuan-based gold fix to develop derivative products.Prospects for the future use of the yuan in trade between the UAE and China received a boost in September after the operator of China’s foreign exchange trading platform said it had agreed to establish direct trading for the two pairs, starting on September 26. Previously, trade occurred indirectly through third currencies such as the US dollar.Sources told Reuters in August that Agricultural Bank of China would be allowed to clear yuan transactions in Dubai for the United Arab Emirates, making it the first Chinese lender in the UAE to do so.

The ICBC has become a settlement bank for the Dubai Gold & Commodities Exchange, allowing more investors to clear transactions in yuan

Saudi fund to explore its asset sales for overseas investmentsBloombergDubai

Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund is considering selling stakes in local companies to

raise funds for international expan-sion, according to fi ve people with knowledge of the matter.

The Public Investment Fund – with about $100bn worth of shares in listed local companies including Saudi Basic Industries Corp and Saudi Telecom Co – is reviewing the stakes as it seeks to diversify its as-sets, the people said, asking not to be identifi ed as the discussions are private.

The fund could reduce its hold-ings in local companies and retain control through measures such as golden shares, one of the people said.

Saudi Arabia is planning to ex-pand its sovereign wealth fund into the world’s largest by trans-ferring ownership of Saudi Ara-mco to the PIF and also the pro-ceeds from the oil company’s initial public offering.

The fund could eventually con-trol more than $2tn, according to Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, and plans to increase the proportion of its foreign in-vestments to 50% by 2020, up from 5% now.

Saudi Arabian stocks were poised for the biggest drop since January on concern that the PIF may reduce its position in local companies. The Tadawul All Share Index lost 4.1% in Riyadh, as more than 90% of its

members retreated, with Saudi Tel-ecom Co and National Commercial Bank down by more than 3%. PIF owns 70% and 44% respectively of those companies.

The PIF didn’t immediately re-turn calls seeking comment.

Overseas investing has so far been limited. The PIF in October said it is partnering with SoftBank Group Corp to form a new fund to invest as much as $100bn in the global technology industry in the next fi ve years.

Earlier this year it made its high-

est-profi le international deal to date when it invested $3.5bn in in US ride-share company Uber Technol-ogies. PIF managing director Yasir Alrumayyan will take a board seat at the San Francisco-based company. In July 2015, it took a 38% stake in Korea’s Posco Engineering & Con-struction Co for $1.1bn.

Ahead of the possible assets sales, the PIF is also seeking to take on a more active role in the companies where it holds stakes, according to two of the people. It will be more involved in picking senior manage-

ment and setting strategy, moving from its role as a more passive in-vestor, the people said.

The PIF was set up in 1971 to sup-port projects of strategic signifi -cance for the development of Saudi Arabia’s national economy. It is working with US-based executive search fi rm Korn Ferry International to recruit senior bankers for posi-tions including head of private eq-uity, head of real estate, head of risk management and the head of mar-kets, people with knowledge of the matter said earlier this year.

BUSINESS3Gulf Times

Wednesday, November 16, 2016

Qatar bourse falls furtherBy Santhosh V PerumalBusiness Reporter

Vodafone Qatar’s deletion from the MSCI emerging market index had a profound eff ect on the Qatar Stock Exchange,

which yesterday fell for the fi fth consecutive day by 65 points to settle below the 9,700 mark.

An across the board selling with realty, tel-ecom and insurance suff ering the most, led the 20-stock Qatar Index shed 0.67% to 9,679.92 points. The market’s year-to-date losses have widened further to 7.19%.

“A fall below 9,700 points would lead to 9,500 points and maybe further down to 9,200 points. Weekly relative strength index indicator is cur-rently looking bearish, while the daily one is also negative but resides in the oversold territory,” Kamco had said in its technical analysis.

Foreign and Gulf institutions as well as local retail investors turned net sellers in the bourse, where Islamic stocks declined slower than the conventional ones.

Trade turnover and volumes were however on the rise in the market, where banking, telecom and real estate stocks together constituted more than 89% of the total volumes.

However, domestic institutions and Gulf in-dividuals turned bullish and there was increased buying support from non-Qatari individual in-vestors.

Market capitalisation eroded about QR3bn or 0.69% to QR523.48bn with mid, large and small cap equities losing 0.8%, 0.4% and 0.04% re-spectively, even as micro caps were up 0.13%.

The Total Return Index fell 0.67% to 15,661.46 points, All Share Index by 0.56% to 2,675.48 points and Al Rayan Islamic Index by 0.44% to 3,584.75 points.

Real estate sector saw its index decline 1.47%, telecom (0.71%), insurance (0.67%), banks and fi nancial services (0.46%), consumer goods (0.26%), industrials (0.22%) and transport (0.05%).

More than 56% of the traded stocks were in the red with major losers being Vodafone Qa-tar, Ezdan, Commercial Bank, Qatar Insurance, Doha Bank, Qatari Investors Group, Qatar In-dustrial Manufacturing, Qatar Electricity and Water, Gulf International Services, Barwa, Unit-ed Development Company and Nakilat.

Nevertheless, Industries Qatar, Ooredoo, Ma-zaya Qatar and Qatar First Bank were among the gainers.

Non-Qatari institutions turned net sellers to the tune of QR14.43mn compared with net buy-

ers of QR0.88mn on November 14. Local retail investors were also net sellers to the extent of QR13.89mn against net buyers of QR19.92mn the previous day.

The GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) institu-tions turned net sellers to the tune of QR6mn compared with net buyers of QR8.42mn on Monday.

However, domestic institutions turned net buyers to the extent of QR25.94mn against net sellers of QR30.88mn on November 14.

The GCC individual investors were also net buyers to the tune of QR2.5mn compared with net sellers of QR0.51mn the previous day.

Non-Qatari individual investors’ net buying strengthened to QR5.9mn against QR2.14mn on Monday.

Total trade volume rose 84% to 11.11mn shares, value by 6% to QR244.96mn and deals by 17% to 4,276.

The telecom sector’s trade volume grew more than seven-fold to 3.89mn equities and value more than tripled to QR45.39mn on more than doubled transactions to 1,065.

The banks and fi nancial services sector’s trade volume more than doubled to 4.15mn stocks, value soared 34% to QR97.06mn and deals by 36% to 1,418.

There was 85% surge in the consumer goods sector’s trade volume to 0.24mn shares and 42% in value to QR13.23mn but on 24% decline in transactions to 227.

The industrials sector’s trade volume expand-ed 21% to 0.46mn equities, while value shrank 11% to QR27.75mn and deals by 16% to 479.

The real estate sector reported 1% jump in trade volume to 1.87mn stocks but on 8% fall in value to QR33mn and 25% in transactions to 622.

However, the insurance sector’s trade volume plummeted 74% to 0.3mn shares and value by 62% to QR23.42mn, while deals rose 17% to 343.

The market witnessed 31% plunge in the transport sector’s trade volume to 0.18mn equi-ties, 23% in value to QR5.12mn and 15% in trans-actions to 122.

In the debt market, there was no trading of treasury bills and government bonds.

An across the board selling with realty, telecom and insurance suff ering the most, led the 20-stock Qatar Index to shed 0.67% to 9,679.92 points yesterday.

MSCI Qatar to delete Vodafone; QFB to figure in GCC smallcap indexGlobal index compiler MSCI will delete Vodafone Qatar from its global emerging market index and Qatar First Bank will figure for the first time in its Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) small cap index with eff ect from December 1 this year.No reason was furnished for the deletion of Vodafone Qatar from the MSCI global standard indexes and its downgrade to MSCI GCC small cap index.The MSCI Qatar Index is designed to measure the performance of the large and midcap segments of the Qatari market. Its top 10 holdings (as on October 31, 2016) are QNB, Industries Qatar, Masraf Al Rayan, Ezdan, Qatar Insurance, Ooredoo, Nakilat, Qatar Islamic Bank, Qatar Electricity and Water and Commercial Bank, which together constitute about 85% of the free float-adjusted market capitalisation.MSCI is considered to be one of the leading providers of international equity indices, with about $3tn of funds benchmarked against its indexes globally and some $321.9bn invested in exchange-traded funds linked to the MSCI indices.Last year global index compiler MSCI, Standard and Poor’s-Dow Jones and FTSE Russell had upgraded Qatar into ‘emerging’ market from ‘frontier’ status in view of many structural changes.Qatar Stock Exchange (QSE) is eyeing further upgrade from emerging market to developed market status in MSCI and is all set to further develop an efficient market infrastructure.“We are committed to developing the eff icient market infrastructure required for achieving developed market status,” QSE chief executive Rashid bin Ali al-Mansoori had recently told a MSCI delegation, headed by its chairman and chief executive Henry Fernandez.

Saudi, Egypt continuepull-backReutersDubai

Stock markets in Saudi Arabia and Egypt continued pulling back yesterday after big rallies earlier this month, while

some individual stocks in the United Arab Emirates moved sharply after MSCI adjusted its indexes.

The Saudi index, which had jumped 22% between mid-October and Sunday before profi t-taking began on Monday, dropped 2.1% to 6,493 points yesterday in heavy trade, pulling back from technical resistance on the July peak of 6,703 points.

However, the index ended well off the day’s low of 6,346 points.

Among major losers, National Commer-cial Bank, the biggest lender, dropped 4.5%.

Petrochemicals held up relatively well.A Saudi fund manager said the market

had been supported by local and govern-ment funds and when these stopped buying on Tuesday, profi t-taking pressure quickly pushed stocks down.

Some investors had been hoping that in-ternational index compiler MSCI would an-nounce, along with its index revisions, that it was starting the process of upgrading Saudi Arabia to emerging market status, two fund managers said.

Riyad REIT, which jumped its 10% daily limit when it listed on Sunday and did so again on Monday, rose a further 3.7%, but heavy trading volume showed some inves-tors were keen to take profi ts.

Egypt’s blue chip index dropped 0.5%, though it remains up more than 25% on hopes for infl ows of foreign funds since the central bank fl oated the Egyptian pound on November 3.Trading volume remained very heavy.

Dubai’s main index edged down 0.2% as DXB Entertainments added 2.7% after MSCI upgraded the stock to its United Arab Emir-ates standard index, eff ective at the close on November 30. Abu Dhabi’s main index edged down 0.1% to 4,181 points, holding technical support at its May low of 4,175 points.

Elsewhere, Kuwait index rose 0.4% to 5,491 points; Oman index gained 1.2% to 5,482 points and Bahrain index was fl at at 1,161 points at the close yesterday.

Aspirations to create the Islamic mega bank continue amid diffi cultiesBy Arno MaierbruggerGulf Times Correspondent Bangkok

The Global Islamic Economy Summit 2016 held last month in Dubai highlighted a broad vari-

ety of topics related to Islamic fi nance, but it reminded also that the industry sooner or later will need a central in-stitution or entity, commonly called “Islamic mega bank,” in order to build bridges and dismantle national barri-ers between the world’s Islamic fi nance core markets.

Such a globally active bank could act as a catalyst between the markets, pull in liquidity and attract foreign inves-tors and security issuers.

However, the diffi cult question is which of the global Islamic fi nance core markets would be best suited to domicile such an Islamic mega bank? At present, Islamic banking assets are spread over a number of countries, namely Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, UAE, Kuwait, Qatar, Turkey, Indonesia, Bah-rain and Pakistan, not to speak of Iran which has the largest Islamic fi nance market in the world but is de facto still disconnected from the global banking system.

Given the fact that an Islamic mega bank – meant to compete with con-ventional global banks such as HSBC, Standard Chartered, Citibank or the like – would boost the credentials of any hub where it is domiciled makes it of course even more diffi cult to agree on the location.

Dubai, for example, in its ambition to boost Islamic fi nance and transform into an Islamic economy hub argues that it would be an ideal place to set up an Islamic mega bank to build cross-border relationships in both retail and institutional banking between Islamic fi nance markets in Europe, the Mid-dle East, Central and Southeast Asia. An Islamic mega bank located in Dubai would also benefi t from the credibility of the emirate’s regulatory framework

it operates under, and it could build upon the experience of large banks such as Emirates NDB which is increasingly developing towards a cross-border market player.

However, Dubai is not the only location with strong ambitions to strengthen its footprint in the global Islamic fi nance market which is pre-dicted to reach a value of $1.8tn by 2019. Malaysia, Indonesia and Tur-key have all registered their interest for setting up an Islamic mega bank, while Saudi Arabia has said that since it already houses the world’s biggest Islamic bank, Al Rajhi Bank with as-sets of around $62bn, it has enough capabilities to build an Islamic mega bank too.

However, one major problem for Gulf and Southeast Asian countries in set-ting up an Islamic image bank is their currencies, particularly given Gulf states’ policy to peg their currencies to the US dollar.

“None of the current Islamic fi nance hubs located in the Middle East and Southeast Asia have currencies consid-ered to be global reserve status,” says Ajay Shah, Professors at New Delhi-based National Institute of Public Finance and Policy and expert on Islamic fi nance.

“And any aspiring hub [for Islamic fi nance] would need to allow for a fl oat-ing exchange rate which would involve the de-tangling of pegged or loosely linked exchange rates against the US dollar,” he added.

And indeed, so far there were just setbacks in the trials to create an Is-lamic mega bank. Saudi Arabia’s Is-lamic Development Bank was seeking partners in 2012 to bring in $1bn in investments to form an Islamic mega bank which was planned to be estab-lished with Saudi-based Dallah Albar-

aka Group and the Qatari government, but did not materialise.

Malaysia’s vision of forming an Is-lamic mega bank failed in 2015 as a three-way merger between CIMB Group, RHB Capital and Malaysia Building Society was scrapped. The merger, the nation’s potentially largest ever, would have created a bank large enough to compete with the likes of HSBC and Standard Chartered but was abandoned amid tumbling oil prices last year.

How diffi cult it is to form an Islamic mega bank became clear when Indo-nesia in December 2015 put its plans on hold to create such an entity from a merger of the Shariah-compliant units of Bank Mandiri, Bank Negara Indone-sia, Bank Rakyat Indonesia and Bank Tabungan Negara after two years of trying due to legal and regulatory issues related to capital requirements

Next in line is now Turkey which has said Istanbul could become the headquarters for a new Islamic mega

bank. The Turkish government would set up the bank with its finance min-istry and the Islamic Development Bank as the prime shareholders, Deputy Prime Minister Mehmet Sim-sek has said. He even suggested that either Malaysia or Indonesia carry on with their efforts to create their own Islamic mega bank, which could eventually merge with the Turkey-based mega bank to create a “mega-mega” Islamic bank serving the global Islamic finance industry.

EDUCATION/FAQ on Insurance

Is it permissible to insure buildings against fire?It is lawful to insure buildings against fire so long as the benefit payments are commensurate to the amount of actual damage.

Is it permissible to purchase healthcare insurance, keeping in view high healthcare costs?It is not permissible to purchase insurance when one is not legally obligated to purchase insurance (e.g. for property, goods, travel); though healthcare costs in some

countries are so high that scholars now permit one to purchase medical insurance provided there is no social healthcare programme in one’s country (e.g. US). Scholars still deem healthcare insurance impermissible in those countries that provide social healthcare programmes (e.g. Canada). It is permissible to receive the benefits, including cash payment, of a health insurance plan if one’s employer or government off ers the plan as a part of their policy.

Is it permissible for a person to

receive benefits for the value of his car that has been destroyed in an accident even though he is in the process of making some remaining payments for the price of the car?It is lawful for the person to receive benefits for the value of the destroyed car since ownership was transferred to him without his putting up any collateral. However, in the event that the person who purchased the car previously granted the bank the right to reserve any amount coming into its possession, then the amount of benefit transferred from the Takaful

company to the bank falls under the ruling of a guarantee in which the remaining payments are to be made on time unless a new agreement is concluded.

What is the Shariah ruling with regard to automobile insurance?Automobile Takaful is lawful provided the benefit paid out to the insured is equivalent to the amount of actual damage and not more.

When the goods for a Murabaha

deal are completely damaged or lost the Takaful company pays the bank a benefit equal to the value of the goods plus 10%. Is it permissible to accept this excess and may it be used to pay for legal expenses?It is lawful for the bank to use the benefits paid out to it by the Takaful company to make a direct payment for expenses associated with the insured goods or through its client as an agent on its behalf. The remaining amount if any must be returned to the Takaful company.

In the case of receiving Takaful benefits for goods lost in a fire, is it permissible to seek the market value of the goods on the day they were destroyed or their replacement value?The insured is entitled to receiving benefits equal to the actual amount of damage experienced based on the market value of the goods on the day of the accident or fire.

Source: Ethica Institute of Islamic Finance via Bloomberg

‘IDB to announce sukuk roadshow this week’ReutersDubai

The Islamic Development Bank (IDB) will announce this week plans for in-

vestor roadshows covering its planned sukuk sale, bankers familiar with the situation told Reuters.

The issue, expected to be in excess of $1bn, is one of the few remaining debt sales likely to be completed in the Middle East before the end of this year, as the window to prepare new bonds shrinks and as market volatil-ity puts investors in a defensive mode, bankers and investors said.

The IDB did not respond to an emailed request to com-ment.

It mandated nine banks for the Islamic bond sale in late Oc-tober, with the aim of issuing the sukuk after the US elections on November 8.

But the unexpected victory of Donald Trump in the US presidential election last week caused the IDB – as well as other potential debt issuers in the Middle East – to wait a bit longer to assess the impact of Trump’s victory on the regional bond market, bankers said.

“The deal would have gone out earlier if Clinton had won,” said one.

Some Middle Eastern bond transactions for which banks had already been mandated have been put on hold because of the market turmoil caused by Trump’s win, and new man-dates for issues that could have taken place after a Clinton vic-tory have been frozen, bankers said.

Potential borrowers have de-cided to wait until January to see how markets perform.

An interest rate hike by the US Federal Reserve Bank in Decem-ber seems likely, and the market has already priced that in, “so what’s the advantage in issuing now rather than in January?” said the banker.

4 ISLAMIC FINANCE GULF TIMESWednesday, November 16, 2016

Shares of Global Islamic banking assets (including Iran), Source: Islamic Financial Services Board Stability Report, 2015

How New Silk Road leads back to Beijing

By David Tweed & Laurence ArnoldBloomberg

The name Silk Road conjures images of caravans and desert steppes. Marco Polo was among the adventurers who navigated the ancient trading route connecting China with Central Asia, the Middle East and Europe, spreading ideas along with exotic goods like silk, porcelain, horses and gold.What is the new Silk Road?President Xi Jinping outlined his vision for a Silk Road Economic Belt in a low-key speech in Kazakhstan in 2013. The idea was for China to help finance transport infrastructure in Central Asia. Within months, China added a port-focused element, which it called the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road. Together, they’re known as One Belt, One Road, or OBOR.

What is China’s goal?

Off icially the initiative is hailed as a public service provided by China to Asia, the Middle East and Europe. There’s talk of film festivals and book fairs, scholarships, jointly run schools and regional vacation cruises made possible by eased visa restrictions. China could benefit by finding new customers for its steel and other building materials. The initiative

could also aid its goal of becoming a bigger strategic power in Asia – militarily and economically – as it pushes back against decades of US dominance. Developing Central Asia may reduce the risk of unrest among more than 10mn Uighur Muslims living in China’s western region of Xinjiang.

What are the risks?

China’s banks, sitting on what some call a ticking debt bomb, might find it hard to resist investing in long-shot development proposals, some of which have already emerged. China could face accusations of coercion if it’s seen as extracting favourable deals for its companies. A decade-long resource push into Africa left China branded an exploiter.

What’s the cost, and who pays?

The push will last decades and encompass projects costing tens or hundreds of billions of dollars, so there’s room for lots of backers. China started a Silk Road Fund that’s already helped finance a hydroelectric power project in Pakistan and invested in a liquefied natural gas project in Russia. China is promoting the $100bn Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, the $40bn Silk Road Fund and the joint BRICS Development Bank as alternatives to the World Bank, International Monetary Fund and Asian Development Bank.

QuickTake Q&A

China renews Islamic bond pushBloombergKuala Lumpur

China Inc plans its first dol-lar sukuk issuance to tap a four-fold increase in Chi-

nese funds that can invest in bonds overseas.

Sichuan Development Fi-nancial Leasing Co plans to sell $300mn of Islamic bonds via Singapore-based special purpose vehicle, Silk Routes Capital Pte, in December, according to sale adviser Silk Routes Financials. The deal is being done in the city-state because China doesn’t have equal tax treatment for sukuk, said Bobby Tay, an adviser at the con-sultancy.

The planned offering follows China’s inaugural ringgit sukuk by Country Garden Holdings Co last year. The support for Islamic fi-nance complements President Xi Jinping’s ‘One Road, One Belt’ goal of reviving historical trade routes with the Middle East.

Research firm Z-Ben Advisors estimated Chinese funds that in-vest in bonds overseas through the nation’s Qualified Domestic In-stitutional Investors programme more than quadrupled this year to

17.4bn yuan ($2.6bn) as of Septem-ber 30.

“This is a step in the right direc-tion and could potentially lead to more Chinese corporates diversi-fying their funding sources via the sukuk market,” said Hasif Murad, an investment manager at Kuala Lumpur-based Aberdeen Islamic Asset Management. “The predom-inant interest for this issuance will remain from yield-hungry domes-tic Chinese investors.”

Silk Routes Capital hired Stand-ard Chartered, CIMB Group Hold-ings Bhd, Bank of China Ltd and Bank of China International Ltd

to help to arrange investor meet-ings in the Middle East, Malaysia, Brunei, Singapore and Hong Kong, Tay said. The sukuk will use the structure of commodity murabaha, where goods are bought and then resold with a pre-agreed mark-up, he said.

The Islamic debt will likely have the same ratings as Sichuan Devel-opment Holdings Co, the parent of the leasing company, accord-ing to Tay. The investment arm of Sichuan provincial government is assessed A-, the fourth-lowest in-vestment grade by Fitch Ratings.

Officials in the two companies

couldn’t be immediately reached by phone. In a sign the traditional Silk Road is coming back to life, Chinese companies are building roads, railways and ports along the route to the Middle East, Africa and Europe. The first cargo train from China to Afghanistan completed its journey in September, marking another advance in Xi’s project to deepen his nation’s influence along the old trade routes.

Issuance of global Shariah-com-pliant securities climbed 28% so far this year to $38.7bn, after drop-ping 28% to $35.6bn in 2015, the least since 2010, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Assuming Sichuan’s sukuk rating is at par to the parent, the five-year could be priced 150 basis points to 170 basis points over the similar-maturity Treasury, equivalent to 2.75% to 2.95%, according to Jed-dah-based Sedco Capital.

“This would be a good start for dollar sukuk in China,” Fakrizzaki Ghazali, a senior fixed income ana-lyst at Sedco Capital, said in an e-mail on November 7. “For the size of $300mn, it should be easily be absorbed by the market, more so if they eventually become index-eligible, which helps improve their liquidity profile.”

Gulf TimesExclusive

Zad Holding CoWidam Food CoVodafone Qatar

United Development CoSalam International Investme

Qatar & Oman Investment CoQatar Navigation

Qatar National Cement CoQatar National Bank

Qatar Islamic InsuranceQatar Industrial Manufactur

Qatar International IslamicQatari Investors Group

Qatar Islamic BankQatar Gas Transport(Nakilat)Qatar General Insurance & ReQatar German Co For Medical

Qatar Fuel QscQatar First Bank

Qatar Electricity & Water CoQatar Cinema & Film Distrib

Qatar Insurance CoOoredoo Qsc

National LeasingMazaya Qatar Real Estate Dev

Mesaieed Petrochemical HoldiAl Meera Consumer Goods Co

Medicare GroupMannai Corporation Qsc

Masraf Al RayanAl Khalij Commercial Bank

Industries QatarIslamic Holding Group

Gulf Warehousing CompanyGulf International Services

Ezdan Holding GroupDoha Insurance Co

Doha Bank QscDlala Holding

Commercial Bank QscBarwa Real Estate Co

Al Khaleej Takaful GroupAamal Co

Al Ahli Bank

76.00

60.00

9.74

18.96

10.82

9.96

86.20

83.40

151.00

48.50

42.00

60.90

54.70

99.90

22.03

44.50

9.99

140.00

9.91

205.50

28.05

81.80

93.40

14.00

12.07

15.11

165.40

60.10

76.20

33.30

17.21

100.20

53.90

52.00

29.00

14.71

18.90

33.80

21.00

31.60

29.90

19.31

13.26

39.00

-1.30

-1.64

-4.13

-0.21

1.31

0.30

-0.12

1.71

-0.66

-1.02

-2.10

-0.16

-1.44

0.00

-0.36

0.00

0.91

0.00

9.99

-0.77

0.00

-0.85

0.11

-0.71

0.17

0.20

-2.13

0.00

0.26

0.60

0.06

0.20

0.00

1.36

-0.68

-2.06

2.16

-1.74

1.35

-3.07

-0.33

-3.69

-0.23

0.00

4

21,602

3,808,888

71,905

83,054

5,286

10,397

4,171

229,813

2,690

23,695

15,958

45,972

34,862

157,191

-

72,024

30,250

2,925,140

48,796

-

279,736

84,723

96,057

232,015

77,496

36,009

-

1,227

309,438

22,539

84,606

-

14,358

117,573

1,204,440

19,800

167,392

1,000

345,848

360,962

1,071

61,973

-

QATAR

Company Name Lt Price % Chg Volume

United Wire Factories CompanEtihad Etisalat Co

Dar Al Arkan Real Estate DevSaudi Hollandi Bank

Rabigh Refining And PetrocheBanque Saudi Fransi

Saudi Enaya Cooperative InsuMediterranean & Gulf Insuran

Saudi British BankMohammad Al Mojil Group Co

Red Sea Housing Services CoTakween Advanced Industries

Sabb TakafulSaudi Arabian Fertilizer Co

National GypsumSaudi Ceramic Co

National Gas & IndustrializaSaudi Pharmaceutical Industr

ThimarNational Industrialization C

Saudi Transport And InvestmeSaudi Electricity Co

Saudi Arabia Refineries CoArriyadh Development Company

Al-Baha Development & InvestSaudi Research And MarketingAldrees Petroleum And Transp

Saudi Vitrified Clay Pipe CoJarir Marketing Co

Arab National BankYanbu National Petrochemical

Arabian CementMiddle East Specialized Cabl

Al Khaleej Training And EducAl Sagr Co-Operative Insuran

Trade Union Cooperative InsuArabia Insurance Cooperative

Saudi Chemical CompanyFawaz Abdulaziz Alhokair & C

Bupa Arabia For CooperativeWafa Insurance

Jabal Omar Development CoSaudi Basic Industries Corp

Saudi Kayan Petrochemical CoEtihad Atheeb Telecommunicat

Co For Cooperative InsuranceNational Petrochemical Co

Gulf Union Cooperative InsurGulf General Cooperative Ins

Basic Chemical IndustriesSaudi Steel Pipe Co

Buruj Cooperative InsuranceMouwasat Medical Services Co

Southern Province Cement CoMaadaniyah

Yamama Cement CoJazan Development Co

Zamil Industrial InvestmentAlujain Corporation (Alco)

Tabuk Agricultural DevelopmeUnited Co-Operative Assuranc

Qassim Cement/TheSaudi Advanced Industries

Kingdom Holding CoSaudi Arabian Amiantit Co

Al Jouf Agriculture DevelopmSaudi Industrial Development

Bishah AgricultureRiyad Bank

The National Agriculture DevHalwani Bros Co

Arabian Pipes CoEastern Province Cement Co

Al Qassim Agricultural CoFiling & Packing Materials M

Saudi Cable CoTihama Advertising & Public

Saudi Investment Bank/TheAstra Industrial Group

Saudi Public Transport CoTaiba Holding Co

Saudi Industrial Export CoSaudi Real Estate Co

Saudia Dairy & Foodstuff CoNational Shipping Co Of/The

Methanol Chemicals CoAce Arabia Cooperative Insur

Mobile Telecommunications CoSaudi Arabian Coop Ins Co

Axa Cooperative InsuranceAlsorayai Group

Weqaya For Takaful InsuranceBank Albilad

Al-Hassan G.I. Shaker CoWataniya Insurance Co

Abdullah Al Othaim MarketsHail Cement

22.00

22.68

5.46

11.77

10.37

25.98

13.05

19.39

22.60

12.55

24.99

11.61

21.47

68.95

10.61

29.57

27.90

32.98

25.70

16.03

53.96

17.83

26.31

19.15

13.50

29.67

32.94

59.60

102.27

18.87

46.49

44.54

7.13

16.04

32.05

12.05

9.68

31.69

29.64

130.60

14.56

68.00

84.39

7.93

3.13

90.79

17.49

9.89

13.00

24.07

14.77

18.00

125.79

66.01

18.73

19.08

9.13

23.93

15.65

9.27

11.83

57.98

9.07

10.56

6.32

28.96

8.19

69.75

10.81

20.41

54.25

13.91

26.50

7.99

31.86

5.42

25.67

12.82

14.99

12.91

34.13

28.68

20.69

123.87

38.99

6.09

33.21

7.78

14.14

13.06

8.59

19.39

18.12

14.41

21.26

83.10

10.66

-2.40

-2.03

-1.97

-3.13

-0.38

-2.77

-0.46

-3.24

-2.92

0.00

0.32

-0.51

-0.65

1.17

-2.12

-2.18

-0.32

-2.91

-0.89

-2.73

2.64

-2.78

-1.28

-3.77

0.00

7.11

-1.08

-1.36

-2.58

-3.97

-0.41

-1.68

2.89

-4.01

-1.72

-1.87

3.09

-0.50

-0.80

-4.39

-2.54

-5.23

-1.39

-0.88

-0.63

-7.36

-2.83

-2.18

1.88

-0.82

-1.27

-0.77

-5.02

-2.60

-1.11

-3.05

-1.62

-3.27

-1.39

-1.07

-2.07

-1.31

-2.99

0.00

-1.10

-0.31

-2.85

0.00

-1.46

-2.67

-1.99

-2.93

-2.86

-1.96

-3.04

1.31

0.00

-2.21

0.13

0.39

-2.40

-1.04

-5.40

-1.69

-1.64

-2.56

-0.33

-3.11

-1.12

-1.58

-0.46

0.00

-3.15

0.98

0.57

1.26

-2.38

125,226

1,206,147

109,518,043

2,318,550

4,685,616

1,141,876

631,544

792,994

1,229,831

-

175,622

8,066,511

494,037

267,094

587,766

274,555

925,410

126,089

751,594

3,893,855

658,833

1,054,945

303,786

263,790

-

3,228,205

82,668

96,477

215,883

1,645,162

453,091

366,226

5,837,902

691,590

1,327,934

457,020

5,525,933

218,452

2,170,189

271,259

3,721,317

4,404,394

4,054,412

19,467,175

2,319,616

602,026

270,878

1,021,804

1,695,956

1,639,960

296,830

338,315

116,201

53,018

382,963

471,299

857,941

514,178

694,891

1,766,885

1,023,586

167,198

981,444

183,535

994,011

32,724

1,492,637

-

1,594,862

298,749

26,106

441,997

120,455

1,414,508

140,042

3,730,338

-

929,588

895,176

2,994,945

46,782

533,609

830,746

15,440

2,387,704

1,590,827

186,286

3,983,205

1,371,100

389,257

778,940

-

1,389,168

2,286,160

1,001,758

207,076

959,172

SAUDI ARABIA


Saudi Re For Cooperative ReiSolidarity Saudi Takaful Co

Amana Cooperative InsuranceAlabdullatif Industrial Inv

Saudi Printing & Packaging CSanad Cooperative Insurance

Saudi Paper Manufacturing CoAlinma Bank

Almarai CoFalcom Saudi Equity Etf

United International TranspoHsbc Amanah Saudi 20 Etf

Saudi International PetrocheFalcom Petrochemical Etf

Saudi United Cooperative InsBank Al-Jazira

Al Rajhi BankSamba Financial Group

United Electronics CoAllied Cooperative Insurance

Malath Cooperative & ReinsurAlinma Tokio Marine

Arabian Shield CooperativeSavola

Wafrah For Industry And DeveFitaihi Holding Group

Tourism Enterprise Co/ ShamsSahara Petrochemical Co

Herfy Food Services Co

5.50

8.13

8.08

12.93

17.88

15.23

9.30

13.95

60.03

26.10

29.18

26.20

15.36

23.30

16.96

12.57

62.50

22.54

19.03

13.21

8.17

15.89

22.82

35.42

17.08

11.22

25.00

10.54

72.00

-1.43

0.12

1.64

-1.00

4.93

0.00

-4.42

-1.06

-0.76

0.38

-9.52

0.00

-2.48

4.95

-2.97

-2.10

-0.90

-2.00

-1.81

-0.75

0.49

-2.22

0.22

-4.91

-2.40

-3.03

-1.07

-1.68

-1.88

1,233,752

4,176,179

7,098,567

802,593

9,401,422

-

15,396,984

28,239,282

683,414

135,041

1,057,279

4

468,009

9,601

911,389

4,789,177

5,542,563

1,888,473

395,366

798,380

2,410,229

1,846,283

88,489

419,816

578,528

587,613

442,456

4,553,029

70,325

SAUDI ARABIA


Securities Group CoSultan Center Food Products

Kuwait Foundry Co SakKuwait Financial Centre Sak

Ajial Real Estate EntmtGulf Glass Manuf Co -Kscc

Kuwait Finance & InvestmentNational Industries Co Ksc

Kuwait Real Estate Holding CSecurities House/The

Boubyan Petrochemicals CoAl Ahli Bank Of Kuwait

Ahli United Bank (Almutahed)National Bank Of Kuwait

Commercial Bank Of KuwaitKuwait International Bank

Gulf BankAl-Massaleh Real Estate Co

Al Arabiya Real Estate CoKuwait Remal Real Estate Co

Alkout Industrial Projects CA’ayan Real Estate Co Sak

Investors Holding Group Co.KAl-Mazaya Holding Co

Al-Madar Finance & Invt CoGulf Petroleum Investment

Mabanee Co SakcCity Group

Inovest Co BscKuwait Gypsum Manufacturing

Al-Deera Holding CoAlshamel International Hold

Mena Real Estate CoNational Slaughter House

Amar Finance & Leasing CoUnited Projects For Aviation

National Consumer Holding CoAmwal International Investme

Jeeran HoldingsEquipment Holding Co K.S.C.C

Nafais HoldingSafwan Trading & Contracting

Arkan Al Kuwait Real EstateGfh Financial Group Bsc

Energy House Holding Co KscpKuwait Slaughter House Co

Kuwait Co For Process PlantAl Maidan Dental Clinic Co K

National Ranges CompanyAl-Themar Real International

Al-Ahleia Insurance Co SakpWethaq Takaful Insurance Co

Salbookh Trading Co KscpAqar Real Estate Investments

Hayat CommunicationsKuwait Packing Materials Mfg

Soor Fuel Marketing Co KscAlargan International RealBurgan Co For Well Drilling

Kuwait Resorts Co KsccOula Fuel Marketing Co

Palms Agro Production CoIkarus Petroleum Industries

Mubarrad Transport CoAl Mowasat Health Care Co

Shuaiba Industrial CoHits Telecom Holding

First Takaful Insurance CoKuwaiti Syrian Holding Co

National Cleaning CompanyEyas For High & Technical EdUnited Real Estate Company

AgilityKuwait & Middle East Fin Inv

Fujairah Cement IndustriesLivestock Transport & Tradng

International Resorts CoNational Industries Grp Hold

Marine Services Co KscWarba Insurance Co

Kuwait United Poultry CoFirst Dubai Real Estate Deve

Al Arabi Group Holding CoKuwait Hotels Sak

Mobile Telecommunications CoAl Safat Real Estate Co

Tamdeen Real Estate Co KscAl Mudon Intl Real Estate Co

Kuwait Cement Co KscSharjah Cement & Indus Devel

Kuwait Portland Cement CoEducational Holding Group

Bahrain Kuwait InsuranceAsiya Capital Investments Co

Kuwait Investment CoBurgan Bank

Kuwait Projects Co HoldingsAl Madina For Finance And In

Kuwait Insurance CoAl Masaken Intl Real Estate

Intl Financial AdvisorsFirst Investment Co Kscc

Al Mal Investment CompanyBayan Investment Co Kscc

Egypt Kuwait Holding Co SaeCoast Investment Development

Privatization Holding CompanKuwait Medical Services Co

Injazzat Real State CompanyKuwait Cable Vision Sak

Sanam Real Estate Co KsccIthmaar Bank Bsc

Aviation Lease And Finance CArzan Financial Group For Fi

Ajwan Gulf Real Estate CoKuwait Business Town Real Es

Future Kid Entertainment AndSpecialities Group Holding C

Abyaar Real Eastate DevelopmDar Al Thuraya Real Estate C

Al-Dar National Real EstateKgl Logistics Company Kscc

Combined Group ContractingZima Holding Co Ksc

Qurain Holding Co

85.00

57.00

174.00

82.00

156.00

300.00

33.50

190.00

23.00

39.00

465.00

310.00

415.00

640.00

420.00

204.00

236.00

35.50

28.50

50.00

570.00

67.00

20.50

112.00

0.00

39.00

830.00

0.00

72.00

100.00

34.50

0.00

19.00

0.00

59.00

680.00

0.00

19.00

56.00

45.00

180.00

390.00

80.00

134.00

42.50

136.00

170.00

0.00

28.00

89.00

435.00

28.00

54.00

0.00

50.00

0.00

114.00

160.00

91.00

77.00

114.00

90.00

36.50

54.00

230.00

255.00

40.00

49.50

28.00

39.50

0.00

98.00

540.00

21.50

85.00

234.00

27.50

114.00

84.00

112.00

176.00

57.00

50.00

265.00

420.00

0.00

475.00

31.50

390.00

79.00

950.00

0.00

0.00

31.50

84.00

325.00

510.00

41.50

230.00

47.50

29.00

44.00

18.00

32.00

140.00

39.00

43.00

0.00

71.00

61.00

30.00

37.00

214.00

31.50

40.00

41.00

114.00

79.00

19.00

0.00

0.00

75.00

640.00

41.50

0.00

0.00

5.56

-1.14

-1.20

0.00

0.00

-1.47

0.00

0.00

-6.02

-2.11

0.00

2.47

1.59

5.00

2.00

0.85

-6.58

1.79

-1.96

0.00

8.06

0.00

0.00

0.00

1.30

1.22

0.00

-5.26

0.00

-4.17

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

-2.86

0.00

2.70

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

3.08

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

-1.75

-3.57

0.00

0.00

0.00

1.79

0.00

5.81

5.48

-3.39

0.00

5.80

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

-1.00

1.82

1.28

0.00

2.08

3.85

-4.44

1.19

4.46

-1.79

1.79

5.00

1.82

0.00

0.00

-1.96

0.00

3.70

0.00

0.00

1.61

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

-1.56

0.00

1.56

2.00

-3.49

0.88

1.06

-1.69

0.00

0.00

-3.03

0.00

0.00

1.18

0.00

2.90

0.00

0.00

4.23

0.00

-3.08

0.00

2.50

0.00

1.28

-2.56

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

4,435

414,431

148,000

51,150

10,000

218

25,500

81

463

8,716,825

201,321

371,149

167,072

6,484,973

181,295

1,875,165

854,400

990

1,060,488

584,243

4,390

119,705

1,874,001

13,270

-

1,649,806

306,893

-

344,500

19,550

1,502,149

-

202,360

-

500

8,780

-

176,276

400

148,600

118,000

40,000

20,000

4,981,494

45,500

2,000

50

-

364,600

100

42,210

1,191,930

7,800

-

12,832

-

88,578

5,000

500

670,253

156,965

7,447

250,648

47,505

10,000

5,052

1,233,295

1,500

10

272,438

-

1,100

4,038,856

100,000

439,415

12,405

196,100

6,090,594

100,010

28,965

10,000

949,500

56,000

1,000

7,374,509

-

6,300

2,451,442

701

300,000

194,771

-

-

110,725

542

2,123,546

493,637

1,636,456

4,000

87,296

746,300

527,500

839,229

1,900,000

43,389

2,550,710

626,720

-

357,676

293

167,680

2,813,822

21,000

92,000

100

3,640,076

3,938

1,300

656,000

-

-

157,500

10,000

1,704,318

-

KUWAIT


Voltamp Energy SaogUnited Power/Energy Co- Pref

United Power Co SaogUnited Finance Co

Ubar Hotels & ResortsTakaful Oman

Taageer FinanceSweets Of OmanSohar Power Co

Sohar PoultrySmn Power Holding Saog

Shell Oman Marketing - PrefShell Oman Marketing

Sharqiyah Desalination Co SaSembcorp Salalah Power & Wat

Salalah Port ServicesSalalah Mills Co

Salalah Beach Resort SaogSahara Hospitality

Renaissance Services SaogRaysut Cement Co

Port Service CorporationPhoenix Power Co Saoc

Packaging Co LtdOoredoo

OminvestOman United Insurance Co

Oman Textile Holding Co SaogOman Telecommunications Co

Oman Refreshment CoOman Packaging

Oman Orix Leasing Co.Oman Oil Marketing Company

Oman National Engineering AnOman Investment & Finance

Oman Intl MarketingOman Hotels & Tourism CoOman Foods International

Oman Flour MillsOman Fisheries CoOman Fiber Optics

Oman Europe Foods IndustriesOman Education & Training In

Oman ChromiteOman Chlorine

Oman Ceramic ComOman Cement Co

Oman Cables IndustryOman Agricultural Dev

Oman & Emirates Inv(Om)50%Natl Aluminium Products

National SecuritiesNational Real Estate Develop

National PharmaceuticalNational Mineral Water

National Hospitality InstituNational Gas Co

National Finance CoNational Detergent Co Saog

National Biscuit IndustriesNational Bank Of Oman Saog

Muscat Thread Mills CoMuscat National Holding

Muscat Gases Company SaogMuscat Finance

Majan Glass CompanyMajan College

Hsbc Bank OmanHotels Management Co Interna

Gulf StoneGulf Plastic Industries Co

Gulf Mushroom CompanyGulf Investments Services

Gulf Invest. Serv. Pref-SharGulf International Chemicals

Gulf Hotels (Oman) Co LtdGlobal Fin Investment

Galfar Engineering&ContractGalfar Engineering -Prefer

Financial Services Co.Financial Corp/The

Dhofar UniversityDhofar Tourism

Dhofar PoultryDhofar Intl Development

Dhofar InsuranceDhofar Fisheries & Food Indu

Dhofar Cattlefeed

0.45

1.00

3.40

0.16

0.13

0.18

0.12

1.34

0.26

0.21

0.71

1.05

1.96

4.50

0.23

0.65

1.48

1.38

2.50

0.22

1.52

0.23

0.14

2.01

0.62

0.49

0.29

0.32

1.47

2.15

0.30

0.13

1.88

0.16

0.19

0.52

0.40

0.00

0.67

0.06

4.57

1.00

0.15

3.64

0.49

0.40

0.45

1.51

0.00

0.12

0.20

0.17

5.00

0.11

0.05

0.00

0.61

0.13

0.70

3.75

0.23

0.11

1.79

0.62

0.12

0.19

0.52

0.11

1.25

0.11

0.00

0.34

0.11

0.11

0.26

10.50

0.18

0.09

0.39

0.17

0.11

1.49

0.49

0.18

0.39

0.21

1.28

0.22

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

1.77

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

0.86

1.44

0.00

0.65

1.24

0.00

0.00

0.34

0.00

0.00

3.20

0.00

6.00

0.54

0.00

0.00

0.00

1.82

3.39

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

1.64

1.03

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

2.27

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.88

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

1.89

0.00

1.57

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

-

-

-

-

-

-

97,000

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

10,000

-

49,442

506,017

-

182,612

62,500

100,000

-

110,474

-

-

12,500

-

22,300

352,000

-

-

-

95,000

720,103

-

-

-

-

-

-

100,000

-

-

531,000

160,000

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

465,000

-

-

-

53,339

-

-

527,000

-

-

-

-

243,517

-

152,330

-

-

213,240

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

OMAN


Dhofar Beverages CoConstruction Materials Ind

Computer Stationery IndsBankmuscat Saog

Bank SoharBank Nizwa

Bank Dhofar SaogAreej Vegetable Oils

Aloula CoAl-Omaniya Financial Service

Al-Hassan Engineering CoAl-Fajar Al-Alamia Co

Al-Anwar Ceramic Tiles CoAl Suwadi Power

Al Shurooq Inv SerAl Sharqiya Invest Holding

Al Maha Petroleum Products MAl Maha Ceramics Co SaocAl Madina Takaful Co Saoc

Al Madina Investment CoAl Kamil Power Co

Al Jazerah Services -PfdAl Jazeera Steel Products Co

Al Jazeera ServicesAl Izz Islamic Bank

Al Buraimi HotelAl Batinah PowerAl Batinah Hotels

Al Batinah Dev & InvAl Anwar Holdings Saog

Ahli BankAcwa Power Barka Saog

Abrasives Manufacturing Co SA’saff a Foods Saog

0Man Oil Marketing Co-Pref

0.26

0.03

0.26

0.41

0.15

0.08

0.22

4.05

0.53

0.28

0.05

0.75

0.17

0.19

1.04

0.12

1.45

0.49

0.07

0.05

0.31

0.55

0.23

0.20

0.07

0.88

0.20

1.13

0.09

0.17

0.19

0.70

0.05

0.82

0.25

0.00

0.00

0.00

1.97

2.11

1.28

2.38

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

8.55

0.54

0.00

6.96

0.00

0.00

1.37

1.89

0.00

0.00

-0.87

4.26

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

4.76

1.85

2.72

0.00

0.00

-1.91

0.00

-

-

-

241,278

391,631

2,759,379

250,502

-

-

-

-

-

935,574

7,961

-

3,314,025

-

-

281,500

181,185

-

-

50,400

246,500

18,109

-

5,000

-

60,380

388,228

100,000

2,000

-

19,562

-

OMAN


Waha Capital PjscUnited Insurance Company

United Arab Bank PjscUnion National Bank/Abu Dhab

Union Insurance CoUnion Cement Co

Umm Al Qaiwain Cement IndustSharjah Islamic Bank

Sharjah Insurance CompanySharjah Group

Sharjah Cement & Indus DevelRas Al-Khaimah National Insu

Ras Al Khaimah White CementRas Al Khaimah Ceramics

Ras Al Khaimah Cement Co PscRas Al Khaima Poultry

Rak PropertiesOoredoo Qsc

Oman & Emirates Inv(Emir)50%Nbad Oneshare Msci Uae Ucits

National Takaful CompanyNational Marine Dredging Co

National Investor Co/TheNational Corp Tourism & Hote

National Bank Of Umm Al QaiwNational Bank Of Ras Al-Khai

National Bank Of FujairahNational Bank Of Abu Dhabi

Methaq Takaful InsuranceManazel Real Estate Pjsc

Invest BankIntl Fish Farming Co Pjsc

Insurance HouseGulf Pharmaceutical Ind Psc

Gulf Medical ProjectsGulf Cement Co

Fujairah Cement IndustriesFujairah Building Industries

Foodco Holding PjscFirst Gulf BankFinance House

Eshraq Properties Co PjscEmirates Telecom Group Co

Emirates Insurance Co. (Psc)Emirates Driving Company

Dana GasCommercial Bank Internationa

Bank Of SharjahAxa Green Crescent Insurance

Arkan Building Materials CoAlkhaleej InvestmentAldar Properties Pjsc

Al Wathba National InsuranceAl Khazna Insurance Co

Al Fujairah National InsuranAl Dhafra Insurance Co. P.S.

Al Buhaira National InsurancAl Ain Ahlia Ins. Co.

Agthia Group PjscAbu Dhabi Ship Building Co

Abu Dhabi Natl Co For BuildiAbu Dhabi National Takaful C

Abu Dhabi National InsuranceAbu Dhabi National Hotels

Abu Dhabi National Energy CoAbu Dhabi Islamic Bank

1.80

2.00

1.85

3.99

1.86

1.13

0.90

1.49

3.85

1.50

0.93

4.10

1.22

2.48

0.76

2.27

0.65

85.60

1.18

6.26

0.98

4.60

0.52

2.97

3.00

5.07

4.78

8.77

0.81

0.52

2.20

1.55

0.75

2.05

2.50

0.93

0.89

1.56

4.60

11.70

1.75

1.05

17.35

5.75

7.00

0.53

1.99

1.33

0.72

0.95

1.47

2.44

4.40

0.34

300.00

5.00

2.35

60.00

6.15

2.80

0.54

4.25

2.25

3.24

0.55

3.44

1.69

0.00

0.00

2.31

0.00

0.00

0.00

-1.32

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

-0.40

-2.56

0.00

1.56

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

-9.73

0.00

0.00

0.00

3.06

-3.57

0.00

0.00

5.44

0.00

-5.53

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

-1.27

-0.57

0.00

0.00

0.00

8.70

1.92

0.00

-1.48

0.00

1.06

0.00

1.24

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

2.16

9.38

0.00

0.00

-10.00

-4.71

0.00

-0.86

1,745,381

-

-

753,703

-

-

-

17,000

-

-

-

-

-

369,230

61,000

-

2,934,569

-

-

-

-

-

-

8,200

1,593,991

-

-

892,398

5,110,448

7,654,052

279,472

800

-

23,933

-

-

-

-

-

1,431,483

48,624

108,316,150

1,516,006

-

36,200

7,671,028

-

11,000

-

563,500

-

9,080,827

-

-

-

-

-

-

293,592

24,752

-

-

4,375

28,828

714,671

249,367

UAE


Zain Bahrain BsccUnited Paper Industries Bsc

United Gulf Investment CorpUnited Gulf BankTrafco Group Bsc

Takaful International CoTaib Bank -$Us

Seef PropertiesSecurities & Investment Co

National Hotels CoNational Bank Of Bahrain Bsc

Nass Corp BscKhaleeji Commercial Bank

Ithmaar Bank BscInvestcorp Bank -$Us

Inovest Co BscGulf Monetary Group

Gulf Hotel Group B.S.CGfh Financial Group Bsc

Esterad Investment Co B.S.C.Delmon Poultry Co

Bmmi BscBmb Investment Bank

Bbk BscBankmuscat Saog

Banader Hotels CoBahrain Tourism CoBahrain Telecom Co

Bahrain Ship Repair & EnginBahrain National Holding

Bahrain Kuwait InsuranceBahrain Islamic Bank

Bahrain Flour Mills CoBahrain Family Leisure Co

Bahrain Duty Free ComplexBahrain Commercial Facilitie

Bahrain Cinema CoBahrain Car Park Co

Arab Insurance Group(Bsc)-$Arab Banking Corp Bsc-$Us

Aluminium Bahrain BscAlbaraka Banking Group

Al-Salam BankAl-Ahlia Insurance Co

Ahli United Bank B.S.C

0.11

0.00

0.00

0.38

0.23

0.00

0.00

0.20

0.00

0.00

0.70

0.11

0.06

0.12

8.20

0.00

0.00

0.63

0.42

0.00

0.00

0.84

0.00

0.34

0.00

0.00

`

0.28

1.60

0.00

0.00

0.11

0.39

0.09

0.75

0.66

1.25

0.00

0.32

0.00

0.32

0.46

0.09

0.26

0.63

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

-0.71

0.00

0.00

9.09

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

-0.70

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

-1.15

0.00

0.00

29,000

-

-

4,000

20,000

-

-

109,495

-

-

100,000

390,000

100,000

1,000,000

20,000

-

-

2,919

25,000

-

-

10,000

-

60,000

-

-

-

15,000

2,013

-

-

64,447

23,562

350,000

15,444

80,000

10,000

-

20,500

-

33,009

10,000

32,048

60,575

628,000

BAHRAIN


Boubyan Intl Industries HoldGulf Investment House Ksc

Boubyan Bank K.S.CAhli United Bank B.S.C

Osos Holding Group CoAl-Eid Food Ksc

Qurain Petrochemical IndustrAdvanced Technology Co

Ekttitab Holding Co SakKout Food Group Ksc

Real Estate Trade Centers CoAcico Industries Co Kscc

Kipco Asset Management CoNational Petroleum ServicesAlimtiaz Investment Co Kscc

Ras Al Khaimah White CementKuwait Reinsurance Co Ksc

Kuwait & Gulf Link TransportHuman Soft Holding Co Ksc

Automated Systems Co KsccMetal & Recycling Co

Gulf Franchising Holding CoAl-Enma’a Real Estate Co

National Mobile TelecommuniAl Bareeq Holding Co Kscc

Housing Finance Co SakAl Salam Group Holding Co

United Foodstuff IndustriesAl Aman Investment Company

Mashaer Holdings Co KscManazel Holding

Mushrif Trading & ContractinTijara And Real Estate Inves

Kuwait Building MaterialsJazeera Airways Co Ksc

Commercial Real Estate CoFuture Communications Co

National International CoTaameer Real Estate Invest C

Gulf Cement CoHeavy Engineering And Ship B

Refrigeration Industries & SNational Real Estate Co

Al Safat Energy Holding CompKuwait National Cinema CoDanah Alsafat Foodstuff Co

Independent Petroleum GroupKuwait Real Estate Co Ksc

Salhia Real Estate Co KscGulf Cable & Electrical IndAl Nawadi Holding Co Ksc

Kuwait Finance HouseGulf North Africa Holding Co

Hilal Cement CoOsoul Investment Kscc

Gulf Insurance Group KscKuwait Food Co (Americana)

Umm Al Qaiwain Cement IndustAayan Leasing & Investment

Alrai Media Group Co KscNational Investments CoCommercial Facilities Co

Taiba Kuwaiti Holding Co KscAfaq Educational Services Co

Strategia Investment Co KscYiaco Medical Co. K.S.C.C

20.50

26.00

400.00

194.00

0.00

0.00

212.00

0.00

38.00

0.00

34.00

270.00

114.00

790.00

80.00

93.00

186.00

48.50

1,800.00

0.00

66.00

31.00

40.00

1,100.00

0.00

44.00

45.00

0.00

49.50

0.00

27.00

56.00

39.50

0.00

810.00

82.00

98.00

65.00

21.00

75.00

154.00

310.00

87.00

32.00

950.00

89.00

365.00

55.00

365.00

385.00

0.00

530.00

32.50

118.00

43.50

620.00

2,620.00

0.00

27.00

136.00

104.00

160.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

246.00

-2.38

1.96

1.27

1.04

0.00

0.00

0.95

0.00

-2.56

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

6.67

0.00

0.00

1.04

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

1.27

1.85

0.00

1.15

0.00

0.00

2.06

0.00

0.00

-1.75

0.00

0.00

-2.41

0.00

2.08

-1.52

0.00

0.00

-1.28

0.00

4.82

8.47

0.00

0.00

4.29

-1.79

0.00

1.32

0.00

3.92

-1.52

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

-1.45

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

4.24

876,214

293,960

286,163

1,838,086

-

-

113,985

-

84,106

-

1

20,000

1,000

4,102

1,777,250

1,000

51,941

100

74,600

-

20,000

5,501

10,000

4,355

-

277,703

452,100

-

2,125,135

-

1,119,059

257,489

65,965

-

6,600

302,450

100

247,100

320,000

1,000

27,000

10,000

3,844,594

3,134,337

2,500

83,071

5,300

578,000

83,000

513,654

-

4,526,503

644,000

3,659

357,386

275

158,000

-

7,535,345

20,000

697,600

12,020

-

-

-

160,565

KUWAIT


LATEST MARKET CLOSING FIGURES

BUSINESS5Gulf Times


CURRENCIESDOLLAR QATAR RIYAL SAUDI RIYAL UAE DIRHAMS BAHRAINI

DINARKUWAITI

DINAR

Europe markets push higherafter dip in UK infl ationAFPLondon

Europe’s main stock markets pushed higher yesterday as in-vestors reacted to a surprise dip

in British infl ation and shrugged off slower-than-expected German eco-nomic growth.

Meanwhile, on Wall Street the Dow pulled off a record close after six-day winning streak as US markets con-tinued to adjust following last week’s tumultuous post-election trading ses-sions, although both the broader S&P 500 and tech-heavy Nasdaq Compos-ite were higher.

“Stock markets rose once more to-day, as hopes of a high growth period based on substantial fi scal stimulus continued to stoke the embers of last week’s US election,” said analyst Josh-ua Mahony at online trading fi rm IG.

London’s benchmark FTSE 100 in-dex closed 0.6% higher, helped by a lower pound after a surprise drop in infl ation.

Britain’s annual infl ation rate eased to 0.9% in October compared with 1.0% a month earlier, despite a Brexit-triggered slump in the pound lifting imported raw material costs for British fi rms.

The fi gure took analysts, who had

pencilled in a slight increase, by sur-prise and helped push the pound lower.

But UniCredit Research economist Daniel Vernazza said the easing in in-fl ation was “just a blip in what is a strongly upward trend”.

Frankfurt’s DAX 30 added 0.4% higher despite data showing German economic growth slowed more sharply than expected in the third quarter.

That disappointment was coun-terbalanced by a leap in German in-vestor morale in November, although respondents questioned after Donald Trump’s shock US election victory were less optimistic about the future.

Most Asian emerging markets rose after the previous day’s heavy losses but traders remained on edge over Trump’s plans for global trade agreements.

His plans for huge spending and tax cuts at home have also fanned expecta-tions the Federal Reserve will hike in-terest rates more sharply than initially planned, sending the dollar soaring and fuelling an exodus from emerging mar-kets.

However, after a two-day retreat on most regional bourses, there was a ten-tative recovery with Manila up 0.3%, Jakarta 0.5% higher and Bangkok add-ing 0.2%.

Tokyo, though, was marginally lower, having surged more than 8% to a nine-month high since Thursday on the back

of a rally in the dollar against the yen.“Risks are elevated, and we are ex-

pecting further increases in volatility as markets attempt to second-guess the policies that might eventually come out from the US,” Michael McCarthy, chief market strategist at CMC Markets in Sydney, told Bloomberg News.

The dollar struck a new fi ve-and-a-half month high of 109.06 yen, and traders suggested it could test the 110 yen mark as soon as this week, with eyes on Fed chief Janet Yellen’s con-gressional testimony later this week.

The central bank is widely expected to hike borrowing costs next month but her remarks tomorrow will be pored over for clues about plans for next year.

That has played havoc in bond mar-kets, where investors are now seeking higher returns.

Analysts at Capital Economics noted that capitalisation of Barclays “Mul-tiverse” global bond index is around $1.5tn lower now than on November 8.

“However, this only represents a decline of roughly 3%,” said Capital Economics’s chief global economist, Julian Jessop, and also partly refl ects the surge in the dollar.

In London, the FTSE 100 up 0.6% at 6.792,74 points; Frankfurt – DAX 30 up 0.4% at 10,735.14 points and Paris – CAC 40 up 0.6% at 4,536.53 points at the close yesterday.

Traders work at the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. The DAX 30 closed up 0.4% to 10,735.14 points yesterday.

Apple IncMicrosoft Corp

Exxon Mobil CorpJohnson & JohnsonGeneral Electric Co

Jpmorgan Chase & CoProcter & Gamble Co/The

Wal-Mart Stores IncVerizon Communications Inc

Pfizer IncVisa Inc-Class A Shares

Chevron CorpCoca-Cola Co/The

Intel CorpMerck & Co. Inc.

Cisco Systems IncHome Depot Inc

Intl Business Machines CorpWalt Disney Co/The

Unitedhealth Group Inc3M Co

Mcdonald’s CorpNike Inc -Cl B

United Technologies CorpBoeing Co/The

Goldman Sachs Group IncAmerican Express Co

Du Pont (E.I.) De NemoursCaterpillar Inc

Travelers Cos Inc/The

106.61

59.00

86.61

116.03

30.28

78.29

83.37

70.69

47.00

32.15

79.26

108.65

41.35

34.95

63.37

31.66

124.24

157.74

97.64

152.22

172.51

117.49

50.05

106.85

147.34

207.95

71.67

67.94

93.39

111.60

0.85

1.51

1.56

-0.49

-0.75

-1.53

0.45

0.28

1.78

-0.71

1.12

1.93

0.43

1.36

-0.26

0.92

-2.69

-0.30

-0.29

-0.04

-0.23

-0.31

-0.32

-0.94

-1.77

-0.59

-1.04

-1.64

-0.83

-0.52

16,663,163

14,790,033

5,870,761

2,432,698

14,856,117

13,456,863

3,631,226

3,461,992

8,874,919

11,023,880

10,090,490

4,032,524

6,906,753

8,890,037

2,801,457

8,487,450

6,043,693

1,064,229

2,826,563

1,330,390

650,796

1,462,633

2,996,746

1,458,263

1,286,244

1,860,321

1,857,730

829,313

2,254,148

727,470

DJIA


Wpp PlcWorldpay Group Plc

Wolseley PlcWm Morrison Supermarkets

Whitbread PlcVodafone Group Plc

United Utilities Group PlcUnilever Plc

Tui Ag-DiTravis Perkins Plc

Tesco PlcTaylor Wimpey Plc

Standard Life PlcStandard Chartered Plc

St James’s Place PlcSse Plc

Smith & Nephew PlcSky Plc

Shire PlcSevern Trent Plc

Schroders PlcSainsbury (J) Plc

Sage Group Plc/TheSabmiller Plc

Rsa Insurance Group PlcRoyal Mail Plc

Royal Dutch Shell Plc-B ShsRoyal Dutch Shell Plc-A Shs

Royal Bank Of Scotland GroupRolls-Royce Holdings Plc

Rio Tinto PlcRexam Plc

Relx PlcReckitt Benckiser Group Plc

Randgold Resources LtdPrudential Plc

Provident Financial PlcPersimmon Plc

Pearson PlcPaddy Power Betfair Plc

Old Mutual PlcNext Plc

National Grid PlcMondi Plc

Merlin EntertainmentMediclinic International Plc

Marks & Spencer Group PlcLondon Stock Exchange Group

Lloyds Banking Group PlcLegal & General Group PlcLand Securities Group Plc

Kingfisher PlcJohnson Matthey Plc

Itv PlcIntu Properties Plc

Intl Consolidated Airline-DiIntertek Group Plc

Intercontinental Hotels GrouInmarsat Plc

Informa PlcImperial Brands Plc

Hsbc Holdings PlcHargreaves Lansdown Plc

Hammerson PlcGlencore Plc

Glaxosmithkline PlcGkn Plc

Fresnillo PlcExperian Plc

Easyjet PlcDixons Carphone Plc

Direct Line Insurance GroupDiageo Plc

Dcc PlcCrh Plc

Compass Group PlcCoca-Cola Hbc Ag-Di

Centrica PlcCarnival Plc

Capita PlcBurberry Group Plc

Bunzl PlcBt Group Plc

British Land Co PlcBritish American Tobacco Plc

Bp PlcBhp Billiton Plc

Berkeley Group Holdings/TheBarratt Developments Plc

Barclays PlcBae Systems Plc

Babcock Intl Group PlcAviva Plc

Astrazeneca PlcAssociated British Foods Plc

Ashtead Group PlcArm Holdings Plc

Antofagasta PlcAnglo American Plc

Admiral Group Plc3I Group Plc

#N/A

1,643.00

264.50

4,613.00

221.90

3,546.00

202.40

875.50

3,174.50

1,022.00

1,417.00

217.00

149.40

355.00

636.50

953.50

1,454.00

1,077.00

789.00

4,852.50

2,139.00

2,906.00

241.70

654.00

0.00

528.00

499.20

2,076.50

1,989.50

212.50

754.50

3,004.00

0.00

1,294.00

6,914.00

5,930.00

1,523.00

2,833.00

1,738.00

761.00

8,660.00

187.40

5,120.00

930.40

1,520.00

428.60

749.00

340.20

2,841.00

61.40

235.20

1,002.00

363.30

3,296.00

165.00

268.30

453.80

3,148.00

3,157.00

724.50

633.50

3,498.50

638.30

1,230.00

554.50

267.40

1,534.50

307.10

1,405.00

1,396.00

1,087.00

335.20

354.50

1,987.50

6,065.00

2,781.00

1,348.00

1,679.00

204.00

3,997.00

581.00

1,413.00

2,005.00

363.70

606.50

4,300.50

444.80

1,271.50

2,482.00

482.90

211.90

600.00

987.50

460.90

4,361.50

2,545.00

1,434.00

0.00

671.00

1,096.50

1,893.00

621.50

0.00

-1.20

-0.71

0.28

4.37

2.10

-1.08

2.46

1.37

0.79

-0.84

5.42

-0.47

-2.39

1.40

1.38

1.25

0.94

2.47

-1.81

2.10

0.76

2.20

0.77

0.00

-0.28

2.95

2.92

3.19

1.00

1.14

-4.50

0.00

0.94

1.75

1.98

0.86

0.57

-0.06

2.56

-1.93

0.32

2.09

0.37

0.20

-0.09

1.22

2.69

1.00

1.37

0.21

1.73

0.44

0.95

-1.61

2.02

2.97

3.62

2.07

0.28

-0.63

2.21

0.55

1.40

1.09

-5.45

-0.20

0.89

0.00

0.94

5.33

-0.48

-0.84

0.89

-2.26

-0.82

1.58

1.70

1.85

1.47

1.31

0.86

0.80

1.69

3.23

0.46

2.62

-4.86

2.27

0.35

-0.19

1.10

1.18

-0.02

-0.09

1.15

0.28

0.00

-4.96

-6.68

0.69

1.72

0.00

4,837,268

6,374,053

683,621

23,682,509

625,555

97,339,744

2,718,346

2,983,409

1,047,671

1,130,039

41,394,393

19,995,842

5,510,099

9,663,564

1,071,201

3,185,390

3,527,162

4,971,379

2,562,915

933,591

317,168

12,269,950

2,708,459

-

7,355,203

3,325,728

6,279,671

8,217,899

27,647,619

8,911,422

6,525,238

-

3,839,458

1,507,365

1,073,046

8,377,751

160,642

1,022,505

3,758,077

98,350

13,727,365

553,882

12,839,727

1,303,468

1,367,586

2,524,065

14,484,171

363,438

292,316,094

21,228,340

3,460,779

7,110,148

631,000

22,160,048

3,258,382

12,792,912

774,359

668,285

1,865,084

2,670,588

3,479,550

32,893,839

956,045

3,319,119

71,916,503

8,115,379

4,319,004

1,630,359

3,412,196

5,225,431

2,669,193

3,134,919

4,737,680

382,076

1,922,604

3,995,063

520,094

18,017,424

599,377

2,227,684

1,628,087

889,733

23,882,114

4,072,969

4,570,082

32,861,912

12,418,988

798,411

3,715,165

58,998,215

11,759,142

899,104

7,844,187

2,232,839

1,132,533

3,048,639

-

4,941,788

10,987,094

587,372

2,327,075

-

FTSE 100


East Japan Railway CoItochu Corp

Fujifilm Holdings CorpYamato Holdings Co Ltd

Chubu Electric Power Co IncMitsubishi Estate Co Ltd

Mitsubishi Heavy IndustriesToshiba Corp

Shiseido Co LtdShionogi & Co Ltd

Tokyo Gas Co LtdTokyo Electron Ltd

Panasonic CorpFujitsu Ltd

Central Japan Railway CoT&D Holdings Inc

Toyota Motor CorpKddi Corp

Nitto Denko Corp

9,314.00

1,436.50

4,072.00

2,257.00

1,532.00

2,206.50

485.40

388.80

2,878.00

5,373.00

474.40

9,931.00

1,022.50

648.30

17,180.00

1,397.00

6,064.00

2,788.50

7,880.00

-0.86

0.24

0.59

-2.74

0.13

-0.79

1.19

0.36

0.75

3.37

-0.36

-1.23

-0.05

2.82

-2.55

-2.72

0.43

-0.21

-0.23

958,100

7,106,800

1,512,000

1,735,700

1,492,900

6,811,000

21,644,000

33,880,000

1,594,300

1,568,400

6,671,000

1,087,500

8,706,900

15,168,000

687,700

7,900,800

8,623,900

12,989,200

1,448,900

TOKYO


Rakuten IncKyocera Corp

Nissan Motor Co LtdHitachi Ltd

Takeda Pharmaceutical Co LtdJfe Holdings Inc

Ana Holdings IncMitsubishi Electric Corp

Sumitomo Mitsui Financial GrHonda Motor Co Ltd

Fast Retailing Co LtdMs&Ad Insurance Group Holdin

Kubota CorpSeven & I Holdings Co Ltd

Inpex CorpResona Holdings Inc

Asahi Kasei CorpKirin Holdings Co Ltd

Marubeni CorpMitsubishi Ufj Financial Gro

Mitsubishi Chemical HoldingsFanuc Corp

Daito Trust Construct Co LtdOtsuka Holdings Co Ltd

Oriental Land Co LtdSekisui House Ltd

Secom Co LtdTokio Marine Holdings Inc

Aeon Co LtdMitsui & Co Ltd

Kao CorpDai-Ichi Life Holdings Inc

Mazda Motor CorpKomatsu Ltd

West Japan Railway CoMurata Manufacturing Co Ltd

Kansai Electric Power Co IncDenso Corp

Sompo Holdings IncDaiwa House Industry Co Ltd

Jx Holdings IncNippon Steel & Sumitomo Meta

Suzuki Motor CorpNippon Telegraph & Telephone

Ajinomoto Co IncMitsui Fudosan Co Ltd

Ono Pharmaceutical Co LtdDaikin Industries Ltd

Bank Of Yokohama Ltd/TheToray Industries IncAstellas Pharma Inc

Bridgestone CorpSony CorpHoya Corp

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust HoldinJapan Tobacco Inc

Osaka Gas Co LtdSumitomo Electric Industries

Daiwa Securities Group IncSoftbank Group Corp

Mizuho Financial Group IncNomura Holdings Inc

Daiichi Sankyo Co LtdFuji Heavy Industries Ltd

Ntt Docomo IncSumitomo Realty & Developmen

Sumitomo Metal Mining Co LtdOrix Corp

Asahi Group Holdings LtdKeyence Corp

Nidec CorpIsuzu Motors Ltd

Unicharm CorpShin-Etsu Chemical Co Ltd

Smc CorpMitsubishi CorpNintendo Co Ltd

Eisai Co LtdSumitomo Corp

Canon IncJapan Airlines Co Ltd

1,147.50

5,286.00

1,000.00

586.40

4,653.00

1,604.00

293.70

1,513.00

3,981.00

3,098.00

38,570.00

3,319.00

1,675.00

4,360.00

1,015.00

516.30

988.10

1,831.50

596.40

643.00

686.70

19,640.00

16,665.00

4,804.00

5,863.00

1,722.00

7,945.00

4,669.00

1,495.00

1,530.00

4,984.00

1,760.50

1,621.50

2,525.50

6,365.00

13,895.00

1,064.50

4,780.00

3,608.00

3,057.00

422.90

2,348.50

3,683.00

4,256.00

2,034.00

2,610.50

2,701.00

10,315.00

0.00

886.50

1,590.00

4,154.00

3,203.00

4,480.00

3,920.00

3,736.00

423.70

1,529.50

661.40

6,552.00

187.30

593.00

2,385.50

4,177.00

2,396.00

3,018.00

1,536.00

1,753.00

3,565.00

75,190.00

10,345.00

1,311.00

2,362.00

8,278.00

32,470.00

2,485.50

24,860.00

6,827.00

1,307.00

3,045.00

3,190.00

-1.08

0.11

0.47

-0.32

1.26

0.56

-0.98

-0.39

3.81

0.32

-0.03

0.15

-0.53

1.61

1.00

3.26

-0.30

1.27

0.24

4.21

0.23

-0.66

-1.39

0.25

-0.73

-0.17

0.13

2.17

0.74

0.59

-1.15

-0.28

0.19

0.76

-1.46

1.42

2.06

1.68

1.18

0.16

0.81

0.84

-2.72

0.85

-0.59

-0.08

0.00

0.19

0.00

0.61

2.22

-0.62

-1.78

1.82

1.71

0.97

-0.21

0.07

0.41

-0.35

1.30

0.37

0.80

3.14

0.25

2.85

-0.94

0.86

-0.64

-1.17

-0.05

-1.09

-0.34

-0.84

0.00

-0.40

0.08

1.44

0.08

0.53

-0.96

TOKYO

Company Name Lt Price % Chg

Aluminum Corp Of China Ltd-HBank Of East Asia Ltd

Bank Of China Ltd-HBank Of Communications Co-H

Belle International HoldingsBoc Hong Kong Holdings Ltd

Cathay Pacific AirwaysCk Hutchison Holdings Ltd

China Coal Energy Co-HChina Construction Bank-H

China Life Insurance Co-HChina Merchants Port Holding

China Mobile LtdChina Overseas Land & Invest

China Petroleum & Chemical-HChina Resources Beer Holdin

China Resources Land LtdChina Resources Power Holdin

China Shenhua Energy Co-HChina Unicom Hong Kong Ltd

Citic LtdClp Holdings Ltd

Cnooc LtdCosco Shipping Ports Ltd

Esprit Holdings LtdFih Mobile Ltd

Hang Lung Properties LtdHang Seng Bank Ltd

Henderson Land Development

3.25

31.70

3.39

5.86

4.40

28.30

10.50

93.60

4.24

5.53

19.80

19.56

84.80

22.75

5.34

16.72

18.48

12.72

16.48

8.50

11.58

74.85

9.56

7.69

6.31

2.41

16.70

146.50

42.20

-2.40

1.77

0.30

0.51

-1.57

0.89

0.77

0.27

-3.20

1.28

2.06

2.62

0.95

-0.22

0.19

1.33

0.76

0.63

-3.06

-0.23

1.76

0.00

0.53

1.72

2.27

0.00

2.08

2.09

0.00

31,916,083

1,534,410

199,552,341

39,446,912

17,981,679

15,868,995

4,906,774

2,404,331

26,513,064

244,491,245

75,869,437

4,653,332

16,897,990

15,964,132

68,398,880

7,493,815

9,805,554

3,688,542

41,243,668

43,048,309

13,482,271

3,097,991

39,050,159

6,174,189

1,254,070

5,916,308

6,294,432

3,310,105

1,714,531

HONG KONG


Hong Kong & China GasHong Kong Exchanges & Clear

Hsbc Holdings PlcHutchison Whampoa Ltd

Ind & Comm Bk Of China-HLi & Fung Ltd

Mtr CorpNew World Development

Petrochina Co Ltd-HPing An Insurance Group Co-H

Power Assets Holdings LtdSino Land Co

Sun Hung Kai PropertiesSwire Pacific Ltd - Cl ATencent Holdings Ltd

Wharf Holdings Ltd

14.46

203.40

61.60

0.00

4.50

3.36

40.65

8.86

5.16

40.75

72.40

11.48

100.20

77.25

193.20

53.75

0.98

-0.39

1.57

0.00

-0.22

-4.82

-1.09

1.49

0.58

1.24

0.49

0.70

0.45

-0.32

0.31

0.75

13,985,298

2,611,387

34,663,285

-

237,056,977

40,261,039

7,726,542

17,419,432

64,841,246

26,733,170

2,197,121

3,095,843

4,552,295

1,067,493

30,689,644

6,309,039

HONG KONG


Zee Entertainment EnterpriseYes Bank Ltd

Wipro LtdVedanta Ltd

Ultratech Cement LtdTech Mahindra Ltd

Tata Steel LtdTata Power Co Ltd

Tata Motors LtdTata Consultancy Svcs Ltd

Sun Pharmaceutical IndusState Bank Of India

Reliance Industries LtdPunjab National Bank

Power Grid Corp Of India LtdOil & Natural Gas Corp Ltd

Ntpc LtdMaruti Suzuki India Ltd

Mahindra & Mahindra LtdLupin Ltd

Larsen & Toubro LtdKotak Mahindra Bank Ltd

Itc LtdInfosys Ltd

Indusind Bank LtdIdea Cellular Ltd

Icici Bank LtdHousing Development Finance

Hindustan Unilever LtdHindalco Industries Ltd

Hero Motocorp LtdHdfc Bank Limited

Hcl Technologies LtdGrasim Industries Ltd

Gail India LtdDr. Reddy’s Laboratories

Coal India LtdCipla Ltd

Cairn India LtdBosch Ltd

Bharti Airtel LtdBharat Petroleum Corp Ltd

Bharat Heavy ElectricalsBank Of Baroda

Bajaj Auto LtdAxis Bank Ltd

Asian Paints LtdAmbuja Cements Ltd

Adani Ports And Special EconAcc Ltd

453.50

1,157.45

447.95

209.55

3,364.15

430.95

393.05

69.25

457.40

2,121.30

682.45

278.20

985.40

154.70

184.95

275.60

150.15

4,846.60

1,238.30

1,440.95

1,370.30

789.55

237.50

923.55

1,093.10

71.35

269.75

1,225.75

805.45

167.75

2,891.85

1,254.75

770.75

819.30

435.90

3,310.70

313.65

552.40

233.70

19,511.20

302.65

643.60

133.75

174.30

2,576.10

479.30

890.80

208.55

266.65

1,334.55

-5.94

-4.73

1.27

-8.81

-7.43

0.36

-7.84

-3.95

-9.84

0.96

-0.81

1.90

-1.63

-0.64

1.01

0.79

-1.02

-5.60

-0.15

-1.22

-1.33

-3.19

-2.24

0.22

-8.32

2.00

-2.41

-3.36

0.46

-2.64

-2.80

-1.65

0.87

-8.87

-0.54

1.67

-3.21

0.81

-7.32

-2.56

0.41

-0.92

-1.76

8.60

-2.70

-3.90

-7.43

-5.01

-3.65

-4.71

SENSEX

Company Name Lt Price % Chg

WORLD INDICESIndices Lt Price Change

GCC INDICESIndices Lt Price Change

Dow Jones Indus. AvgS&P 500 Index

Nasdaq Composite IndexS&P/Tsx Composite Index

Mexico Bolsa IndexBrazil Bovespa Stock Idx

Ftse 100 IndexCac 40 Index

Dax IndexIbex 35 Tr

Nikkei 225Japan Topix

Hang Seng IndexAll Ordinaries Indx

Nzx All IndexBse Sensex 30 Index

Nse S&P Cnx Nifty IndexStraits Times Index

Karachi All Share IndexJakarta Composite Index

18,818.28

2,170.13

5,257.41

14,709.20

45,664.15

59,657.46

6,792.74

4,536.53

10,735.14

8,687.10

17,668.15

1,402.98

22,323.91

5,399.77

1,264.96

26,304.63

8,108.45

2,797.55

29,051.42

5,078.50

-50.41

+5.93

+39.01

+110.75

+357.67

+473.95

+39.56

+27.98

+41.45

+28.90

-4.47

+2.98

+101.69

-20.52

+5.90

-514.19

-187.85

+10.28

-106.32

-37.24

Doha Securities MarketSaudi Tadawul

Kuwait Stocks ExchangeBahrain Stock Exchage

Oman Stock MarketAbudhabi Stock MarketDubai Financial Market

9,679.92

6,492.86

5,491.30

1,161.25

5,481.97

4,180.83

3,196.62

-65.05

-138.29

+21.95

+0.03

+65.13

-4.39

-6.22

“Information contained herein is believed to be reliable and had been obtained from sources believed to be reliable. The accuracy and completeness cannot be guaranteed. This publication is for providing information only and is not intended as an off er or solicitation for a purchase or sale of any of the financial instruments mentioned. Gulf Times and Doha Bank or any of their employees shall not be held accountable and will not accept any losses or liabilities for actions based on this data.”

5,802,900

920,500

18,359,300

20,934,000

1,746,100

5,484,900

7,475,000

4,644,300

23,643,600

4,023,700

555,600

1,790,100

4,089,000

2,190,800

8,170,500

30,073,600

3,699,000

2,733,200

9,045,000

247,489,800

7,165,300

777,900

530,200

1,297,100

1,105,400

1,927,500

898,100

5,431,900

2,312,800

8,644,000

3,905,400

12,107,200

6,568,400

5,777,600

908,300

993,100

2,161,900

2,256,000

2,293,200

1,987,300

16,511,400

4,427,500

4,740,700

7,353,500

2,544,600

9,281,000

2,550,400

1,032,900

-

8,365,000

8,898,000

2,669,600

7,208,500

1,787,200

4,896,900

9,528,300

4,697,000

4,329,100

9,817,000

4,254,300

377,209,400

45,548,900

1,591,900

6,655,500

7,200,800

5,683,000

4,910,000

7,789,500

1,691,100

158,500

629,000

2,724,000

1,977,700

1,352,500

162,200

5,938,200

1,143,100

741,200

4,728,300

3,956,100

2,022,000

3,523,606

5,115,740

7,604,735

20,995,266

1,393,933

9,882,683

10,081,931

5,379,647

16,532,192

3,205,731

6,399,411

53,931,149

3,877,736

22,531,905

6,657,513

8,519,079

3,699,580

2,892,464

2,139,307

1,120,770

2,775,443

3,127,310

22,102,652

4,862,550

3,866,305

7,851,880

36,007,236

8,336,836

2,085,018

33,407,793

954,500

3,243,351

2,686,512

1,681,709

2,567,081

344,515

4,083,306

1,614,776

4,267,424

16,449

2,890,511

6,763,608

6,804,024

49,625,407

438,231

12,337,264

5,779,456

51,772,411

4,333,503

9,738,395


BUSINESS6

BUSINESS


Asia-Pacifi c leaders to talk trade in a Trump worldAFPLima

Top world leaders will meet this week to chart a future for free trade – almost a dirty word in a

world upended by Donald Trump’s vic-tory in the US presidential election.

US President Barack Obama, China’s Xi Jinping, Japan’s Shinzo Abe and Russia’s Vladimir Putin will be among the leaders in the room in Lima, Peru for the annual Asia-Pacifi c Economic Cooperation summit from tomorrow to Sunday.

Apec summits, which gather lead-ers from 21 Pacifi c Rim economies, are meant to forge unity on free trade in a region that accounts for nearly 60% of the global economy and nearly 40% of the world’s population.

But this year’s event may be un-like any other, coming on the heels of Trump’s shock win in the November 8 election.

The brash billionaire has unleashed deep uncertainty about the postwar world order with his attacks on free trade, immigration and the US role as “policeman of the world.”

By successfully tapping the anger of working-class whites who feel left be-hind by globalisation, Trump has am-plifi ed a sense of malaise that began in June with Britain’s “Brexit” vote to leave the European Union – another shock victory for a populist politics of disillu-sionment with an increasingly border-less world.

President-elect Trump will not be at the Apec summit, but he may well be the dominant presence in the room.

“I think Apec will be about two things – huge questions about what a Trump presidency will mean for trade and work on all non-US pathways forward to ad-vance free trade,” said Deborah Elms, executive director of the Asian Trade Centre in Singapore.

“The US has apparently chosen to hunker down, raise barricades and return to a glorious past of splendid isolation.”

It risks being an awkward summit for Obama, who will wrap up his fi nal for-eign tour as president in Peru after stops in Greece and Germany.

Obama, who campaigned against

Trump as “unfi t” to succeed him, must now reassure colleagues that a Trump presidency will not in fact spell disas-ter.

Leaders will be looking for signals on the future of Obama’s much-vaunted “rebalance” to Asia and the Pacifi c.

American allies such as Japan and South Korea are worried the Republi-can president-elect will cut back the US military, economic and diplomatic presence in the region – leaving them exposed to a dominant China and bel-ligerent North Korea.

Trump has caused concern in the region by suggesting Japan and South Korea get nuclear weapons to defend themselves, calling climate change a

Chinese “hoax,” and warmly embracing Putin. The Latin American leaders in the room, including Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto, will also be looking nervously to the new US administra-tion.

On the campaign trail, Trump in-sulted Mexican immigrants as “crimi-nals” and “rapists,” vowed to build a border wall with Mexico to keep out illegal migrants and threatened mass deportations.

Obama’s signature trade initiative in the Asia-Pacifi c, the Trans-Pacifi c Partnership (TPP), meanwhile faces near-certain death.

Trump has called the proposal a “ter-rible deal.”

China, which was pointedly excluded from the 12-member TPP, will be push-ing its own alphabet soup of proposed trade deals: the APEC-wide Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacifi c (FTAAP) and the 16-member Regional Comprehen-sive Economic Partnership (RCEP), which notably includes India but not the United States.

Both are seen as giving China an edge over the US in the battle for regionalinfl uence.

The very future of free trade will be up for discussion in Lima, analysts say.

The world will be looking to the sum-mit for “a strong statement” to counter Trump’s anti-trade arguments, said Eduardo Pedrosa, secretary general

of the Pacifi c Economic Cooperation Council.

“The evidence is not that strong that free trade is responsible for taking away jobs from countries, but that’s how people feel and you have to deal with that perception,” he said.

Trump’s win means free trade is “in trouble,” said Robert Lawrence, a trade expert at Harvard University.

Not only is the US role in promoting economic integration “severely com-promised,” he told AFP, American pro-tectionism could now become a brake on world trade.

“Trump trade policy, if it proceeds as advertised, is going to be very disrup-tive,” he said.

Faced with bond defaults, affluent Singapore investors join forces to seek better termsReutersSingapore

When troubled Malaysian oil and gas

services provider Perisai Petroleum

Teknology asked bondholders for more

time to pay them back, one investor from

Singapore said she thought the bonds’

coupons had something to do with free

parking.

Roughly two months later, her self-

declared ignorance is giving way to an

activist spirit.

The investor and other aff luent

Singaporeans holding Perisai bonds have

realised they can form a blocking stake

that could force the company into off er-

ing better terms or risk liquidation.

“Coming together will put pressure on

Perisai,” said the investor, who declined to

be identified other than by her first name

Jennifer.

She invested about S$260,000

($184,000) of a fortune she made in real

estate into Perisai bonds, which are now

quoted at 50 cents in the dollar but barely

trade.

The investors last month rejected

the company’s request for a four-month

extension of its S$125mn, 6.875% October

3 bond on which Perisai defaulted.

The process is unique to Singapore’s

S$200bn bond market, in which indi-

vidual investors have bought about half

of new issues since 2014.

By contrast, European and US bond

markets are dominated by big institu-

tions, such as pension funds, while indi-

viduals own an insignificant percentage.

“Investors have become cognizant that

the defaults are not isolated cases, there

could be more of them, and if they do not

assert their rights their ultimate recovery

in a restructuring could turn out to be

far worse than if they did nothing,” said

Bank of Singapore’s head of fixed income

research Todd Schubert.

Increasingly aware that they have more

power if they band together, individual

Singaporean investors are flexing their

muscles in the troubled off shore oil and

gas sector in particular. It is widely ex-

pected to be the scene of further defaults.

Small and medium-sized companies

tapped these investors for financing after

commodity prices hit a peak in 2014, of-

fering illiquid, high-yielding bonds with no

credit rating at a time when commodity

prices were starting to sink.

Bond investors in shipping trust

Rickmers Maritime and rig chartering

service provider Swissco Holdings Ltd are

also teaming up, making it more diff icult

for the indebted companies to pursue

restructuring plans.

Still, these investors do face an uphill

task. Finding each other and negotiating

a common position is diff icult enough,

but overcoming the financial illiteracy of

some bondholders is also a big challenge.

“Many of the bondholders are ignorant.

They don’t even know that they need to

vote,” said CT Ong, a steel trading busi-

nessman who has spent about S$250,000

on Rickmers bonds.

Early eff orts are encouraging.

In Jennifer’s case, two fellow bondhold-

ers helped translate some of the discus-

sions in Mandarin Chinese, which she is

more comfortable with than English.

Another one invited her to a WhatsApp

group of about 70 Perisai bondholders.

“So many things, I only learnt from the

group chat,” said Jennifer.

At least 30 Swissco bondholders meet

nearly every week.

At one meeting on November 5, one

investor peppered his calls for “unity”

with bitter jokes about selling the bonds

to company directors.

Swissco said it has facilitated three

bondholders-only meetings.

Rickmers CEO Soeren Andersen told

Reuters: “They are free to band together if

that’s what they think is best.

I don’t have an opinion about that.” In

a separate e-mail, Rickmers said they also

helped bondholders to connect.

Perisai did not respond to requests

for comment. The pain is reminiscent of

2008 when thousands in the city-state

faced hefty losses on structured products

linked to the collapse of Lehman Brothers.

Back then, banks compensated retail

investors either partially or in full.

There is no sign of that happen-

ing this time. The bondholders facing

defaults have “accredited” status, which

is reserved for individuals with net assets

exceeding S$2mn.

They have to declare their wealth and

they formally acknowledge responsibility

for their investments.

The realisation that some of them have

little understanding of what they owned

has triggered some soul searching in

Singapore, which owes some of its pros-

perity to the solid reputation of its wealth

management industry.

Some investors said their private bank-

ers had been overly optimistic about the

safety of such bonds.

“On hindsight I could have asked a

lot more questions, like why is the yield

so high... but the relationship manager

sounded pretty confident,” said Loh Hung

Sing, a 64-year-old retired airline pilot,

who holds S$250,000 of Rickmers bonds.

The banks themselves have taken a hit.

Singapore’s biggest lender, DBS Group,

has reported its total bad debt charges

doubled in the first nine months of the

year to S$972mn, largely because of

its lending to oil and gas firms such as

Swiber Holdings, which is under judicial

management. “Our relationship managers

are focused on investor suitability and go

through a robust process to ensure that

our clients fully understand the product,”

a DBS spokesman said.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore

says financial institutions, including

private banks, have to “act in the best

interests of their clients as well as meet

high standards of disclosure.”

However, this cannot “replace the need

for investors to take personal responsi-

bility for their investments, taking into

account their own investment objectives

and risk tolerances,” the MAS said.

The central bank plans tighter criteria

for accredited investors, including

disqualifying those whose wealth is

concentrated in their home and who have

few liquid assets otherwise.

US President Barack Obama (left), arrives with his Chinese and Russian counterparts, Xi Jinping (right) and Vladimir Putin, at the the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) Summit plenary session at the International Convention Centre, at Yanqi Lake, in Huairou district of Beijing (file). Top world leaders will be meeting in Lima, Peru to chart a future for free trade at the annual Apec summit from tomorrow to Sunday.

ReutersNew Delhi

India’s retail infl ation eased for a third straight month in October, helped by smaller rises in food

prices, boosting the chances of an interest rate cut by the central bank next month.

Consumer prices rose by an an-nual 4.20% last month, their slow-est pace in 14 months, government data showed yesterday. The fi gure matched the median consensus in a Reuters’ poll of economists.

Retail prices were up 4.39% in September on the year. Food infl a-tion was 3.32%, lower than 3.96% re-corded in September. The data comes days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi ordered the withdrawal of large denomination banknotes from circu-lation, in a shock “demonetisation”

drive to fi ght tax evasion, corruption and forgery.

The sudden move to cancel old 500-rupee and 1,000-rupee ban-knotes, which accounted for 86% of the cash circulating in Asia’s third-largest economy, has caused huge disruption to daily life, depressing consumer demand.

People struggling to get new bills are holding back on spending, except for immediate and urgent needs.

The price of fresh produce has collapsed in food markets, leaving farmers and traders sitting on rotting stocks.

Once the initial shock wears off , the formal economy is likely to expand at the expense of fl y-by-night traders who deal in cash. That in turn may improve the effi ciency of markets and make it easier for the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) to hit its medium-term infl ation target of 4%.

India’s cooling infl ation bolsters rate cut hopes

Malaysia Air plans purchase of 25 jets next yearBloombergSingapore

Malaysia Airlines is con-sidering ordering as many as 25 widebody

aircraft as the nation’s fl ag car-rier, recovering from two fatal air crashes in 2014, looks to meet growing travel demand.

The airline will replace 15 of its ageing planes and add 10 to fuel growth, chief executive offi cer Peter Bellew said in an interview in Singapore yesterday. It may look at Airbus Group’s A330s and A350s, and Boeing’s 787s, with a decision due by the mid-dle to end of next year, he said.

“I am short of widebody air-craft,” said Bellew. Besides the current Kuala Lumpur-London fl ights, “we won’t do other long-haul routes until 2020, 2021 be-cause the aircraft will be available at the right price, at the right time and at the right confi guration.”

Bellew, who became Malaysia Air’s third chief executive offi cer in two years in July, is tasked with the job of restoring confi dence in the carrier that lost two planes two years ago – one that van-ished over the Indian Ocean and another that was shot down over Ukraine. The airline is likely to be-come profi table in 2018 before it relists its shares in the fi rst quarter of the following year, Bellew said.

Fully owned by Khazanah Nasional after being taken pri-vate in 2014, Malaysia Air has cut long-haul fl ights and elimi-nated about 6,000 jobs as part of its restructuring. After scrap-ping some European routes, it signed a code-share deal last year with Dubai-based Emirates for longer-haul destinations, es-chewing its traditional model of linking Europe and Australia via Southeast Asia. The Asian car-rier fl ies to London from Kuala Lumpur using the Airbus A380s and plans to replace them with A350s in April 2018, Bellew said.

To claw back some of its lost business, Malaysia Air has been off ering promotions on its busi-ness and economy cabins to lure passengers, Bellew said in a sep-arate interview with Bloomb-erg Television’s Haslinda Amin. With round-trip tickets between Kuala Lumpur and London for as low as $450, the airline now has a market share of about 60% on its London fl ights, compared with about 45% in May, Bellew said.

“The competition is very in-tense on direct routes to Eu-rope,” Bellew said. “But I think there will be a place in the future for Malaysia Airlines to look at direct long haul services back to Europe.” Malaysia Air ordered 25 Boeing 737 Max 8 jets, worth $2.75bn at list price in July with options for 25 more to compete against a slew of budget carriers in the region.

The carrier doesn’t have enough planes to meet the un-precedented opportunity in China, Bellew said. If 12% of the mainland Chinese get passports in 10 years, as per a government target, that would translate to 150mn more potential tourists fl ying to Malaysia, he said.

“The global mega trend in tourism is in China,” Bellew said.

Investor sees gap for ‘truly low-cost’ airlines in Asia

ReutersSingapore

Low-cost airlines may be booming in Asia but one of the industry’s most influential investors said yesterday the region had yet to see a truly low-cost carrier and dismissed eff orts by traditional players to meet demand for cheap travel.Low-cost giants like Malaysia’s AirAsia and Indonesia’s Lion Air have grown significantly in recent years and airlines in this category now control 60% of domestic traff ic in parts of the region, according to planemaker Airbus.But Bill Franke, co-founder and managing partner of Phoenix-based Indigo Partners, said there was still a gap in Asia’s fast-growing budget market for airlines with even fewer frills.“There is no true low-cost model in the region,” Franke told the CAPA Asia Summit, an airline conference in Singapore.“There is no really, true low-cost model in India, China... You have major flag carriers who try to move downstream (and) by and large they have been unsuccessful.Sooner or later, the ineff iciencies of larger airlines bleed down.”Franke made his name as a champion of unbundled or “a la carte” fares in “ultra-low-cost airlines,” where passengers are off ered cheap base prices plus a battery of extra charges.In 2003, the former chairman of America West founded Indigo Partners, which now controls Denver-based Frontier

Airlines as well as Hungary’s Wizz Air and part of Mexico’s Volaris. It was once a significant investor in Singapore’s Tiger Airways, now wholly owned by Singapore Airlines.Franke said major network carriers were unable to shed deep-seated cost structures needed to support their wider operations, and struggled to compete successfully as budget carriers.“They have big airline practices. They are not standalone,” he said, citing as an example Virgin Australia, which off ers lounges and preselected seats.“You always want to have the lowest cost structure for your category.”He was speaking amid renewed investor interest in airlines due to record industry profits driven by lower fuel prices.In a significant U-turn, Warren Buff ett’s Berkshire Hathaway said on Monday it had bought shares in American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Southwest Airlines and United Continental.Besides cheaper fuel, US airlines have benefited from consolidation, higher baggage fees and fewer strikes.Turning to Europe, Franke expressed concern about disruption from the region’s migrant crisis and political uncertainty ahead of elections in France and Germany next year.“The area we are most cautious about is Europe... we watch Europe very closely,” he said.He also dampened recent talk of a surge in low-cost, long-haul travel, saying airlines operating in such segments tend to get mauled by established carriers on the most popular routes.

BUSINESS13Gulf Times


BloombergMumbai

Automakers and consumer companies led losses in Indian equities as inves-tors continued to grapple with the

fallout of the government’s recall of high-value currency notes and concern mounted over capital outfl ows from local assets after Donald Trump’s unexpected victory.

Tata Motors, owner of Jaguar Land Rov-er, sent a gauge of automobile companies to a four-month low. The S&P BSE Fast Moving Consumer Goods Index fell to a four-month low, while an index of con-sumer durables suffered its biggest loss in 14 months. State Bank of India jumped 1.9% as trading resumed after Monday’s public holiday.

“Consumer-discretionary companies are taking a hit as people are deferring purchases because of the cash crunch, while banks are up because of the huge amounts of deposits that are coming in,” Chinmay Madgulkar, an analyst at Taurus Asset Management Co in Mumbai, said by phone.

The fallout of Modi’s clampdown on 500 and 1,000 rupee ($15) notes on November 8 has coincided with turmoil in global markets in the wake of Trump’s election success. The rupee led losses in Asia yesterday as specu-lation grew Trump’s policies will curb trade and spur quicker interest-rate increases by the Federal Reserve. Futures indicate a 92% chance borrowing costs will be raised at the December policy meeting.

Overseas investors pulled a net $324mn from Indian shares last week through Thurs-day, and foreign holdings of bonds dropped by Rs14.2bn ($210mn) on Friday, the most since October 13, data compiled by Bloomb-erg show.

The Sensex has climbed 0.7% this year and trades at 15.5 times projected 12-month earnings, compared with a fi ve- year average of 14.5 times. Vedanta plunged 9% after the stock was lowered by Credit Suisse Group to underperform from neutral following a rally of almost 200% this year. Corp Bank soared

13% after reporting higher profi t in the sec-ond quarter. Tata Motors tumbled 10%, the worst performer on the Sensex, while Asian Paints slid 7.4%, the most since August 2013.

Meanwhile, the rupee led losses in Asia as Indian markets opened after Monday’s public holiday, with rising odds of a Fed-eral Reserve interest-rate increase trigger-ing concern outfl ows from local assets will accelerate.

The currency dropped 0.7% to close at 67.7425 per dollar in Mumbai, prices from local banks compiled by Bloomberg show. It weakened to 67.8250 earlier, the lowest level

since June 29. State-run banks sold dollars, probably on behalf of the Reserve Bank of India, as the rupee extended losses, two Mumbai-based traders said, asking not to be identifi ed.

Odds that the Fed will tighten policy at its December meeting have risen to 92% from 68% at the start of this month amid specu-lation US President-elect Donald Trump’s plans to increase spending will push up in-fl ation. Concern he will take a more protec-tionist approach to trade has also weighed on emerging markets, with the rupee sinking 0.9% on Friday.

“The rising probability of a December Fed rate increase is weighing on the minds of the investors,” said Sugandha Sachdeva, as-sociate vice president for currency research at Religare Commodities Ltd in Noida, near New Delhi. “The rupee also breached a key support of 67.20 to the dollar in the last ses-sion, which is adding to the move.”

Sachdeva said she sees the currency, which has lost 1.9% in three days, sliding to 68.20 over the course of this month. RBI spokeswoman Alpana Killawala wasn’t im-mediately reachable after two calls made to her offi ce phone.

Sensex drops on cashban; rupee loses 0.7%

The Bombay Stock Exchange. Automakers and consumer companies led losses in Indian equities as investors continued to grapple with the fallout of the government’s recall of high-value currency notes and concern mounted over capital outflows from local assets after Donald Trump’s unexpected victory.

Mild respite for emerging marketsReutersLondon

Emerging stocks rose off four-month lows yesterday and a slight dollar re-treat gave some respite to currencies,

although China’s yuan traded near eight-year lows versus the greenback.

MSCI’s benchmark emerging equity in-dex edged up 0.2%, helped by half per cent gains in Hong Kong, a 1% jump in Russia and Turkey while Polish stocks, rose 0.6%.

As the dollar and Treasury yields fell from highs hit on Monday and US Presi-dent-elect Donald Trump appeared to row back from campaign pledges to build a bor-der wall with Mexico, the peso clawed back 1.2%.

Mexico’s finance minister Jose Antonio Meade also said the country had an array of tools to deal with financial volatility, hint-ing at action at this week’s policy meeting.

The peso has hit a record low in the wake of Trump’s win given his comments on trade, remittances and immigrants.

Among commodity-linked currencies, the Russian rouble and South African rand firmed 0.9% and 2% respectively, the latter rebounding from two-month lows.

The rouble was supported by a 1.8% gain in oil prices, shrugging off the arrest of economy minister and former central bank-er Alexei Ulyukayev in a bribery case.

Bets on a $1tn fiscal stimulus in the Unit-ed States is seen fuelling inflation, in turn pushing up Treasury yields to January 2016 highs and the dollar to near 14-year highs on Monday.

“It seems very clear that the market was not positioned for a win by Trump,” said Simon Quijano-Evans, emerging markets strategist at Legal & General Investment Management.

“What’s been happening for the last week has been adjusting to that, and second guessing what his policy will be. The main issue has been whether it means more pro-tectionism, what it means for metals, and whether there is going to be reflation.”

Some emerging assets remained under pressure, with the Chinese yuan touching a near eight-year low, whilst the Malaysian ringgit hit a 10-month trough.

Ukraine’s hryvnia also slipped more than 1% on domestic political tensions as leading reformers in the country quit their roles in frustration over corruption.

Emerging debt markets also showed mounting strains, with JPMorgan’s EMBI Global Diversified index of sovereign debt showing average yield spreads over Treas-uries at 380 basis points, its widest since early July.

More outflows are likely, many reckon.“A Trump victory is causing investors to

re-evaluate their EM thesis, and the adjust-ment is being compounded by the surge

in the US 10-year yield,” Societe Generale told clients. “Long dollar positioning is no-where near where it was in 2015 and early 2016, and if the macro community senses a ‘trend’ developing, there is plenty of scope for the EM FX sell-off to accelerate.”

India remained an outlier, with bond yields falling to seven-and-a-half year lows after wholesale prices rose at a slower than expected pace in October.

But shares slipped as much as 2%, and

the rupee fell to its weakest since the end of June before inching firmer. The Polish zloty and Hungarian forint firmed around 0.2% against the euro, shrugging off weak third-quarter economic growth data.

“Given the challenges of Brexit from net remittances coming home, challenges from the whole eurozone project itself, coupled with restrictions on the labour market lo-cally, we should be open to weaker growth (in Eastern Europe),” said Quijano-Evans.

Most Asia bourses rise after sell-off,but Tokyo dipsAFPHong Kong

Asian markets mostly rose yesterday after the previous

day’s broad sell-off , while the dollar dipped against most

peers but traders remain on edge over Donald Trump’s

plans for global trade agreements.

While shares in developed economies have rallied and

safe-haven sovereign debt prices have fallen, many trad-

ing floors in Asia have taken a hit the past two days over

worries Trump will throw up tariff s to the world’s biggest

economy.

His plans for huge spending and tax cuts at home have

also fanned expectations the Federal Reserve will hike inter-

est rates more sharply than initially planned, sending the dol-

lar soaring and fuelling an exodus from emerging markets.

However, after a two-day retreat on most regional bourses,

there was a tentative recovery with Hong Kong 0.6% higher,

Manila up 1%, Jakarta 0.3% higher and Seoul 0.1% stronger.

Singapore put on 0.4% and Wellington 0.3%.

However, Tokyo eased 0.2% by the break, having surged

more than 8% to a nine-month high since Thursday on the

back of a rally in the dollar against the yen.

Shanghai was flat and Sydney shed 0.6%.

“Risks are elevated, and we are expecting further

increases in volatility as markets attempt to second-guess

the policies that might eventually come out from the US,”

Michael McCarthy, chief market strategist at CMC Markets

in Sydney, told Bloomberg News.

“One of the challenges for markets is that all of these

moves are not straightforward in terms of impact.

In a lot of cases, we just have to see how things play out.”

The dollar dipped back from a five-month high of 108.54

yen, but traders suggested it could test the 110 yen mark

as soon as this week, with eyes on Fed chief Janet Yellen’s

congressional testimony later this week.

The central bank is widely expected to hike borrowing

costs next month but her remarks Thursday will be pored

over for clues about its plans for next year.

“By all accounts, there appears no stopping the US dol-

lar’s recent ascent based on the current interest rate trajec-

tory,” Stephen Innes, senior trader at OANDA, said in a note.

“With the Trump Factor fully subscribed, will Dr Yellen

spoil the (dollar’s) recent coronation as King of the Hill, or

be the catalyst for another leg higher when she delivers her

economic outlook before the Joint Economic Committee of

Congress on Thursday?”

The dollar sank against higher-yielding currencies, with

the South Korean won, Australian dollar, Thai baht and

New Zealand dollar all up. And the euro rose after hitting

an 11-month low of $1.0709 Monday. And Mexico’s peso

was more than 1% higher, having hit record lows this week

on worries about Trump’s warning he will tear up a trade

deal with the country and send back millions of migrants.

However, China weakened its yuan fix to the dollar to an

eight-year low.

China weakens yuan fi x to eight-year lowAFPShanghai

China yesterday weakened the yuan’s fi x against the dollar to a nearly eight-year low as the surging dollar put further pres-

sure on the unit, complicating Beijing’s eff orts to manage it.

The People’s Bank of China set the value of the yuan – also known as the renminbi – at 6.8495 to the greenback, down 0.30% from Monday’s fi x-ing, according to data from the Foreign Exchange Trade System.

The unit has reached a series of six-year lows in recent weeks in the face of a greenback rising on expectations of sharper US interest rate hikes, with president-elect Donald Trump pledging during his campaign to ramp up spending and cut taxes. But yesterday’s fi x was the weakest since December 2008, and beyond the roughly 6.83 level at which Beijing virtually pegged the unit for nine months in 2009-10, in the aftermath of the global fi nancial crisis.

China only allows the yuan to rise or fall 2% on either side of the daily fi x, one of the ways it maintains control over the currency.

During the presidential campaign Trump re-peatedly accused China of keeping the yuan un-dervalued to boost exports and threatened to declare Beijing a currency manipulator once in offi ce.

But analysts and offi cials say that Beijing is now intervening in the opposite direction, and trying to prop up the unit’s value against a strengthen-ing greenback.

The US Treasury in October cleared China of keeping the yuan cheap for trade advantages,

saying the currency could have fallen more had Beijing not acted.

“It’s a dollar story so far – and possible inter-vention to see us back from the brink,” Michael Every, head of Asia-Pacifi c fi nancial markets re-search at Rabo Bank, said in a written response to AFP. Barclays forecasts that the onshore yuan will fall to 7.15 against the dollar by the end of the third quarter next year.

The bank’s Singapore-based head of Asia FX and rates strategy Mitul Kotech said the yuan was basically tracking moves by the dollar.

“We are still awaiting what policies are going to be in terms of Trump’s policies towards (China) given what he said in the run-up to the election.”

It was “not a cause of concern at this point in time” he said.

But while Trump’s direction in offi ce remains unclear, he has also threatened to impose tariff s of 45% on Chinese-made goods, raising the pros-pect of a trans-Pacifi c trade war.

Dariusz Kowalczyk, senior emerging market strategist at Credit Agricole, warned that “con-cerns over the impact of US tariff s on China’s growth and external position would magnify the outfl ow.

“China’s international investment position shows that there is still a lot of capital that could leave,” he said in a note. A weaker yuan could help Chinese exports, which fell for a seventh consec-utive month in October but are still a key growth driver for the world’s second-largest economy.

But it also threatens to accelerate capital fl ight – which in turn adds to downed pressure on the currency. In August last year, Beijing suddenly devalued the yuan, causing investors to dump the unit in volumes not seen since 1994 and sparking an outfl ow of money from China.

BUSINESS


German cooling, Italy rebound keep euro-area growth at 0.3%BloombergWarsaw

German economic growth slowed to the weakest pace in a year last quarter, a reminder of the

fragility of the euro area’s recovery in a time of rising uncertainty.

The slowdown in Germany to 0.2%, along with a resumption of growth in Italy and France, left expansion in the 19-nation currency region at 0.3%, in line with an initial estimate and matching the pace of the three months through June.

As Europe’s biggest economy, Ger-many’s fortunes are key to the recovery of the euro region, where the econo-my’s expansion is stuck at mediocre levels. That backdrop will colour the European Central Bank’s review of its stimulus programme in less than four weeks, when it will also have to factor in a global outlook characterised by the rise of populists critical of internation-al trade deals.

“The economy is growing in the euro area but still not quite helping the ECB meet its price-growth target of 2%,” said Ralph Solveen, head of economic research at Commerzbank in Frank-furt. “It’s probably not enough to sat-isfy them, and we think they will have to extend stimulus in December.”

Economists forecast that the euro area will maintain its current pace of growth through the fi rst half of 2017, then see a slight pickup to 0.4%.

Germany’s growth in the third quar-ter marked a slowdown from 0.4% and fell short of the median forecast of economists. Italy’s economy, the euro region’s third largest, grew 0.3%, re-suming expansion after stagnation in the three months through June. In the Netherlands, growth was unchanged from the previous quarter at 0.7%. Pre-viously published fi gures put French growth at 0.2%.

In Germany, domestic demand drove growth last quarter as both govern-ment and private consumption spend-ing rose, the statistics offi ce said. The global economy dragged on growth, with exports contracting slightly. In-vestment in equipment also slipped while construction climbed.

The Bundesbank has already noted that the economy cooled in the sum-mer months – a phase it said was prob-ably temporary – and recent data has showed a pickup in momentum. Busi-

ness confi dence rose to the highest level in more than two years and un-employment dropped to a record low. A separate report yesterday showed the ZEW German investor confi dence ris-ing more than estimated in November.

Even so, risks may be mounting. Donald Trump won the US presidential election on a platform that included a pledge to renegotiate or cancel trade deals, and the UK looks on track for a hard exit from the European Union and

its single market. Bundesbank Presi-dent Jens Weidmann said in a speech after Trump’s election that “pro-nounced political uncertainty” was weighing on growth prospects, raising the “question of how much protection-ism and isolationism will determine the future political agenda.” On Mon-day, ECB vice president Vitor Con-stancio said the world economy “faces once again an abnormal degree of un-certainty.”

ZEW noted in its survey of investors that responses after the US vote were less optimistic than earlier ones.

“The election of Donald Trump as US president and the resulting political and economic uncertainties, however, have made an impact,” ZEW President Achim Wambach said in a statement. “After the election, the economic sen-timent has been less positive than be-fore.”

The ECB’s Governing Council will

meet on December 8 to decide whether to extend its programme to buy €80bn ($86bn) a month of debt through March. The Frankfurt-based central bank will also publish fresh economic forecasts that extend to 2019.

The European Commission cut its 2017 projections for the euro area last week, to 1.5% from 1.8% seen in May. It also warned of instability caused by Brexit and the surge of anti-globalisa-tion and populism around the world.

The headquarters of Bundesbank in Frankfurt. Germany’s growth in the third quarter marked a slowdown from 0.4% and fell short of the median forecast of economists.

WhatsApp adds secure video calling amid privacy concernsReutersSan Francisco

One of the world’s most popular means of

communication, Facebook’s WhatsApp, is

adding fully encrypted video calling to its

messaging app, a move that comes as pri-

vacy advocates worry about the potential

for stepped-up government surveillance

under a Trump administration.

WhatsApp, which boasts more than a

billion users worldwide, adopted end-to-

end encryption early this year, making it

technically impossible for the company or

government authorities to read messages

or listen to calls.

The new video calling service will thus

provide another means for people to com-

municate without fear of eavesdropping

though WhatsApp does retain other data

such as an individual’s list of contacts.

WhatsApp co-founder Jan Koum said in

an interview that video calls will be rolled

out to 180 countries within hours after the

feature is introduced at an event in India.

“We obviously try to be in tune with

what our users want,” Koum said at the

company’s unmarked Mountain View,

California headquarters building. “We’re

obsessed with making sure that voice and

video work well even on low-end phones.”

Koum told Reuters that improve-

ments in phone cameras, battery life and

bandwidth had made the service viable

for a significant proportion of WhatsApp

users, even those using inexpensive

smartphones.

Apple off ers its FaceTime video calls to

iPhone users, and Microsoft Corp’s Skype

off ers video calls on multiple platforms.

But WhatsApp has built a massive

installed base of mobile customers and

has been steadily adding more features to

what began as a simple chat applications.

WhatsApp has operated with some au-

tonomy since Facebook bought it in 2014.

Koum and co-founder Brian Acton,

longtime Yahoo engineers who started

the company in 2009, now have 200 staff ,

mostly engineers and customer support,

up from 50 when Facebook bought it.

Koum said Facebook has allowed What-

sApp to use its servers and bandwidth

around the world for voice and now video.

That support will help spread the

souped-up WhatsApp much farther and

faster, he said.

But the corporate allegiance also has

a price.

After years of pledging that it would

not share information about users with

Facebook, which already has digital dos-

siers on its own 1.7bn users, WhatsApp

revised its privacy statement in August to

say it would do exactly that.

That means Facebook knows whom

WhatsApp users contact and their phone

numbers. Some users complained, but

Koum said that he had not seen a shift in

behaviour.

“In terms of security and privacy, what

people care about the most is the privacy

of their messages,” he said.

The video service is well-integrated and

adds a few twists.

Users can move around the thumbnail

video showing what their correspondent

sees and flick a video call in progress to

the side to minimise it while checking

texts or email.

Koum said WhatsApp remained com-

mitted to security after the US election

of Donald Trump as president last week

heightened fears of increased surveil-

lance. Trump, along with some leading

congressional Republicans and FBI direc-

tor James Comey, has advocated requir-

ing tech companies to turn over customer

information in many circumstances,

a position which, if put into law, could

require companies including WhatsApp to

completely redesign their services.

Other countries including China and

the United Kingdom also take a dim view

of encryption.

But Koum said he not see a major

threat to his service, noting that diplomats

and off icials use WhatsApp in many

countries.

“It would be like them shooting them-

selves in the foot.”

Reynolds rejectsBAT’s $47bn acquisition proposal

BloombergLondon

Reynolds American, the second-largest cigarette seller in the US, is seek-

ing a higher price from British American Tobacco after reject-ing a $47bn buyout off er as too low, according to people famil-iar with the matter.

The tobacco giants are in talks and BAT is willing to in-crease the offer slightly, said the people, who asked not to be named because the details aren’t public. BAT, which al-ready owns 42% of Reynolds, disclosed its proposal to ac-quire the rest of the company on October 21.

Spokesmen for BAT and Rey-nolds declined to comment. BAT’s shares rose 0.5% in early London trading yesterday. Rey-nolds closed down 1% at $53.05 on Monday in New York.

“This is playing out as we expected,” Mirco Badocco, an analyst at RBC Europe, said in a note.

“We’ve always regarded the fi rst off er as the initial step in the negotiation process and be-lieve BAT will need to increase the off er price.”

The transaction would let BAT overtake Philip Morris In-ternational as the world’s larg-est publicly traded tobacco business.

It also would give the Lon-don-based company a strong foothold in the US and access to Reynolds’s leading electron-ic-cigarette position. China National Tobacco Corp, run by China’s State Tobacco Monop-oly Administration, is the big-gest tobacco company overall.

BAT’s unsolicited cash-and-stock off er of $56.50 a share represented about a 20% pre-mium to Reynolds’s closing price the previous day. But BAT only plans to pursue the deal with Reynolds’s support. Ten days after the off er was an-nounced, Reynolds created a transaction committee to con-sider the proposal.

“We see the BAT deal hap-pening with an increased of-fer,” Jefferies International analyst Owen Bennett said in a note, as the two companies are “the perfect match,” given the attractiveness of the US market.

The off er is the latest in a run of tobacco mergers, as compa-nies facing smoking declines around the world seek to in-crease market share and create alternatives to traditional ciga-rettes.

Reynolds completed its $25.9bn acquisition of Lorillard in June 2015.

BAT has owned its current stake in Reynolds since the Winston-Salem, North Caroli-na-based company was created in 2004. It helped to fund Rey-nolds’s takeover of Lorillard, which helped BAT maintain its 42% stake in the Camel maker. The companies already work together on vapour products. BAT estimated the transaction would create cost synergies of about $400mn.

BAT chief executive offi cer Nicandro Durante wrote in the off er letter that he would have preferred to propose the takeo-ver confi dentially, but it was required to announce the move for regulatory reasons. Rey-nolds directors who were not appointed by BAT must back the bid in order for it to move for-ward, he said.

Vodafone sales rise on Europeanrevival as it struggles in IndiaBloombergLondon

Vodafone Group reported second-quarter sales growth

that beat analysts’ estimates as the carrier’s continental

European operations performed better than expected,

outweighing a €5bn ($5.4bn) write-down of its Indian unit.

Organic service revenue – what Vodafone earns from

customers’ monthly phone bills and usage on its network

– rose 2.4% in the period ended Sept. 30, the UK-based

carrier said yesterday. Analysts had predicted growth of

1.9% on average.

“We are the fastest-growing broadband network in Eu-

rope,” chief executive off icer Vittorio Colao told journalists

on a call yesterday, highlighting modest improvements in

Europe led by its German and Italian subsidiaries.

While continental Europe performed well, Vodafone

faces rising challenges at home in the UK, as well as India,

a market the carrier is counting on to fuel customer gains.

Britain’s plan to leave the European Union threatens the

country’s economy, while competition there remains

fierce after rival BT Group this year acquired mobile

carrier EE. In India, the company said an extended free

trial off er from new entrant Jio had triggered discounts

from other operators, lowering cash flows and throwing

Vodafone’s planning assumptions into doubt.

Overall, Vodafone’s first-half loss was €5bn, versus a

loss of €2.3bn a year earlier. The impairment charge in

India, while large, is unsurprising given the intensification

of competition, analysts at Goldman Sachs said in a note.

Service revenue rose by 5.4% in India in the second

quarter, slower than the 6.4% growth of the preceding

three months, Vodafone said. An initial public off ering

of the India unit, previously expected during the fiscal

year that ends in March, won’t take place before then, the

company said in a statement.

The carrier intends to proceed with the India IPO “as

soon as market conditions improve,” chief financial off icer

Nick Read told reporters on the call.

The company recently invested €477bn ($7.04bn) in

the operation to strengthen its voice and data off ers and

prepare the unit for a spectrum auction.

Vodafone lowered the top end of its forecast range

for full-year growth in organic earnings before interest,

taxes, depreciation and amortisation and now expects the

equivalent of €15.7bn to €16.1bn, compared with €15.7bn to

€16.2bn previously.

On the call yesterday, Collao said ambitious roll out of

high-speed fixed and mobile internet in Germany – which

he called “our largest and our best investment case” –

would be hard to replicate in the UK due to the high cost

of connecting customers to the national network run by

BT.

The company, along with other competitors such as

Sky, is calling on UK regulators to legally separate BT’s

Openreach division.

“If BT starts off ering us cheaper connections, maybe

the discussion might be diff erent,” Colao said. “Clearly the

conditions in the UK are less favourable.”

Colao also said Vodafone is working with financial au-

thorities in Europe to determine how it can conduct busi-

ness with its new partner in Iran, internet service provider

HiWeb, without triggering regulatory risk.

Regency Centers to buy Equity One for $5.82bnBloombergSeattle

Regency Centers Corp agreed to buy Eq-uity One Inc to form one of the largest US shopping-centre landlords, with

429 properties across the country.Equity One shareholders will receive 0.45

share of newly issued Regency common stock in the deal, the real estate investment trusts (REIT) said in a statement on Monday. Regency shareholders are expected to own 62% of the combined company, with Equity One investors holding the remainder.

Regency closed Monday at $69.86. At that price, the transaction would value Eq-uity One at more than $4.5bn. The deal is valued at about $5.82bn including debt, said Phil Denning, an Equity One spokesman.

The REITs own retail centres anchored by grocery stores, which are viewed as attractive to property investors because they sell con-sumer necessities, and the merger will expand a focus on high-density metropolitan areas. The companies’ biggest areas of operations include southern and northern California, southeast Florida, New York and the Wash-ington-Baltimore corridor, which together

represent more than 50% of annualised rent.“Shareholders of both companies are

poised to benefi t from an expanded pres-ence in top metro areas, a higher organic growth profi le, expanded development and redevelopment program, and greater tenant diversity,” Martin “Hap” Stein Jr, chairman and chief executive offi cer of Regency, said in the statement. He will lead the combined company.

With the acquisition, Regency will have more than 57mn square feet (5.3mn square meters) of space, including co-investment partnerships, and a pro-forma market capi-talisation of $11.7bn, the landlords said. That would make it bigger than Kimco Re-alty Corp, currently the largest owner of US shopping centres, with a market value of $11.2bn. Kimco still would have more properties and total space. The combination will enable annualised cost savings of about $27mn by 2018, the companies said.

Gazit-Globe, which owns about 34% of Equity One, has voted in favour of the deal. Gazit will report after-tax profi t of 1bn shekels ($261mn) from the transaction, ac-cording to an e-mailed statement. The fi rm will use the proceeds in part to pay back its creditors, its chairman said.

BUSINESSGULF BUSINESS15Gulf Times


Qatar infl ation drops 0.4% in October as transport, recreation and food costs declineBy Santhosh V PerumalBusiness Reporter

A fall in expenses towards transport, recreation and food led Qatar’s cost of

living, based on consumer price index (CPI), decline 0.4% this October compared to that in the previous month, according to offi cial estimates.

The annual CPI infl ation has, however, risen 2.2% year-on-year (y-o-y), mainly on cost-lier recreation, transport and housing and utilities, said the fi gures released by the Ministry of Development Planning and Statistics.

Recreation and Culture, which have 12.68% weightage in the CPI basket, saw its index decline 2.6% in October 2016 against the previous month’s level; while the index had ex-panded 6.6% y-o-y.

Transport, which has 14.59% weightage, saw its group in-dex slide 1.1% in October this year compared to the previous month’s level; while it showed a 4.6% increase y-o-y.

Food and beverage, which has a weight of 12.58%, saw its group index fall 0.4% month-on-month in October 2016 and it had reported a sharper fall of

2.7% y-o-y. The index of Mis-cellaneous Goods and Services, which have 5.69% weightage, fell by a marginal 0.1% in Oc-tober this year compared to the previous month, but overall it

shot up 3.2% y-o-y. However, Restaurants and hotels, which have 6.08% weight, saw a 0.9% increase month-on-month in group index; whereas it report-ed a fall of 1.8% y-o-y.

Clothing and footwear, which carry 5.11% weight, saw its group index rise 0.8% month-on-month in October this year and it was up 0.2% against Oc-tober 2015 level. Furniture and

household equipment, which have 7.7% weightage, witnessed a 0.6% growth month-on-month in October 2016. It reg-istered faster 2% gains y-o-y.

Housing, water, electricity and other fuels – with a weight of 21.89% – also saw its index rise 0.3% in October this year against the previous month’s level. The index is up 2.7% y-o-y.

The CPI of September 2016, excluding “housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels” showed an increase of 2.2% y-o-y, although it was down 0.3% month-on-month.

Health, which carries 1.79% weightage, reported a marginal 0.1% jump month-on-month in October 2016, while the index had fallen 0.8% y-o-y.

Education, with 5.75% weightage, treaded a fl at course in October this year month-on-month but reported 3% expan-sion y-o-y.

Communication, which car-ries 5.87% weight, saw its group index also stay unchanged in October 2016 compared to the previous month’s level; but overall it was up 0.1% y-o-y.

Tobacco, which has 0.27% weight, was unchanged both y-o-y and month-on-month in October this year.

Msheireb Properties bags 2 trophies at ‘1st Annual Qatar Sustainability Awards’Msheireb Properties, a subsidiary of Qatar Foundation for Edu-

cation, Science and Community Development (QF), has won

two awards at the recently-held ‘1st Annual Qatar Sustainability

Awards’.

The Msheireb Mosque emerged as the winner in the

religious building category, while the National Archive bested

other contenders in the government buildings classification.

The two “iconic” properties are located within Msheireb Down-

town Doha, Msheireb Properties’ flagship urban regeneration

project.

The Qatar Sustainability Awards, which is off iciated by Qatar

Green Building Council (QGBC), aims to recognise the eff orts,

commitment, and contributions of individuals, institutions,

and organisations in furthering sustainable development and

environmental protection in Qatar and beyond.

A jury, comprised of senior sustainability and green build-

ing experts, practitioners, and sustainability academics, was

charged with choosing the winners from a competitive list of

nominees.

The Msheireb Mosque and the National Archive were

recently awarded LEED gold certification and platinum certifi-

cation respectively, for excellence in green building strategies

and practices.

The newly-built structures have achieved maximum energy

eff iciency in construction and design, which restrict reliance on

air-conditioning units via environmentally-friendly applications.

Their energy recovery air systems allow the precooling and

regulation of indoor temperatures and their superior district

cooling systems deliver chilled water through low energy

consumption. Further energy mitigation features include solar

panelling that generates high levels of usable electricity in both

buildings throughout the entire year.

“We are truly honoured to receive these awards. As a re-

gional pioneer in sustainability, Msheireb Properties strives to

consistently demonstrate exceptional leadership and initiative

in the areas of sustainable master planning and design.

“As we move forward with our completion of Msheireb

Downtown Doha, these awards reinforce our vision to continue

to meet and exceed the highest international environmental

standards in community development and urban regeneration

projects,” said Ali al-Kuwari, chief off icer – design and delivery

at Msheireb Properties.

Speaking on the practices of green building and sustain-

ability in the business sectors, Noora al-Rumaihi, manager,

Communication and Public Relations at Msheireb Properties,

said: “Often times, companies believe that it’s not cost eff ective

and routinely too inconvenient to function and build sustain-

ably. Yet, the truth is quite the opposite.

“Organisations should be encouraged to move beyond cur-

rent methods and feel emboldened to look upon sustainability

and conservation as fundamental aspects of societal develop-

ment and business advancement.” Msheireb Properties management team during the ‘1st Annual Qatar Sustainability Awards’ ceremony.

SAK Holding Group has won the ‘Entrepreneurship Award’ for “excellence in producing groundbreaking real estate products” such as the Sharekna initiative during the annual Agility Awards ceremony organised recently by Entrepreneur Magazine. During the ceremony, where 18 entrepreneurs were also honoured, SAK was recognised for its contributions in creating safe investment solutions for real estate developers and investors. SAK Holding Group deputy CEO Abdul Rahman al-Najjar received the award on behalf of SAK. Also present at the ceremony were SAK Trading & Contracting Company general manager Ahmed al-Sayed and a number of executives from SAK Holding Group and subsidiaries, as well as businessmen and corporations.

SAK wins ‘Entrepreneurship Award’ Astad signs MoU with Korea Energy Agency

In light of Qatar Green Building Council’s Sustainability Week, Astad recently signed a Memo-

randum of Understanding (MoU) with the Korea Energy Agency to further promote Astad’s commit-ment to best sustainable practices.

The MOU, which was signed at the Qatar National Convention Centre (QNCC) on Monday, paves the way for bilateral cooperation and joint strategic objectives aimed at “continuous knowledge shar-ing and the improvement of energy management strategies and energy effi ciency for buildings”.

On the occasion, Astad chief ex-ecutive offi cer Ali al-Khalifa said, “This agreement refl ects our con-tinued advocacy for sustainability within the construction industry. As founding members of the Qatar Green Building Council, this agree-ment is an additional step forward in Astad’s journey towards a more sustainable future.”

Astad’s head (sustainability) Sheikh Soud al-Thani said, “We look forward to working together with the Korea Energy Agency using a comprehensive approach through initiatives that encourage sustain-able practices for green building de-

sign and development in Qatar.”In-Taek Kim, Korea Energy Agen-

cy’s executive director, said, “As a global energy organisation, this MoU falls in line with our eff orts to contribute to the transformation of Qatar into a low energy consump-tion society with a culture of ef-fi cient energy usage and we hope that, with Astad, we can enhance the energy effi ciency of buildings and transportation.”

Since its establishment in 1980,

Korea Energy Agency has been at the forefront of effi cient and rational en-ergy use in Korea, as a silent guardian of Korea’s sound economic develop-ment and better quality of life.

Astad has managed and deliv-ered some of Qatar’s most com-plex building and infrastructure projects in various sectors of the construction industry. They have covered Education, Healthcare, Sports, Commercial, Residential and Transport, bringing together all

the necessary components required to build a booming nation with a bright future to look forward to.

Established in 2008, Astad has grown to become a leading organi-sation within the construction in-dustry, delivering some of the most iconic projects in Qatar. Using the shared experience and expertise of its teams, Astad provides world class services in the areas of con-struction, engineering, cost, com-mercial, design and sustainability.

Astad and Korea Energy Agency executives after the agreement signing at the Qatar National Convention Centre .

GCC airlines need to change how they market and sell to customers: Strategy&

GCC airlines should transform their distribution business models and how they sell to customers, according to a recent study by management consultancy Strategy&.Three trends are reshaping the GCC’s travel sector and threaten to weaken the connection between airlines and their customers. First, shifting customer behaviour on retail and business sides, second, changing dynamics within direct and indirect sales channels, and third, the rise of digital technologies, Strategy& said.If GCC airlines are to take advantage of changes in the travel distribution industry, while preventing digital technologies from turning their airplane seats into commodities, they will need to overhaul their ticket distribution strategy. They need to consider all channels available, strengthen partnerships with travel intermediaries, content and technology providers, and leverage data collected through digital marketing, loyalty programs and booking processes to better understand customer needs and develop tailored off ering.On these trends, Alessandro Borgogna, a partner at Strategy& in Dubai leading the aviation, travel and aerospace practice, said: “The challenge in the Middle East is the rapid adoption of mobile, with online channels now being the fastest-growing source for travel planning.” He said, “Fast-growing GCC airlines have an opportunity to adapt to changing consumer behaviour if they adopt a distribution strategy that is enabled by technology and partner with travel players and content providers, tailor their travel distribution model by market segment, and build internal digital capabilities to collect, analyse and use customer data.”Wider retail behaviour varies significantly across geographies, but four themes prevail globally. First, customers are increasingly using online channels for search and booking. In the UAE specifically, where the market has a high internet penetration and online uptake, 20% used a smartphone to research booking flights last year. However, more than 60% of smartphone internet users’ encountered issues at least once while accessing websites on their smartphones and 40% of these users went on to find another site that worked better.Second, customers are using multiple devices during the research and booking process. One online travel website, for example, has a feature that allows passengers to connect across multiple devices, allowing them to hop from tablet, to laptop, to telephone, and so have a seamless digital experience. By contrast, airlines generally lag behind in catering to this customer preference. Third, social media is growing in popularity for sharing first-hand experiences in the travel decision-making process. In emerging markets, social networking is especially popular and is mostly accessed via mobile, with online sharing well above mature markets. People increasingly view shared content as unbiased travel information they can use to inform their own travel decisions. Fourth, loyalty programmes are becoming increasingly relevant. Customers are using these programs as a means to directly engage with airlines and earn rewards beyond just seat redemption, such as upgrades or even cash. This provides an opportunity for airlines to increase engagement with their customers. Some GCC airlines loyalty programs, for example, allow companies to accumulate points to use for travel, upgrades, gifts or even redeem for cash. The organisational aspect of an airline is therefore critical, Strategy& said. Instead of having marketing, sales, distribution, pricing, data analytics, strategy, IT, and loyalty programmes operate as silos, GCC airlines should ensure functional collaboration to better understand the needs of consumers and maintain customer retention.

As part of its efforts to promote fair competition and give consumers freedom of choice, the Ministry of Economy and Commerce has launched its initiative to end monopoly and bolster competition in the automotive market in the form of procedures that guarantee your right to freely choose between the various accredited service centres that provide affordable and high quality car maintenance and repair works.

As part of the Ministry of Economy and Commerce efforts to protect competition, eliminate monopolistic practices and develop the automotive industry the Ministry announced its initiative to end monopoly and bolster competition in the automobile market in order to

create a competitive environment that gives consumers freedom of choice within the following areas:

Ministry of Economy and Commerce initiative to end monopoly and bolster competition in automotive sector

In Spare Parts

Warranty Spare PartsMaintenance

In Warranty

2The ministry barred the dealer from introducing any amendments to warranty booklets without its prior consent

The manufacturer or the local agent shall refrain from introducing any terms in the accredetation document that deny accredited workshops the right to choose their spare part supplier

The local dealers and their affiliated distributors shall not differentiate between affiliated and accredited workshops in terms of spare parts supply

Vehicle owners are allowed to use equivalent spare parts or parts having the same characteristics as the original ones, provided that these parts are accredited by the manufacturer

The ministry eliminated ambiguous and restrictive expressions from warranty booklets to enable vehicle owners to conduct maintenance or repair works at the workshop of their choice within the warranty period

The Ministry abolished restrictions tying warranty coverage to carrying maintenance works at the dealer’s workshop

The warranty is not voided unless the dealer proves that the damage in any part of the vehicle was caused by poor maintenance conducted by third party workshops, where the warranty is only voided on the damaged parts

1In Maintenance

Dealer’sworkshop

Accreditedworkshop

Thirdparty

workshop

Which is a maintenance service center affiliated to the dealer and specialized in repairing vehicles of the brand represented in the local market

Which is a workshop owned by a third party i.e. not affiliated with car dealers but certified by the manufacturer of the brand

Such as garages and regular workshops.

The client shall retain invoices as evidence of performing maintenance on schedule in a third-party workshop

Accredited and third party workshops will be able to import spare parts from the following:

Ending monopoly

Ending monopoly

Ending monopoly

3

The warranty is not voided because the maintenance services are carried out by the same dealer

The warranty is not voided because such workshops are accredited by the manufacturer to provide regular main-tenance services

Local dealers Dealer’s affiliated distributors International suppliers

The Ministry abolished restrictions tying warranty coverage to carrying maintenance works at the dealers’s workshop and its service centers

ETFs set to debut on QSE; one-hundredth of indices' close ...

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