Friday, February 19, 2021Rajab 7, 1442 AH

BUSINESSGULF TIMES

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End of Gulf crisis is seen to support the hospitality sector in QatarBy Santhosh V PerumalBusiness Reporter

The end of Gulf crisis in January is set to provide a timely boost to the hospitality sector in Qatar where more than 20,000 additional hotel keys are

currently under construction and will be completed be-fore the FIFA World Cup in 2022, according to Cushman & Wakefi eld Qatar (CWQ).

Before the introduction of the siege, tourism from within the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) contributed almost 50% of all arrivals to Qatar, CWQ said in a report.

The Covid-19 pandemic delayed the delivery of new hotels in 2020, which is likely to result in a sharp in-crease in supply in 2021, it said.

Quoting National Tourism Council Statistics, the CWQ report said the supply of hotel keys increased to 28,249, by September 2020, a 5% increase in 12 months.

The most recently released statistics from the NTC show that Covid-19 lockdown measures severely im-pacted hotel performance from March of 2020, after a promising start to the year.

Despite an increase in year-on-year tourist arrivals by 32% in January and February, year-to-date arrivals had fallen by 63% by the end of September.

Overall, Qatar’s hotel occupancy rates reached 69% in February 2020, underscoring the improving perform-ance in the tourism sector; however, the introduction of lockdown measures resulted in an immediate drop to 55% in March.

While the government utilised several hotels for quar-antine purposes throughout the year, the occupancy rates for available hotels fell to between 44% and 46% during the summer months, CWQ said.

Overall, average daily rates (ADR) fell below QR297 in May but recovered to QR437 in August. The ADR had dropped just 2% on 2019 fi gures for the nine months to the end of September.

The approval of a Covid-19 vaccine for use in the fourth quarter (Q4) of 2020 was welcome news to the hospitality sector. Despite this positive development, hotel performance metrics are unlikely to improve sig-nifi cantly for several months as governments take a cau-tious approach to re-opening and travel until vaccina-tions have been widely rolled out, the report said.

The report also said retailers benefi ted from the full reopening of retail malls in Q4, following six months of restrictions.

While social distancing and other safety measures re-mained in place, CWQ said the footfall increased “sig-nifi cantly” towards the end of the year.

Highlighting that demand for retail space in Qatar is dominated by food and beverage operators, and small businesses looking for kiosk space; it said traditional fashion retailers have generally been reluctant to lease additional accommodation throughout 2020, as the pandemic reduced footfall in malls and has accelerated the global trend towards on-line shopping.

Overall, the organised retail space in Qatar amounts to approximately 1.5mn sq m. There is currently about 1.3mn sq m of gross leasable retail space in Doha’s 18 largest destination malls.

The proposed opening of new developments in 2020, including Doha Mall, has been delayed due to the Cov-id-19.

“We expect supply to increase considerably in 2021. Approximately 575,000 sq m of new retail space is cur-rently at various stages of construction and fi t-out,” CWQ said.

Outside of the main organised retail malls, outdoor destinations including Souq Waqif, Katara Cultural Vil-lage, Medina Centrale, and La Croisette provide more than 230,000 sq m of leasable space.

Al Furjan markets continued to be rolled out in 2020. The markets are a government-led initiative to provide local retail conveniences within residential communi-ties, off ering discounted rents to small businesses.

Moody’s affirms Ooredoo ratings with stable outlookBy Santhosh V PerumalBusiness Reporter

International credit rating agency Moody’s has aff irmed the ‘A2’ long-term issuer rat-ing of Ooredoo, as well as the ‘A2’ backed senior unsecured ratings on Ooredoo International Finance and the ‘(P)A2’ backed senior unsecured medium-term note programme rating under Ooredoo Tamweel.The outlook on all the ratings is “stable”, reflecting Moody’s expectation of sus-tained operating performance in the next 12-18 months and a gradual deleveraging

within its guidance for the rating. The outlook also factors in the company’s shift away from capital-intensive international expansion and towards optimising existing operations. The aff irmation of the ratings reflects Ooredoo’s resilient performance in 2020 despite the impact of the Covid-19 outbreak. In 2020, revenue and EBITDA (earnings before interest taxes deprecia-tion amortisation) declined by 4% and 6% respectively compared to 2019.Moody’s expects the negative trend to reverse in 2021, driven by a continued increase in revenue in Indonesia as well as a slight increase in revenue in Qatar, as

the economy recovers. The rating agency expects Ooredoo’s EBITDA margin to improve to levels around 45% over the course of the next couple of years as the company will benefit from the eff icient rollout of future cost optimisation pro-grammes.While Ooredoo’s leverage and cash flow metrics have weakened slightly in 2020 compared to 2019, the telecom company’s ratings “remain well positioned” within its ‘baa2’ baseline credit assessment (BCA) and ‘A2’ long-term issuer rating.Ooredoo’s BCA and issuer ratings continue to benefit from the company’s leading position in the high margin and resilient

Qatari telecommunication services market where it holds a 75% market share and one of the top players in the large-scale Indonesian market.Besides, Ooredoo has strong liquidity with a cash balance and undrawn committed credit facilities covering all group debt maturities for the next couple of years, despite high dividend payments.The BCA also reflects Ooredoo’s exposure to foreign-currency volatility; mitigated by the fact that operating subsidiary debt is substantially in local currency.Ooredoo’s ‘A2’ issuer rating reflects its standalone creditworthiness as expressed by a BCA of baa2, combined with a ‘high’

level of dependence and a ‘high’ level of support from the government. Moody’s support assumptions remain unchanged.Ooredoo has a strong liquidity profile. As of December 31, 2020, Ooredoo had QR14.6bn in group cash and undrawn com-mitted dollar-denominated credit lines of QR637mn available at the Ooredoo level.This, in addition to QR9.3bn of expected funds from operations in the next 12 months, would more than cover debt maturities (including lease liabilities) of QR6.3bn, the expected capital spending of QR5.3bn and the dividend payments of QR1.1bn during the same period, Moody’s said.

Siemens Energy ‘Qatar Energy Days’ highlights country’s role in advancing energy transition

Siemens Energy concluded a three-day virtual conference, enti-tled “Qatar Energy Days,” which

brought together participants from across government, energy and industri-al sectors, focusing on the technologies to meet and surpass energy-related goals under Qatar’s Vision 2030.

The event highlighted Qatar’s role in advancing the energy transition globally, its potential for creating a domestic hy-drogen economy, as well as the evolving global energy trends.

The virtual conference, which took place from February 15 to 17 was at-

tended by more than 350 participants and brought together a wide variety of perspectives from local experts in gen-eration, transmission, and industrial applications; as well as government of-fi cials, in order to help shape the energy of tomorrow.

“Qatar’s government is making it a priority to fi nd harmony between eco-nomic growth and protecting the envi-ronment in order to mitigate the eff ects of pollution and global warming,” Sie-mens Energy said.

“Qatar has already adopted initiatives to protect the environment and reduce

carbon emissions, but its energy transfor-mation is still in the early stages. We hope that discussions like the ones we had will help accelerate the energy transformation in Qatar,” said Herbert Klausner, manag-ing director, Siemens Energy in Qatar.

“This event was a great platform to discuss the potential for Qatar’s energy transformation. Qatar has the ability to leverage its existing expertise and tech-nologies as a leader in the LNG industry to drive its transformation into cleaner energy,” said Vinod Philip, EVP and chief technology and strategy offi cer at Sie-mens Energy.

GIS posts QR3bn revenues for 2020 on aviation, insurance segmentsGulf International Services (GIS) – the holding entity of Gulf Drilling International, Gulf Helicopters, Al Koot and Amwaj – has reported revenues of QR3bn for 2020, mainly contributed by aviation and insur-ance segments.The group has recommended deploying the retained funds to capture the present and future opportunities; implying no dividend for 2020.The overall revenue growth was under-pinned by growth in revenue in the aviation segment on strong operational perform-ance due to expansion strategy, specifically in the global markets, growth within the domestic fleet and MRO (maintenance, repair and overhaul) business.Similarly, the insurance segment continued on its positive trajectory, building on premi-ums on aggressive market expansion and successful contract renewals coupled with favourable pricing terms.GIS benefited from the current low interest rates, which positively impacted the 2020 financial performance, where its finance cost declined by 31%.The group’s total assets were valued at QR10bn. On the liquidity front, the closing

cash, including short-term investments, stood at QR691mn.Nevertheless, the bottom line was primarily impacted due to booking of one-off , non-cash impairment loss of QR308mn, leading to an overall net loss of QR319mn in 2020.The drilling segment had earned QR923mn revenues but saw QR453mn net loss; even as it believes that the cyclical nature of the industry will ultimately bring forth a recov-ery phase that would drive incremental demand for drilling services which could be more favorable to drilling contractors.“The North Field expansion (NFE) project, for which GDI’s joint venture has already commenced operations this year, will also unlock solid growth opportunities for the segment and will lead to greater strategic and competitive advantage to the segment in the future and will strengthen GDI’s posi-tion in the off shore drilling market in Qatar,” GIS said.The aviation segment’s revenue grew 17% to QR688mn in 2020, translating into net earn-ings of QR383mn against QR143mn in 2019.The aviation segment will continue to focus on key international markets, which provide opportunities in the oil and gas services

sector, it said, adding it is well positioned to unlock additional growth opportunities in Qatar, where increased demand from the NFE project is expected to drive greater ex-ploration activities, thus higher flying hours.The insurance segment saw an 18% jump in revenue to QR981mn and net profit by QR36mn to QR52mn in 2020, translating into a growth of 226% year-on-basis.The insurance segment would further put in place tremendous eff orts to maintain and expand its current market share in Qatar, within both the medical and general insurance, GIS said, adding the focus for the general insurance will be on both non-energy and international clients, along with, continued focus on improving operational eff iciency, boosting productivity and lower-ing cost base.The catering segment reported revenue of QR406mn and net loss of QR10mn in 2020. Qatar’s catering services market is expected to grow at a positive rate, mainly driven by the NFE project and FIFA 2022 World Cup, which will further increase demand for catering and accommodation services in the hospitality sector, where Amwaj is well positioned to tap on these opportunities.

The affi rmation of the ratings refl ects Ooredoo’s resilient performance in 2020 despite the impact of the Covid-19 outbreak. Ooredoo has strong liquidity with a cash balance and undrawn committed credit facilities covering all group debt maturities for the next couple of years, despite high dividend payments

HE the Minister of Commerce and Industry Ali bin Ahmed al-Kuwari yesterday met with Inoue Shinji, Japanese Minister for the World Expo 2025, through video conferencing. During the meeting, off icials touched on bilateral relations between the two countries and discussed aspects of joint co-operation in the commercial, economic, and investment fields. Off icials also discussed Qatar’s participation in the International Expo 2025 Osaka Kansai in Japan and went over the preparations made by Japan for the success of this global event. During the meeting, al-Kuwari highlighted the economic policies that Qatar had adopted and the measures it had taken to abolish restrictions on foreign investment and create more investment op-portunities for companies looking to invest in Qatar.

Al-Kuwari meets Japanese minister for World Expo 2025

The end of Gulf crisis in January is set to provide a timely boost to the hospitality sector in Qatar where more than 20,000 additional hotel keys are currently under construction and will be completed before the FIFA World Cup in 2022, according to Cushman & Wakefi eld Qatar

BUSINESSGulf Times Friday, February 19, 20212

Saudi ultimatum to move in, or lose out, unsettles global firmsBy Zainab Fattah and Lin NoueihedBloomberg

Saudi Arabia’s ultimatum for global companies to move their regional hubs to Riyadh by 2024 or lose business is the kind of decision making that has made some wary of investing there.The millions of dollars in costs, sudden policy changes and arbitrary legal rulings mean companies will need to weigh the risks of moving there with the potential rewards Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman’s economic overhaul promises.Saudi Arabia said this week state contracts would go only to companies with regional hubs in the country to stop economic “leakage.” It gave few details, fuelling the kind of uncertainty many regional executives say complicate their dealings with the world’s top oil exporter.Some businessmen say Saudi Arabia is a sleeping giant that’s waking up, with a consumer market three times the size of the UAE, planned mega-projects worth hundreds of billions of dollars

and a young, rapidly-changing society that’s almost unrecognisable from the kingdom five years ago.But one manager at a multinational headquartered in Dubai, a Gulf business hub, said companies know the political tide can turn fast in Saudi Arabia. The lack of legal recourse they have makes them vulnerable as most contracts come via the state so it’s diff icult to chase unpaid money, he said. Like others he spoke on condition of anonymity.Saudi Arabia suff ered a simultaneous decline in oil and non-oil revenue as the global pandemic combined with lower energy prices to jolt the kingdom’s public finances.Companies have mostly looked past Saudi Arabia’s arrests of businessmen and royals in a crackdown on corruption. Yet sudden shifts like tripling value-added tax create uncertainty and cost.Saudi off icials are frustrated by the consultants and executives working on Saudi projects who based themselves in Dubai, business-oriented city that draws in millions of foreign workers.

“It’s a combination of desperation and a little bit of overreach” said Ryan Bohl, a Middle East analyst at Stratfor Worldview. “It’s going to be hard to convince multinationals and regional giants to pick sides,” he said, predicting Riyadh would make exceptions and find ways for companies to function in both.

A Saudi government presentation to investors seen by Bloomberg said off icials were working on an “attractive incentive package” for Riyadh’s King Abdullah Financial District, set to become a special economic zone. Subject to final approval, sweeteners include a 50-year exemption from 20%

corporate tax and a waiver of rules around hiring Saudis for at least 10 years. The presentation also touted the potential exemptions to Saudi laws based on investor needs and an easier work permit system.Dubai shouldn’t underestimate the willingness of companies to follow the money, a Dubai businessman said. The Saudi plans mean Dubai has to be inventive and stop relying on a model of charging fees and making the city more expensive to do business in.The UAE is taking the challenge seriously and has made reforms to try to attract and keep foreigners as the pandemic batters the tourism and logistics sectors. UAE off icials have welcomed the competition.Executives at several international companies said they’d seek workarounds.A manager at a global food company with regional headquarters in Dubai said they could name a second Mideast hub in Riyadh, or ask local Saudi partners to do so under their names. An advertising executive said their firm would open a Saudi off ice because

of more work but keep Dubai as the regional base.At the kingdom’s flagship investment conference last month 24 companies including Pepsico and Bosch said they’d signed preliminary agreements to locate regional hubs in Riyadh, though they’re waiting for the details before firming up commitments.“The time frame of three years probably recognises that this will be a big shift for corporations,” said Nuno Gomes, head of Middle East Career business at consultancy firm Mercer, estimating the additional costs of being in Riyadh can amount to 15%-25%.Saudi off icials realise the scale of the challenge, and are rolling out changes like a planned overhaul of the judicial system. “We need to also create for those expats that we attract a great living environment,” Fahd al-Rasheed, head of the Royal Commission for Riyadh City, said in an interview. “So your spouse needs to be able to work. Your children need to have the best international schools and that’s something that we have, and we’re working on.”

Turkish central bank stays hawkish, holds rates steady at 17%ReutersIstanbul

Turkey’s central bank held inter-est rates steady at 17% as ex-pected yesterday and kept up a

hawkish tone, promising tighter policy if needed to rein in infl ation that has risen to 15%.

The bank repeated it will keep mon-etary policy tight to create “a strong disinfl ationary eff ect” until annual infl ation, which has remained mostly double-digits for three years, falls to a 5% target in the next three years.

Governor Naci Agbal hiked the one-week repo rate by 675 basis points in November and December to pull the lira up from a record low, prompting a jump in foreign investment infl ows.

In the last two months the bank has held rates steady at 17% – the highest

in any advanced or emerging economy.Rate cuts are not expected until

about the third quarter when infl ation is seen easing.

“Cuts are still some way off ,” said Ja-son Tuvey at Capital Economics. “In-vestors have become confi dent that the shift to orthodoxy will stick” despite signs the economic recovery has fal-tered in recent months, he said.

The lira fi rmed 0.6% to 6.9425 against the dollar. After a 20% decline last year, the currency has rebounded by as much in the past three months, outstripping emerging market peers due to the monetary tightening.

The median estimate in a Reuters poll of 21 economists was for no policy change yesterday, while fi ve expected a hike to as high as 18%.

“The tight monetary policy stance will be maintained decisively...for an extended period until strong indicators

point to a permanent fall in infl ation and price stability,” the bank’s policy committee said after its monthly meet-ing. “Additional monetary tightening will be delivered if needed,” it added.

In his fi rst interview since taking of-fi ce, Agbal told Reuters this month he does not expect the bank to consider rate cuts until much later this year giv-en upward infl ation pressure, and rate hikes are still a possibility.

His comments reinforced a growing view among investors that the bank is in no rush to ease.

Infl ation has risen in the last several months, with food prices up more than 20%, pinching Turks during the coro-navirus pandemic.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan appointed Agbal as part of a sur-prise leadership overhaul in which he pledged a new market-friendly eco-nomic era.

Sovereign, pension funds double down on private debt amid pandemicReutersLondon

Sovereign wealth and public pension funds are bolster-ing their funding of private

debt, with close to $9bn commit-ted since the Covid-19 crisis as they hunt for yield and their ample liquidity allows them to take on more risk than banks.

Most recently, Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund said last week it had become an anchor in-vestor in a new $300mn Shariah credit fund.

Queensland Investment Corp (QIC), an investment arm of the Australian state, last month be-came the latest state-owned in-vestor to launch a private debt team.

Last year marked a tricky time for the asset class.

Private-debt fundraising de-clined substantially and commit-ments to direct lending, the larg-est chunk of it, fell by more than half.

But as the uncertainty sur-rounding the pandemic lifts, ac-tivity is expected to pick up in 2021.

State-owned investors with their deep pockets and long-term investment horizons are at the forefront.

“Now we are seeing real interest from sovereign and pension funds that wasn’t there a couple of years ago,” said Antoine Josserand, head of business development at pan-European private credit manager Pemberton Asset Management, which counts both types of inves-tors as clients.

“It’s a refl ection of the fact that they recognise the merit in terms of diversifi cation of their alterna-tive asset bucket.

Others, as part of their fi xed-income portfolio, are trying to fi nd the best relative value they can in the current negative rate environ-ment.”

With interest rates near zero in the pandemic’s aftermath, many are tempted by the yield pick-up off ered by private debt, with es-timated returns over a 20-year period of close to 9%, more than US equity or corporate high-yield benchmarks, according to Pitch-Book data.

“They are doing it because conventional asset classes are not giving the returns they have historically delivered,” said Andy Cairns, head of corporate fi nance of First Abu Dhabi Bank, the big-gest lender in the UAE, home to state-owned investors Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) and Mubadala Investment Co, both active in private debt.

Some businessmen say Saudi Arabia is a sleeping giant that’s waking up, with a consumer market three times the size of the UAE, planned mega projects worth hundreds of billions of dollars and a young, rapidly-changing society that’s almost unrecognisable from the kingdom fi ve years ago

Vehicles driving on a street in Riyadh on February 16. Saudi Arabia’s ultimatum for global companies to move their regional hubs to Riyadh by 2024 or lose business is the kind of decision making that has made some wary of investing there. The millions of dollars in costs, sudden policy changes and arbitrary legal rulings mean companies will need to weigh the risks of moving there with the potential rewards Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman’s economic overhaul promises.

Employees work in their booths at the Borsa Istanbul stock exchange in Istanbul (file). Borsa Istanbul posted a net profit of more than 1.4bn lira ($200mn) in 2020, up 43% from a year earlier, and expects higher profitability this year, the stock exchange’s general manager Hakan Atilla said on Thursday, reports Reuters. In a written statement he also said that 2021 would be a record year for public off erings, transaction volumes and investor numbers, after the number of investors in the exchange rose 64% last year to 2mn. Eight companies held public off erings on the Borsa Istanbul last year, amounting to 1.1bn lira.

Borsa Istanbul says 2020 net profit jumps 43%

BUSINESS3Gulf Times

Friday, February 19, 2021

What we know about impact of Covid-19 on childrenBy Jason GaleWashington

Young children typically are “superspreaders” of respiratory germs, so it’s puzzling that they don’t seem to be major transmitters of the coronavirus that causes Covid-19. They’re also relatively absent among hospitalised patients. Initially, that was thought to be because they’re less likely to become seriously ill if infected. Later studies indicate that those of primary school age, at least, may be less likely to catch the virus in the first place. Still, they’re not immune to an array of indirect Covid-19 harms, including learning gaps, anxiety and depression stemming from school closures, social isolation and other stress-inducing consequences of the pandemic. That’s informing considerations for how to safely keep kids in school.

1. How likely are kids to get Covid?

Of all Covid-19 cases reported worldwide last year, children under 18 years accounted for about 8%, despite comprising 29% of the global population, according to the World Health Organization. Under-reporting of paediatric infections is likely. Compared to adults, children with Covid-19 are more likely to have no symptoms or, if they do, predominantly mild ones limited to the nose, throat and upper airway. They rarely require hospitalisation.

2. Why might kids be less susceptible?

There are multiple reasons. Children may have a stronger innate immune response to the virus, deploying nonspecific defence mechanisms within hours of its appearance in the body. Importantly, children may lack many of the factors thought to put adults, particularly the elderly, at risk of more serious illness from Covid-19, such as: Damage to the lining of blood vessels that occurs with age and increases the susceptibility to the formation of dangerous clots. An abundance of the type of cell-surface protein that the coronavirus uses to invade cells and cause an infection. Age-related changes in the immune system that hinder viral clearance. Chronic conditions such as obesity, diabetes and hypertension as well as chronic lung, heart or kidney disease.

3. Can kids still become seriously ill?

Yes. Death is extremely rare in children with a SARS-CoV-2 infection, although it can occur in those who are already very sick with cancer or other life-threatening conditions. Relatively more common is a serious blood disorder, known as paediatric inflammatory multisystem syndrome (PIMS) or multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C), which has aff ected more than 2,000 children in the US alone. This potentially lethal condition is similar to Kawasaki disease and occurs at a rate of about 2 per 100,000 people younger than 21 years – a tiny fraction of the 322 per 100,000 in which coronavirus infection is diagnosed in that age group. Although the condition is easily treated, some patients may suff er heart abnormalities of varying significance.

4. Anything else?

It’s possible some children may suff er post-acute or “long Covid” symptoms much like the fatigue, muscle and joint pain, breathing diff iculties and heart palpitations reported in adults. Data are lacking though. A small study from Rome found half of paediatric patients enrolled had at least one persisting symptom after 120 days, with 43% suff ering from an ailment that interfered with daily activities. The research, which was released January 26 ahead of peer-review and publication, was based on a survey of the caregivers of 129 Covid-19 patients aged 18 years and younger. An even smaller study in September found heart damage in 1 in 7 college sports competitors, including in those whose coronavirus infection caused no obvious symptoms.

5. Do kids spread the virus?

Yes. They are capable of transmitting Sars-CoV-2 to other children and to adults. However, studies have found that younger children in particular don’t tend to be the main drivers of transmission within households and communities. In the US, resurgent Covid-19 epidemics in 2020 were driven by adults aged 20-49. Even after schools reopened in October, that age group accounted for almost three-quarters of Sars-CoV-2 infections, whereas less than 5% originated from children ages 0-9 and less than 10% from those ages 10-19, a study published in the journal Science found. Children under 10 also may be less susceptible

to infection. That’s reflected in the higher frequency of outbreaks reported in secondary and high schools compared with primary or elementary schools and daycare centres, in places where they have remained open.

6. Do the new variants change anything?

It’s unclear. The B.1.1.7 variant discovered in the UK in September is significantly more transmissible than previously circulating strains, and has been associated with an uptick in spread across all age groups, including children under 15. The age distribution of Covid-19 cases may change as vaccination programmes prioritising older people are rolled out. Israel, where the variant has proliferated since December, reported a steep jump in Sars-CoV-2 infections among young people in January, threatening to prolong school closures. More than 50,000 children and teens tested positive in January – more than the nation recorded in any month during its first and second waves – with the proportion of new daily cases among kids under 10 increasing by 23%, the BMJ medical journal reported on February 8.

7. How risky are schools?

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in February that available data show “in-person learning in schools has not been associated with substantial community transmission.” However, a review in December by its European counterpart found Sars-CoV-2 can spread within schools, and clusters of Covid-19 cases have been reported in preschools, primary and secondary schools. The frequency of cases appears to reflect levels of community transmission; when it’s low and when appropriate mitigation measures are applied, schools aren’t likely to be the main drivers of Covid-19, according to the WHO. Staff and other adults spending prolonged periods in schools don’t appear to have a higher risk of Covid-19 than other occupations.

8. Why close schools?

Health off icials say such a decision shouldn’t be taken lightly due to the negative impact school closures have on education and the physical and mental health of children, but rather as a last resort. Although keeping kids out of classrooms can help reduce transmission, which alone won’t prevent Covid-19 cases

in the community in the absence of other measures, such as restrictions on gatherings and mandatory mask-wearing.

9. How has the pandemic aff ected learning?

The disruption has been unprecedented, aff ecting more than 1.6bn learners in over 190 countries in 2020 alone, according to Unesco. The majority of students continued to be aff ected by full or partial closures of schools and universities into January, increasing the risk of learning loss, dropping out of education and social isolation. Although alternatives to in-person learning have been introduced, some 470mn pupils can’t get access to online or other required content for remote education.

10. What eff ect will that have?

Prolonged school closures look certain to result in long-lasting economic and psychological harm, with deprived and marginalised groups aff ected most. The longer disadvantaged children are out of school, the less likely they are to return. According to Unicef, kids from the poorest households are almost five times more likely to be out of primary school than those from the richest. Although children in low- and middle-income countries will be hardest hit, large inequities exist in wealthy countries too. Estimates indicate that 3%-10% of students in the US have been “disengaged for almost the better part of a year,” according to Annette C Anderson, deputy director of the Center for Safe and Healthy Schools at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. Learning loss will probably be greatest among youth from low-income families, and Black and Hispanic students, exacerbating existing achievement gaps by 15%-20%, McKinsey & Co estimated in June. The consulting

firm predicted US students in grades K-12 may lose, on average, the equivalent of a year of full-time work in lifetime earnings solely as a result of Covid-related learning losses. Black and Hispanic Americans would suff er the highest toll. That’s supported by modelling by researchers at the University of Washington and University of California, Los Angeles who found, by not graduating high school, children may experience a lifetime of lower wages and disadvantage, and that prolonged, missed instruction may reduce life expectancy.

11. Why are schools so important?

Besides being a place of learning, schools often provide safe places, as well as social, emotional and nutritional support. Dropping out of school or missing lessons increases the risk of child marriage, violence and food insecurity, according to Unicef. Prolonged school closures may also disrupt important services, such as immunisation and psychosocial support.

12. Are there measures that can mitigate risk for schools?

Yes. The CDC has outlined mitigation strategies that include the proper use of masks, social distancing, strict cleaning and maintenance of classrooms, and rapid contact tracing, echoing guidelines and recommendations from the WHO and others. These also include guidance on producing outbreak prevention and management plans, testing for cases, ensuring adequate ventilation and hygiene practices and frequent communication with parents, students, teachers and staff . US President Joe Biden acknowledged that many of the CDC guidelines would be costly and diff icult to implement, but called reopening schools a “national imperative.”

Bloomberg QuickTake Q&A

A child attends an online class at a learning hub inside the Crenshaw Family YMCA during the Covid-19 pandemic on February 17 in Los Angeles, California. Of all Covid-19 cases reported worldwide last year, children under 18 years accounted for about 8%, despite comprising 29% of the global population, according to the World Health Organization.

India retailer group calls for ban on Amazon in countryReutersNew Delhi

A leading group of Indian retailers on Wednesday urged the gov-ernment to ban the local opera-

tions of Amazon.com Inc, after Reuters reported the US e-commerce giant has for years given preferential treatment to a small group of sellers on its India platform and used them to circumvent the country’s strict foreign investment regulations.

The Reuters report, based on inter-nal Amazon documents dated between 2012 and 2019, provided an inside look at the cat-and-mouse game Amazon has played with India’s government, adjust-ing its corporate structures each time the government imposed new restrictions aimed at protecting small traders.

In a statement, the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT), which says it represents 80mn retail stores in India, said “the shocking revelations” in the Reuters story are “suffi cient enough to immediately ban operations of Amazon in India.”

The group called on Commerce Min-ister Piyush Goyal to take immediate note of this “important and burning is-sue and order for a ban on operations of Amazon in India.”

Amazon did not respond to a request for comment on the trader group’s state-ment.

But shortly after CAIT issued its call for the ban, Amazon retweeted the Reu-ters report, criticising it as “unsubstan-tiated, incomplete, factually incorrect,” without going into specifi cs.

It added that “Amazon remains com-pliant with Indian laws.”

“In last several years, there have been (a) number of changes in regulations; Amazon has on each occasion taken rap-id action to ensure compliance.

The story therefore seems to have out-dated information and doesn’t show any non-compliance,” Amazon said on its Amazon India News Twitter account.

A spokesman for India’s Ministry of Commerce and Industry did not respond

when contacted outside regular business hours. The Amazon documents revealed the e-commerce company helped a small number of sellers in India prosper, gave them discounts on fees, and helped one cut special deals with big tech man-ufacturers such as Apple Inc.

The company exercised signifi cant control over the inventory of some of the biggest sellers on Amazon.in, the docu-ments showed.

Government rules announced in 2016 required that an e-commerce platform should “not exercise ownership” over sellers’ inventory.

Amazon pledges that all sellers oper-ate independently on its platform.

Amazon has been facing increasing scrutiny by Indian regulators, and the detailed look inside its strategy could deepen the risks for the company in one of its key growth markets.

Indian retailers, who are a crucial part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s sup-port base, have long alleged that Ama-zon’s platform largely benefi ts a few big sellers and that the e-commerce com-pany engages in predatory pricing that harms their businesses.

In a written response to the Reuters story which was published on Wednes-day, Amazon said it “does not give preferential treatment to any seller on its marketplace,” and that it “treats all sellers in a fair, transparent, and non-discriminatory manner, with each seller responsible for independently deter-mining prices and managing their in-ventory.”

The Indian retailer group on Wednes-day said the Reuters report “vindicates the stand and arguments” it made in re-cent years. “The CAIT will raise this is-sue in a bigger way,” the group said.

Cash-loving Japan shifts from notes, coins in boost for banksBloombergTokyo

The coronavirus pandemic has encouraged more cash-loving Japanese to move away from banknotes and coins, giving a boost for banks in their drive toward digitalisation, the industry’s lobby group chief said.“A trend toward cashless payments, which so far pro-gressed gradually, has picked up speed during the pandemic,” Kanetsugu Mike, chairman of the Japanese Bankers Association, said at a news briefing yesterday. “The banking industry would like to actively work towards going cashless.”Japan has long been known for its heavy use of cash, which is a burden for banks that are trying to move more services online. Maintaining ATMs alone costs about ¥700bn ($6.6bn) annually and another ¥100bn is spent handling cash at branch counters, Nomura Research Institute estimates.Now the pandemic has added an incentive for consumers and merchants to avoid touching physical money.As well as reducing costs, cashless payments could help

to spur innovations in areas such as the use of transaction data, said Mike, who is also chief executive off icer of Mit-subishi UFJ Financial Group Inc’s main banking unit.Banks are trying to expand cash-free locations so employ-ees can focus on more lucrative services such as off ering investment advice to clients. Aozora Bank Ltd stopped deal-ing with notes and coins at its branches in January, though customers can still use ATMs.The government has set a goal of increasing cashless payments to about 40% of all transactions by 2025, from about 20% currently. More Japanese are using credit cards and electronic money for small purchases, according to a survey by the Central Council for Financial Services Information.Still, people continue to hoard the largest banknotes. Ja-pan’s ¥10,000 bills in circulation rose 6.4% in January from a year earlier, Bank of Japan data show.That’s because the country’s rock-bottom interest rates have reduced the incentive to put money in banks, said Tsuyoshi Ueno, senior economist at NLI Research Institute. Instead, he said, people are stashing cash at home in “wardrobe deposits” – the Japanese equivalent of keeping it under the mattress.

Bank Indonesia cuts rates and outlook as the recovery stallsBloombergJakarta

Indonesia’s central bank has cut its benchmark interest rate to a record low and downgraded its

growth outlook amid fears that a re-surgence in Covid-19 cases is slow-ing the economy’s recovery.

Bank Indonesia slashed the sev-en-day reverse repurchase rate on Thursday by 25 basis points to 3.5%, the lowest level since the rate was introduced in 2016. The move was expected by 22 out of 29 economists surveyed by Bloomberg, while seven forecast no change.

“This decision is consistent with the forecast for infl ation to remain low and the rupiah’s maintained stability, as well as continued steps to boost the national economic re-covery momentum,” governor Perry Warjiyo said in Jakarta. With room for further cuts limited, he said the bank could rely on alternative measures like quantitative easing and macroprudential policy to boost growth.

Policymakers have signalled

growing concern over the econo-my, as Indonesia’s fi rst recession in more than two decades threatens to spill over to this quarter after movement curbs were reimposed to control a surge in cases. Recent economic indicators have shown marked declines in imports, retail sales and consumer confi dence.

The benchmark Jakarta Com-posite Index reversed earlier gains after the decision, falling 0.4% at the close. The rupiah trimmed the day’s losses, down 0.04% at 14,025 to the US dollar. “Our assessment is that BI’s rate-cutting cycle is now over,” Krystal Tan and Sanjay Math-ur, economists at Australia & New Zealand Banking Group, wrote after the decision. “With US yields on the rise, BI has less leeway to trim its policy rate without undermining the relative yields of domestic fi nancial assets.”

Bank Indonesia, which had ex-pected the economy to turn around as early as the fourth quarter of last year, has taken a more cautious tone recently. Warjiyo said the bank now sees gross domestic product ex-panding 4.3% to 5.3% this year, down

from an earlier forecast of 4.8% to 5.8% -- even as he noted how vac-cine rollouts are boosting the global economic outlook. For Indonesia too, he said, a faster vaccine rollout would be a “game changer” for the economy. The government has made it mandatory for all eligible Indone-sians to take the vaccine.

Thursday’s rate cut is the fi rst of 2021 in Asia-Pacifi c, after cen-tral banks across the region eased policy last year amid the pandemic. Indonesian monetary authorities have cut rates by a total of 150 basis points since the start of 2020.

Warjiyo said the bank is keeping macroprudential policy accom-modative, relaxing rules for prop-erty and vehicle loans. The governor urged banks to lower lending rates for customers more quickly, but cut this year’s forecast for bank lend-ing growth to 5%-7%, from 7%-9% previously.

After warning recently of “too low” infl ation in Indonesia’s con-sumption-driven economy, Warjiyo said on Thursday that price increas-es are still seen within the 2%-4% target range this year.

A shipment moves on a conveyor belt at an Amazon Fulfillment Centre on the outskirts of Bengaluru, India (file). A leading group of Indian retailers on Wednesday urged the government to ban the local operations of Amazon.com Inc, after Reuters reported the US e-commerce giant has for years given preferential treatment to a small group of sellers on its India platform and used them to circumvent the country’s strict foreign investment regulations.

BUSINESS

Gulf Times Friday, February 19, 20214

Zad Holding Co

Widam Food Co

Vodafone Qatar

United Development Co

Salam International Investme

Qatar & Oman Investment Co

Qatar Navigation

Qatar National Cement Co

Qatar National Bank

Qlm Life & Medical Insurance

Qatar Islamic Insurance Grou

Qatar Industrial Manufactur

Qatar International Islamic

Qatari Investors Group

Qatar Islamic Bank

Qatar Gas Transport(Nakilat)

Qatar General Insurance & Re

Qatar German Co For Medical

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Qatar First Bank

Qatar Electricity & Water Co

Qatar Exchange Index Etf

Qatar Cinema & Film Distrib

Al Rayan Qatar Etf

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Ooredoo Qpsc

Alijarah Holding Company Qps

Mazaya Real Estate Developme

Mesaieed Petrochemical Holdi

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Medicare Group

Mannai Corporation Qsc

Masraf Al Rayan

Al Khalij Commercial Bank

Industries Qatar

Inma Holding Company

Investment Holding Group

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Ezdan Holding Group

Doha Insurance Co

Doha Bank Qpsc

Dlala Holding

Commercial Bank Psqc

Barwa Real Estate Co

Baladna

Al Khaleej Takaful Group

Aamal Co

14.416.101.501.570.630.877.404.5616.353.897.102.858.701.9316.653.302.533.2817.721.8117.4510.203.852.382.251.037.711.181.221.9619.658.462.954.312.0712.125.300.565.011.651.681.602.271.844.363.281.732.800.84

0.070.74-0.93-0.880.480.700.00-3.35-1.03-0.411.081.79-1.790.52-1.360.000.000.240.110.00-0.740.27-0.05-0.38-2.172.69-0.900.00-0.89-1.11-1.061.78-0.74-0.97-1.29-0.16-0.690.71-0.690.490.48-0.25-1.05-0.331.28-1.74-0.060.18-0.82

1,000 43,964 3,924,870 1,711,872 3,149,841 278,053 830,669 1,268,688 6,943,350 157,546 138,000 174,945 1,210,286 817,789 1,471,025 2,393,182 - 1,918,681 357,131 3,739,222 777,064 56,850 3,682 25,935 550,394 52,558,109 1,149,347 2,456,838 4,032,550 3,455,351 21,190 211,421 343,204 6,959,750 558,130 1,271,861 149,547 11,935,099 151,427 7,463,471 3,251,627 335,117 465,348 1,449,679 1,814,253 2,719,147 3,187,231 209,307 1,569,687

QATAR

Company Name Lt Price % Chg Volume

KUWAIT

Company Name Lt Price % Chg Volume

OMAN

Company Name Lt Price % Chg Volume

KUWAIT

Company Name Lt Price % Chg Volume

KUWAIT

Company Name Lt Price % Chg Volume

Oman Packaging

Oman Oil Marketing Company

Oman National Engineering An

Oman Investment & Finance

Oman Flour Mills

Oman Fisheries Co

Oman Europe Foods Industries

Oman Education & Training In

Oman Chromite

Oman Chlorine

Oman Ceramic Company

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Oman Arab Bank Saog

Oman & Emirates Inv(Om)50%

Natl Aluminium Products

National Real Estate Develop

National Mineral Water

National Life & General Insu

National Gas Co

National Finance Co

National Detergent Co Saog

National Biscuit Industries

National Bank Of Oman Saog

Muscat Thread Mills Co

Muscat Insurance Co Saog

Muscat Gases Company Saog

Muscat Finance

Muscat City Desalination Co

Musandam Power Co

Majan Glass Company

Majan College

Hsbc Bank Oman

Hotels Management Co Interna

Gulf Stone

Gulf Mushroom Company

Gulf Investments Services

Gulf Invest. Serv. Pref-Shar

Gulf International Chemicals

Gulf Hotels (Oman) Co Ltd

Global Fin Investment

Galfar Engineering&Contract

Galfar Engineering -Prefer

Financial Services Co.

Financial Corp/The

Dhofar Tourism

Dhofar Poultry

Dhofar Intl Development

Dhofar Insurance

Dhofar Generating Co Saoc

Dhofar Fisheries & Food Indu

Dhofar Cattlefeed

Dhofar Beverages Co

Construction Materials Ind

Computer Stationery Inds

Bankmuscat Saog

Bank Nizwa

Bank Dhofar Saog

Arabia Falcon Insurance Co

Aman Real Estate Inve Reit

Aloula Co

Al-Omaniya Financial Service

Al-Hassan Engineering Co

Al-Fajar Al-Alamia Co

Al-Anwar Ceramic Tiles Co

Al Suwadi Power

Al Sharqiya Invest Holding

Al Maha Petroleum Products M

Al Maha Ceramics Co Saoc

Al Madina Takaful Co Saoc

Al Madina Investment Co

Al Kamil Power Co

Al Jazerah Services -Pfd

Al Jazeera Steel Products Co

Al Jazeera Services

Al Buraimi Hotel

Al Batinah Power

Al Batinah Hotels

Al Batinah Dev & Inv

Al Anwar Investments Co Sao

Al Ahlia Insurance Co Saoc

Ahli Bank

Acwa Power Barka Saog

Abrasives Manufacturing Co S

A’saff a Foods Saog

0Man Oil Marketing Co-Pref

#N/A

0.310.710.100.080.660.091.000.243.640.270.420.280.430.150.040.085.000.090.390.140.130.673.960.130.080.350.200.040.090.310.180.150.081.250.120.310.100.320.113.880.050.050.390.180.080.490.180.240.160.161.280.090.260.030.260.400.100.100.080.100.040.070.010.700.310.050.080.590.260.090.020.270.550.210.310.880.051.130.070.070.330.100.480.050.550.250.00

0.000.003.261.220.000.000.000.000.000.000.000.000.000.000.00-2.410.000.000.000.000.000.000.000.770.000.000.00-5.260.000.000.000.000.000.000.000.000.000.000.000.000.000.000.000.000.000.000.000.000.000.000.00-6.520.000.000.000.500.000.000.000.000.000.000.000.002.614.082.740.00-0.38-1.150.000.000.00-0.475.440.000.000.000.000.000.000.000.000.000.000.000.00

- - 10,500 13,189 10,000 2,000 - - - - - - - - - 175,775 - - 11,000 - - - - 1,313,000 - - - 10,037 494 - - - 333,411 - - - - - - 45 - 463,800 - - - - - - - - - 16,672 - - - 309,252 121 27,929 - - - - - - 476,222 1,301,013 440,887 - 84,945 921,770 85,000 - - 92,000 531,100 - 879,157 - - - - 4,000 400 - 130 - -

Al-Madar Finance & Invt Co

Gulf Petroleum Investment

Mabanee Co Kpsc

Inovest Co Bsc

Al-Deera Holding Co

Mena Real Estate Co

Amar Finance & Leasing Co

United Projects For Aviation

National Consumer Holding Co

Amwal International Investme

Equipment Holding Co K.S.C.C

Arkan Al Kuwait Real Estate

Gfh Financial Group Bsc

Energy House Holding Co Kscp

Kuwait Co For Process Plant

Al Maidan Dental Clinic Co K

National Shooting Company

Al-Ahleia Insurance Co Sakp

Wethaq Takaful Insurance Co

Salbookh Trading Co Kscp

Aqar Real Estate Investments

Hayat Communications

Soor Fuel Marketing Co Ksc

Tamkeen Holding Co

Alargan International Real

Burgan Co For Well Drilling

Kuwait Resorts Co Kscc

Oula Fuel Marketing Co

Palms Agro Production Co

Mubarrad Holding Co Ksc

Shuaiba Industrial Co

Aan Digital Services Co

First Takaful Insurance Co

Kuwaiti Syrian Holding Co

National Cleaning Company

United Real Estate Company

Agility

Kuwait & Middle East Fin Inv

Fujairah Cement Industries

Livestock Transport & Tradng

National Industries Grp Hold

Warba Insurance Co

First Dubai Real Estate Deve

Al Arabi Group Holding Co

Kuwait Hotels Sak

Mobile Telecommunications Co

Eff ect Real Estate Co

Tamdeen Real Estate Co Ksc

Al Mudon Intl Real Estate Co

Kuwait Cement Co Ksc

Sharjah Cement & Indus Devel

Kuwait Portland Cement Co

Educational Holding Group

Bahrain Kuwait Insurance

Asiya Capital Investments Co

Kuwait Investment Co

Burgan Bank

Kuwait Projects Co Holdings

Al Madina For Finance And In

Kuwait Insurance Co

Al Masaken Intl Real Estate

Intl Financial Advisors

First Investment Co Kscc

Al Mal Investment Company

Bayan Investment Co Kscc

Egypt Kuwait Holding Co Sae

Coast Investment Development

Privatization Holding Compan

Injazzat Real State Company

Sanam Real Estate Co Kscc

Aviation Lease And Finance C

Arzan Financial Group For Fi

Ajwan Gulf Real Estate Co

Kuwait Business Town Real Es

Future Kid Entertainment And

Specialities Group Holding C

Dar Al Thuraya Real Estate C

Kgl Logistics Company Kscc

Combined Group Contracting

Jiyad Holding Co Ksc

Warba Capital Holding Co

Gulf Investment House Ksc

Boubyan Bank K.S.C

Ahli United Bank B.S.C

Osos Holding Group Co

Al-Eid Food Ksc

Qurain Petrochemical Industr

Advanced Technology Co

Ekttitab Holding Co Sak

93.1020.30690.0070.7036.9032.7044.50209.0047.0026.5032.0091.0055.0028.00441.001,240.0025.90446.0023.4037.7063.4063.10121.005.20110.00156.0065.40120.0070.0074.50157.0012.7049.0029.8055.0048.30727.00148.0036.90203.00195.00111.0042.70198.0060.00622.0020.50246.0023.00221.0042.40882.00328.00200.0037.70130.00223.00171.0017.70405.0028.80106.0040.005.9045.00350.0042.9042.4078.8029.00209.0096.0010.7051.9080.0082.0060.8031.20206.0048.7050.9082.00546.00234.0092.00114.00350.00542.0017.20

-2.51-0.49-0.86-3.28-7.75-1.210.00-5.00-9.448.163.230.000.921.45-0.450.00-0.38-4.09-0.851.34-2.761.77-0.820.000.00-4.290.15-1.640.001.360.00-1.550.002.761.292.33-1.890.00-5.381.000.006.73-2.950.000.00-0.480.000.00-2.95-1.340.950.230.000.00-2.08-0.760.00-1.72-1.672.53-4.00-4.50-1.720.00-5.260.00-0.23-1.176.92-4.920.48-10.280.008.139.44-1.204.470.00-0.960.410.002.50-1.44-0.43-0.220.00-0.570.00-2.82

250,114 4,538,593 1,116,178 685,580 2,949,844 311,019 - 114,219 2 500 3,287,007 10,000 473,064 33,893 109,703 - 2,210,372 51,491 259,807 231,020 69,000 11,100 44,294 - - 13,645,598 24,422 58,288 - 541,581 15,000 3,750,410 19,567 1,000 1,050,032 250 1,188,241 - 8,046 352,677 2,547,536 784,000 919,136 - - 3,699,425 - 46,050 1,036,023 182,328 218,678 77,882 - - 509,412 2,151,717 3,193,204 1,103,966 5,043,662 4,085 2,732,432 7,438,947 19,677,147 - 1,584,812 - 891,107 5 536 56,129 953,992 41,280,454 - 10,399,840 451 728,358 13,933 - 543,492 500 - 187,559 1,399,238 9,545,609 10,000 562,435 281,527 - 2,044,032

Real Estate Trade Centers Co

Acico Industries Co Kscc

Kipco Asset Management Co

National Petroleum Services

Alimtiaz Investment Group

Ras Al Khaimah White Cement

Kuwait Reinsurance Co Ksc

Kuwait & Gulf Link Transport

Humansoft Holding Co Ksc

Automated Systems Co Kscc

Metal & Recycling Co

Gulf Franchising Holding Co

Al-Enma’a Real Estate Co

National Mobile Telecommuni

Al Bareeq Holding

Unicap Investment And Financ

Al Salam Group Holding Co

Mashaer Holding Co Ksc

Manazel Holding

Tijara And Real Estate Inves

Jazeera Airways Co Ksc

Commercial Real Estate Co

National International Co

Taameer Real Estate Invest C

Heavy Engineering And Ship B

National Real Estate Co

Al Safat Energy Holding Comp

Kuwait National Cinema Co

Danah Alsafat Foodstuff Co

Independent Petroleum Group

Kuwait Real Estate Co Ksc

Salhia Real Estate Co Ksc

Gulf Cable & Electrical Ind

Kuwait Finance House

Gulf North Africa Holding Co

Hilal Cement Co

Osoul Investment Kscc

Gulf Insurance Group Ksc

Umm Al Qaiwain General Inves

Aayan Leasing & Investment

Alrai Media Group Co Ksc

National Investments Co

Commercial Facilities Co

Yiaco Medical Co. K.S.C.C

Dulaqan Real Estate Co

Real Estate Asset Management

Munshaat Real Estate Project

Noor Financial Investment Co

Al Tamdeen Investment Co

Credit Rating & Collection

Ifa Hotels & Resorts Co. K.S

Sokouk Holding Co Sak

29.7086.5080.00890.00113.0065.00430.0055.903,930.0092.50121.0069.0050.70660.0086.0041.0027.6059.5033.5044.00658.0097.0077.3020.00435.0093.9026.40755.0011.80495.00122.00553.00861.00720.0059.5086.5082.70617.0074.90108.0042.80166.00173.00635.00274.0090.2068.00189.00223.0027.0036.8023.30

-1.00-1.03-4.080.56-1.740.00-5.490.000.266.32-9.709.18-0.590.460.000.00-2.470.85-0.590.003.46-1.023.070.001.16-2.49-1.860.000.003.13-0.810.360.35-0.140.850.003.38-3.590.000.000.00-2.920.000.000.000.000.00-4.06-4.700.00-3.920.00

7,895 145,251 255,149 5,730 5,101,540 - 1,014 - 231,671 50,500 154,434 628 296,282 22,738 11,135 - 3,857,297 7,421 709,781 751,005 637,250 4,532,267 30,000 936,015 629,880 1,888,824 732,568 - - 555 6,783,360 981,235 792,902 6,542,194 7,500 - 59,556 5,200 1 7,647,857 - 2,926,092 36,000 - - - - 1,484,022 38,010 24,800 7,150,430 -

OMAN

Company Name % Chg Volume

Voltamp Energy Saog

Vision Insurance Saoc

United Power/Energy Co- Pref

United Power Co Saog

United Finance Co

Ubar Hotels & Resorts

Takaful Oman

Taageer Finance

Sweets Of Oman

Sohar Power Co

Sohar International Bank

Smn Power Holding Saog

Shell Oman Marketing - Pref

Shell Oman Marketing

Sharqiyah Desalination Co Sa

Sembcorp Salalah Power & Wat

Salalah Port Services

Salalah Mills Co

Salalah Beach Resort Saog

Sahara Hospitality

Renaissance Services Saog

Raysut Cement Co

Phoenix Power Co Saoc

Packaging Co Ltd

Ooredoo

Ominvest

Oman United Insurance Co

Oman Telecommunications Co

Oman Refreshment Co

Oman Qatar Insurance Co

0.100.080.900.900.040.130.120.080.550.050.080.071.050.860.140.090.600.551.383.120.340.300.052.210.400.320.380.761.330.10

0.000.000.000.002.780.000.000.000.000.001.33-4.410.00-0.468.001.110.000.000.000.00-0.58-3.23-2.000.000.500.000.00-1.050.000.00

123,398 - - - 20,533 - - - - - 360,000 20,000 - 20,120 76,277 72,000 - - - - 5,816 1,181,393 383,000 - 149,000 30,250 - 28,675 - -

Sultan Center Food Products

Kuwait Foundry Co Sak

Kuwait Financial Centre Sak

Ajial Real Estate Entmt

Kuwait Finance & Investment

National Industries Co Ksc

Kuwait Real Estate Holding C

Securities House/The

Boubyan Petrochemicals Co

Al Ahli Bank Of Kuwait

Ahli United Bank (Almutahed)

National Bank Of Kuwait

Commercial Bank Of Kuwait

Kuwait International Bank

Gulf Bank

Al-Massaleh Real Estate Co

Al Arabiya Real Estate Co

Kuwait Remal Real Estate Co

Alkout Industrial Projects C

A’ayan Real Estate Co Sak

Investors Holding Group Co.K

Al-Mazaya Holding Co

-0.96-1.36-1.31-3.830.230.00-4.92-1.55-0.67-0.500.00-1.190.00-0.50-0.91-1.76-0.743.960.00-0.97-1.740.16

78,519 16,000 180,000 112,968 1,166,163 - 24,000 2,089,370 370,453 216,764 340,176 7,313,224 - 2,252,524 6,593,550 119,389 473,149 2,120,552 - 125,900 4,713,270 826,127

103.00291.0083.10176.0043.30155.0029.0044.60739.00201.00302.00832.00500.00201.00217.0039.0026.8021.00642.0061.4016.9063.20

Lt Price

LATEST MARKET CLOSING FIGURES

SEC data show $359mn of GameStop shares failed to deliverBloombergNew York

On January 28, the day af-ter GameStop Corp ma-nia hit its crescendo on

the back of a short squeeze for the record books, about $359mn worth of shares were caught in limbo.

More than 1mn shares were deemed failed-to-deliver that day due either to buyers lack-ing cash to complete purchases

or sellers not having the shares to settle trades, according to US Securities and Exchange Com-mission data.

The SEC report, which covers trading from January 15 through the end of the month, is just one more indication of the disloca-tion in the market for the video game retailer’s shares.

GameStop stock, for months among the most heavily short-ed on the New York Stock Ex-change, surged more than 1,700% from January 1 through

January 27 as a legion of Reddit users piled on, forcing bearish traders to scramble for shares and brokers to take the highly unusual step of curbing trading.

While the SEC’s list highlights the extent of the short squeeze, on Reddit’s WallStreetBets fo-rum, where the GameStop trade was galvanised, it’s evidence of something else: the unproven theory that hedge funds were engaged in naked short-selling of the shares.

Short sales – when an inves-

tor borrows shares, sells them and then tries to buy them back at a lower price to profit from the difference – are an everyday market occurrence. Naked short selling, the illegal practice of selling shares that aren’t known to exist, is just one possible cause of a failure-to-deliver, with more quotidian reasons being human error and administrative delays.

“Fails-to-deliver can occur for a number of reasons on both long and short sales,” reads a

disclaimer on the SEC website. “Therefore, fails-to-deliver are not necessarily the result of short selling, and are not evi-dence of abusive short selling or ‘naked’ short selling.”

Failures to deliver can result in fines, losses as well as repu-tational harm, and in rare cir-cumstances there’s also a risk they could lead to a reduction of market liquidity.

One thing is clear: the Grape-vine, Texas-based company is an anomaly in the data. Ranked

by the dollar value of traded shares that couldn’t be deliv-ered – a sum that was influ-enced by the ballooning price of GameStop’s shares – it was the only company to appear mul-tiple times in the top 10 during the period. And it was only one of two companies, the other be-ing Li Auto Inc, to feature atop a list dominated by exchange-traded funds.

The data, which is released twice a month, tracks securi-ties that had at least 10,000

shares that failed-to-deliver on a daily basis. The total number of shares for each day is a “cu-mulative number of all fails outstanding until that day, plus new fails that occur that day, less fails that settle that day,” according to the SEC’s website.

About 2.1mn GameStop shares failed-to-deliver on Jan-uary 26 before falling to 138,179 on January 29, the day after Robinhood and other broker-ages began restricting trading in so-called meme stocks.

Infl ation fears top recovery

hopes as stock prices slideAFP, ReutersLondon

Stocks mostly fell yesterday as profi t-taking and growing infl a-tion worries overshadowed op-

timism about an expected strong eco-nomic recovery, the easing coronavirus crisis and US stimulus hopes.

Oil however barrelled upwards to 13-month highs as the severe cold snap in the United States hammered pro-duction, trumping news that Saudi Arabia is planning to hike output in light of rising prices.

Wall Street opened lower, with the Dow shedding 0.7% on data that showed US initial unemployment ben-efi ts applications are on the rise.

London stocks tumbled 1.4% at 6,617.15 points as the pound ap-proached $1.40.

Meanwhile Paris dropped 0.7% at 5,728.33 points and Frankfurt drifted 0.2% lower at 13,886.93 points.

The STOXX 50 closed 0.5% down at 3,681.32 points.

Asian markets struggled. Tokyo, Singapore, Seoul, Wellington, Manila, Mumbai and Bangkok all fell, with Hong Kong more than 1% off after a seven-day run-up.

Shanghai rose as it reopened after a week-long holiday, while Taipei and Jakarta also rose and Sydney was es-sentially unchanged.

Bitcoin, meanwhile, declined to $51,973, having soared on feverish in-vestor demand late Wednesday to a record $52,631.92.

“The quiet atmosphere in European markets has continued,” noted analyst Chris Beauchamp at trading fi rm IG.

“The generally quieter tone to the week, both on the corporate and earn-ings front, has generally left investors without much in the way of a catalyst.”

Global equities have enjoyed bump-er gains on mounting confi dence that the world economy will rebound from last year’s collapse as Covid-19 vac-cination programmes allow people to

slowly get back to a semblance of nor-mality.

Underpinning that has been vast amounts of government spending as well as ultra-loose central bank mon-etary policies and pledges of continued support until the recovery is well un-derway.

At the same time, that has stoked fears over a surge in infl ation and pro-duced a spike in US Treasury yields to around one-year highs.

“Stocks desperately need a real pick me up as the index level’s lack of en-thusiasm was palatable today,” Axi analyst Stephen Innes said.

“I think it is due to no other reason than its tough to hold a view until the next destination for yields becomes clearer.”

Meanwhile, analyst Connor Camp-bell at Spreadex said: “Given their recent levels, it’s not really a surprise that certain markets were in danger of moving sharply lower at the slightest provocation.”

London’s FTSE 100 that has been the strength of the pound, which ap-proached $1.40, a level unseen in near-ly three years. “With sterling’s surge creating a nightmare for its numer-ous multinationals, the FTSE sank,” Campbell said.

Many multinationals listed on the FTSE make most of their earnings in dollars, so a strong pound weakens sales and profi ts when they are con-verted.

Strong US retail sales, new signs the Federal Reserve will maintain its ac-commodative stance, and an ongoing push for further US stimulus have bol-stered economic optimism, but some analysts remain cautious because new strains of the coronavirus continue to emerge.

“With an even larger stimulus pack-age likely to be passed by Congress be-fore the end of March, the US economic recovery could gain more momentum in 2021,” wrote Commonwealth Bank of Australia currency analyst Carol Kong.

“Despite the recent positive vaccine developments, the global economic outlook remains uncertain partly be-cause of the spreading virus variants.”

Australian stocks rose 0.01%.Shares in China, which traded for

the fi rst time since the week-long Lu-nar New Year holiday, started brightly but later fell after the Peoples’ Bank of China drained 260bn yuan ($40.31bn) from money markets, raising concerns about tightening liquidity.

The MSCI’s global stock index fell 0.1% but was still near a record high.

In contrast to concerns about tight-ening in China, minutes from the Janu-ary Fed meeting showed policymakers willing to push further accommoda-tion to boost the pandemic-scarred

The dollar index, a measure of the currency’s strength against six other major currencies, was steady, holding onto a 0.25% gain from the previous session.

The risk-on appetite was apparent in bitcoin, which continued its upward march to exceed $52,000 amid signs it may be gaining more mainstream ac-ceptance.

Cryptocurrency ethereum also rose more than 2% to new record high of $1,900.

The two-year US Treasury yield briefl y touched a record low of 0.1049%. Benchmark 10-year yields eased slightly to 1.2771%, pulling away from the highest level since Feb.

27, 2020 as some investors judged that recent selling of fi xed income had gone too far.

An ongoing deep freeze in Texas con-tinued to drive up oil prices, as the unu-sually cold weather hampered output at the largest US crude producing state.

Brent crude gained 1.38% to $65.23 a barrel, while US West Texas Interme-diate (WTI) crude rose 1.08% to $61.80 a barrel, both reaching levels not seen since January last year.

Spot gold edged up 0.41% to $1,783.61 per ounce.

US gold futures rose 0.28% to $1,776.10 per ounce.

Apple Inc

Amgen Inc

American Express Co

Boeing Co/The

Caterpillar Inc

Salesforce.Com Inc

Cisco Systems Inc

Chevron Corp

Walt Disney Co/The

Dow Inc

Goldman Sachs Group Inc

Home Depot Inc

Honeywell International Inc

Intl Business Machines Corp

Intel Corp

Johnson & Johnson

Jpmorgan Chase & Co

Coca-Cola Co/The

Mcdonald’s Corp

3M Co

Merck & Co. Inc.

Microsoft Corp

Nike Inc -Cl B

Procter & Gamble Co/The

Travelers Cos Inc/The

Unitedhealth Group Inc

Visa Inc-Class A Shares

Verizon Communications Inc

Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc

Walmart Inc

128.25235.05126.57209.75199.98245.1546.0995.03184.0358.09308.24284.09201.94120.2061.24165.61144.5450.50213.95177.4175.72241.82141.89128.79147.76326.64206.5357.5348.99139.00

-1.98-0.24-1.55-2.68-1.15-1.01-0.35-0.93-1.29-0.77-1.441.130.020.19-0.99-0.03-0.390.740.230.430.24-0.97-1.460.26-0.46-0.07-0.470.94-1.15-5.57

7,039,354 126,940 116,651 539,071 134,022 319,686 1,296,100 530,026 466,425 132,341 137,741 215,671 85,224 222,012 1,646,571 384,525 752,240 756,845 160,150 101,796 566,294 1,573,544 273,759 231,647 35,607 115,586 342,164 1,559,090 365,434 2,543,293

DJIA

Company Name Lt Price % Chg Volume

Anglo American Plc

Associated British Foods Plc

Admiral Group Plc

Ashtead Group Plc

Antofagasta Plc

Auto Trader Group Plc

Aviva Plc

Avast Plc

Aveva Group Plc

Astrazeneca Plc

Bae Systems Plc

Barclays Plc

British American Tobacco Plc

Barratt Developments Plc

Bhp Group Plc

Berkeley Group Holdings/The

British Land Co Plc

B&M European Value Retail Sa

Bunzl Plc

Bp Plc

Burberry Group Plc

Bt Group Plc

Coca-Cola Hbc Ag-Di

Compass Group Plc

Croda International Plc

Crh Plc

Dcc Plc

Diageo Plc

Evraz Plc

Experian Plc

Ferguson Plc

Flutter Entertainment Plc

Fresnillo Plc

Glencore Plc

Glaxosmithkline Plc

Gvc Holdings Plc

Hikma Pharmaceuticals Plc

Hargreaves Lansdown Plc

Halma Plc

Hsbc Holdings Plc

Homeserve Plc

Intl Consolidated Airline-Di

Intermediate Capital Group

Intercontinental Hotels Grou

3I Group Plc

Imperial Brands Plc

Informa Plc

Intertek Group Plc

Jd Sports Fashion Plc

Just Eat Takeaway

Johnson Matthey Plc

Kingfisher Plc

Land Securities Group Plc

Legal & General Group Plc

Lloyds Banking Group Plc

London Stock Exchange Group

Mondi Plc

M&G Plc

Melrose Industries Plc

Wm Morrison Supermarkets

National Grid Plc

Natwest Group Plc

Next Plc

Ocado Group Plc

Phoenix Group Holdings Plc

Pennon Group Plc

Polymetal International Plc

Prudential Plc

Persimmon Plc

Pearson Plc

Reckitt Benckiser Group Plc

Royal Dutch Shell Plc-A Shs

Royal Dutch Shell Plc-B Shs

Relx Plc

Rio Tinto Plc

Rightmove Plc

Rolls-Royce Holdings Plc

Rsa Insurance Group Plc

Rentokil Initial Plc

Sainsbury (J) Plc

Schroders Plc

Sage Group Plc/The

Segro Plc

Smurfit Kappa Group Plc

Standard Life Aberdeen Plc

Ds Smith Plc

Smiths Group Plc

Scottish Mortgage Inv Tr Plc

Smith & Nephew Plc

Spirax-Sarco Engineering Plc

Sse Plc

Standard Chartered Plc

St James’s Place Plc

Severn Trent Plc

Tesco Plc

Taylor Wimpey Plc

Unilever Plc

United Utilities Group Plc

Vodafone Group Plc

Wpp Plc

Whitbread Plc

2,762.502,313.003,057.003,930.001,707.50600.00362.80487.803,804.007,406.00472.40146.022,601.00681.002,233.004,334.00458.40585.802,296.00269.751,815.50127.052,326.001,417.006,510.003,109.005,958.003,015.00534.802,585.008,634.0013,715.00959.20290.451,236.600.002,385.001,530.502,490.00417.501,045.00155.451,900.004,971.001,135.501,427.00503.205,872.00820.407,502.003,041.00279.30618.30261.4037.220.001,793.50184.45165.45172.15855.40171.857,612.002,556.00699.20902.001,523.501,383.502,754.00756.806,262.001,388.001,330.201,797.006,207.00648.2095.94675.80509.00229.603,471.00601.80955.203,590.00320.20383.601,466.001,341.001,479.0011,430.001,419.50490.401,187.502,269.00229.80160.353,958.00916.40130.18831.403,345.00

-0.610.22-0.101.50-0.411.150.33-0.41-0.89-0.20-1.97-5.40-1.480.15-0.51-0.05-2.43-2.53-0.65-3.87-2.39-2.16-0.77-2.14-0.76-1.550.07-1.021.06-0.96-0.58-1.15-1.420.78-3.120.00-0.29-0.58-1.15-3.410.48-2.32-0.37-0.70-1.82-5.18-1.45-0.20-1.30-0.79-0.331.42-2.81-1.88-4.380.00-2.07-1.52-3.47-0.78-1.06-3.54-1.78-1.43-1.96-1.96-1.77-1.11-0.18-0.18-0.35-3.52-3.38-1.80-0.450.81-6.22-0.06-1.05-0.86-2.200.94-1.28-1.05-0.87-0.78-1.28-2.19-5.65-2.06-0.60-1.43-1.49-2.78-3.30-0.12-0.55-1.93-1.900.10-0.62

1,822,401 307,325 117,642 395,573 1,145,839 684,585 5,117,017 771,518 109,909 1,411,785 3,113,394 47,924,921 3,005,364 730,092 3,455,420 214,521 1,076,866 1,509,109 160,962 38,415,143 642,911 8,560,937 141,302 1,110,280 97,184 448,140 99,580 1,160,703 1,082,967 579,851 231,445 145,188 662,633 25,587,511 7,781,922 - 152,519 823,556 317,654 10,797,620 253,407 18,060,344 395,141 207,956 344,526 1,088,819 797,241 76,855 640,141 65,354 206,942 1,721,363 677,093 3,452,477 174,006,201 - 681,982 3,211,296 3,571,805 5,000,162 2,284,552 8,857,246 153,114 359,622 361,198 293,627 1,018,878 2,042,679 226,516 576,443 385,570 2,400,126 3,180,023 1,557,926 1,579,752 967,088 27,478,224 4,102,463 678,162 1,843,892 59,475 1,895,340 696,852 94,195 2,056,069 1,793,768 248,599 3,809,197 1,479,000 36,869 741,014 5,599,998 387,198 207,455 16,227,673 3,163,568 2,178,785 403,654 31,712,105 940,141 239,653 -

FTSE 100

Company Name Lt Price % Chg Volume

Asahi Kasei Corp

Kirin Holdings Co Ltd

Mitsubishi Ufj Financial Gro

Marubeni Corp

Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings

Fanuc Corp

Ms&Ad Insurance Group Holdin

Kubota Corp

Seven & I Holdings Co Ltd

Resona Holdings Inc

Chugai Pharmaceutical Co Ltd

Ana Holdings Inc

Mitsubishi Electric Corp

Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Gr

Olympus Corp

Shimano Inc

Honda Motor Co Ltd

Fast Retailing Co Ltd

Japan Post Holdings Co Ltd

1,163.502,114.00553.50777.40733.7029,050.003,117.002,459.504,240.00433.305,362.002,519.001,626.003,733.002,334.5026,315.003,052.00107,350.00901.00

-1.52-1.90-2.23-1.62-0.770.17-1.551.40-0.45-3.192.170.80-3.87-2.180.841.17-1.174.58-1.58

3,057,600 3,112,100 85,244,800 9,333,400 4,740,500 775,200 1,611,000 3,104,000 2,195,100 12,728,100 2,111,900 9,671,000 5,271,500 7,823,100 4,648,400 256,300 4,787,000 838,600 7,714,700

TOKYO

Company Name Lt Price % Chg Volume

Hitachi Ltd

Takeda Pharmaceutical Co Ltd

Sumitomo Corp

Canon Inc

Eisai Co Ltd

Nintendo Co Ltd

Smc Corp

Mitsubishi Corp

Japan Exchange Group Inc

Unicharm Corp

Shin-Etsu Chemical Co Ltd

Sumitomo Realty & Developmen

Orix Corp

Sumitomo Metal Mining Co Ltd

Asahi Group Holdings Ltd

Keyence Corp

Nidec Corp

Mizuho Financial Group Inc

Nomura Holdings Inc

Subaru Corp

Daiichi Sankyo Co Ltd

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdin

Japan Tobacco Inc

Z Holdings Corp

Sumitomo Electric Industries

Daiwa Securities Group Inc

Softbank Group Corp

Mitsui Fudosan Co Ltd

Ono Pharmaceutical Co Ltd

Ajinomoto Co Inc

Daikin Industries Ltd

Toray Industries Inc

Astellas Pharma Inc

Bridgestone Corp

Sony Corp

Hoya Corp

Eneos Holdings Inc

Nippon Steel Corp

Suzuki Motor Corp

Nippon Telegraph & Telephone

Denso Corp

Sompo Holdings Inc

Daiwa House Industry Co Ltd

Komatsu Ltd

West Japan Railway Co

Murata Manufacturing Co Ltd

Kansai Electric Power Co Inc

Bandai Namco Holdings Inc

Kao Corp

Dai-Ichi Life Holdings Inc

Mitsui & Co Ltd

Otsuka Holdings Co Ltd

Oriental Land Co Ltd

Secom Co Ltd

Sekisui House Ltd

Aeon Co Ltd

Tokio Marine Holdings Inc

Kddi Corp

Kyocera Corp

Nissan Motor Co Ltd

Central Japan Railway Co

Nitori Holdings Co Ltd

Toyota Motor Corp

Recruit Holdings Co Ltd

Softbank Corp

Tokyo Gas Co Ltd

Tokyo Electron Ltd

Panasonic Corp

Fujitsu Ltd

M3 Inc

Itochu Corp

East Japan Railway Co

Fujifilm Holdings Corp

Chubu Electric Power Co Inc

Sysmex Corp

Mitsubishi Estate Co Ltd

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries

Shiseido Co Ltd

Shionogi & Co Ltd

Terumo Corp

#N/A Invalid Security

4,800.003,740.001,529.002,339.007,738.0068,600.0065,820.002,977.002,440.004,904.0018,540.003,583.001,802.005,229.004,619.0058,140.0014,600.001,570.00630.402,028.503,316.003,522.001,950.00639.101,556.50534.3010,340.002,400.003,090.002,288.5023,255.00712.501,779.504,219.0012,000.0013,195.00464.001,526.505,023.002,848.506,728.004,190.003,272.003,231.006,359.009,667.001,094.508,876.007,504.001,890.502,158.504,529.0018,355.009,882.002,082.503,546.005,400.003,362.006,996.00595.4017,740.0021,355.008,093.005,312.001,442.502,300.5042,880.001,459.5015,735.008,886.003,182.007,635.006,350.001,345.0011,845.001,863.003,077.008,250.005,984.004,541.000.00

-3.480.73-1.61-1.890.30-0.01-0.48-0.23-1.01-0.59-1.12-1.13-3.17-3.18-1.79-0.14-2.18-2.24-3.19-2.920.42-2.06-0.46-3.43-2.26-2.80-0.62-2.100.32-0.740.020.54-0.06-1.22-1.64-0.15-1.74-3.75-3.22-1.18-0.31-2.63-1.53-1.52-0.64-1.841.81-1.671.41-1.79-1.210.530.96-0.82-1.95-2.15-2.030.12-1.55-3.640.080.80-1.870.13-1.402.34-0.60-2.57-0.470.41-0.78-0.970.781.550.590.00-3.060.33-1.040.550.00

TOKYO

Company Name Lt Price % Chg

Ck Hutchison Holdings Ltd

Hang Lung Properties Ltd

Ck Infrastructure Holdings L

Hengan Intl Group Co Ltd

Cspc Pharmaceutical Group Lt

Hang Seng Bank Ltd

China Resources Land Ltd

Ck Asset Holdings Ltd

Sino Biopharmaceutical

Henderson Land Development

Aia Group Ltd

Ind & Comm Bk Of China-H

Sun Hung Kai Properties

New World Development

Geely Automobile Holdings Lt

Xiaomi Corp-Class B

Swire Pacific Ltd - Cl A

Sands China Ltd

Wharf Real Estate Investment

Clp Holdings Ltd

Country Garden Holdings Co

Aac Technologies Holdings In

Wuxi Biologics Cayman Inc

Shenzhou International Group

Ping An Insurance Group Co-H

China Mengniu Dairy Co

Sunny Optical Tech

Boc Hong Kong Holdings Ltd

China Life Insurance Co-H

Citic Ltd

Galaxy Entertainment Group L

Wh Group Ltd

55.1021.8542.5055.108.27150.4032.4041.257.5931.85101.405.08111.1037.1529.4028.8055.8036.0046.2572.359.3045.40116.40181.1093.2047.10226.6024.1016.826.4168.306.51

-0.810.00-1.050.27-1.55-1.052.210.12-1.81-1.09-3.98-1.360.09-0.67-2.65-2.371.09-0.41-5.320.21-0.21-5.81-5.13-0.220.11-2.48-2.50-0.62-1.640.79-2.15-0.31

5,145,826 6,284,710 1,596,711 5,697,785 59,130,953 1,560,656 15,970,413 16,051,491 78,617,429 2,461,665 24,064,536 370,757,256 2,111,288 4,694,268 60,971,955 212,077,811 2,534,888 25,166,986 6,229,674 2,865,739 32,946,995 19,942,393 24,194,063 3,153,193 39,147,120 19,103,610 8,137,334 13,167,612 72,170,299 36,321,827 12,421,724 43,292,278

HONG KONG

Company Name Lt Price % Chg Volume

Hong Kong & China Gas

Bank Of Communications Co-H

China Petroleum & Chemical-H

Hong Kong Exchanges & Clear

Bank Of China Ltd-H

Hsbc Holdings Plc

Power Assets Holdings Ltd

Mtr Corp

Techtronic Industries Co Ltd

China Overseas Land & Invest

Tencent Holdings Ltd

China Unicom Hong Kong Ltd

Link Reit

Petrochina Co Ltd-H

Cnooc Ltd

China Construction Bank-H

China Mobile Ltd

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd

11.064.484.34565.502.7246.4041.5544.90128.6018.42747.504.7569.602.7010.126.2350.50260.40

0.00-1.540.000.35-1.090.760.24-0.11-1.23-0.43-1.321.501.24-1.821.50-2.042.02-2.47

17,853,533 35,977,004 381,007,255 7,518,475 331,683,544 45,469,560 3,242,549 2,694,671 3,920,845 32,438,794 24,241,947 221,541,487 9,397,424 284,379,094 487,045,276 312,189,300 193,349,199 29,507,989

HONG KONG

Company Name Lt Price % Chg Volume

Adani Ports And Special Econ

Asian Paints Ltd

Axis Bank Ltd

Bajaj Finance Ltd

Bharti Airtel Ltd

Bajaj Auto Ltd

Bajaj Finserv Ltd

Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd

Britannia Industries Ltd

Cipla Ltd

Coal India Ltd

Divi’s Laboratories Ltd

Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories

Eicher Motors Ltd

Gail India Ltd

Grasim Industries Ltd

Hcl Technologies Ltd

Housing Development Finance

Hdfc Bank Limited

Hdfc Life Insurance Co Ltd

Hero Motocorp Ltd

Hindalco Industries Ltd

Hindustan Unilever Ltd

Icici Bank Ltd

Indusind Bank Ltd

Infosys Ltd

Indian Oil Corp Ltd

Itc Ltd

Jsw Steel Ltd

Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd

Larsen & Toubro Ltd

Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd

Maruti Suzuki India Ltd

Nestle India Ltd

Ntpc Ltd

Oil & Natural Gas Corp Ltd

Power Grid Corp Of India Ltd

Reliance Industries Ltd

Sbi Life Insurance Co Ltd

State Bank Of India

Shree Cement Ltd

Sun Pharmaceutical Indus

Tata Steel Ltd

Tata Consultancy Svcs Ltd

Tech Mahindra Ltd

Titan Co Ltd

Tata Motors Ltd

Upl Ltd

Ultratech Cement Ltd

Wipro Ltd

664.052,470.75777.005,563.35589.054,115.4510,198.95432.203,359.45825.45139.953,587.654,616.952,650.20143.101,229.65948.102,745.151,554.30713.453,522.85309.902,146.85644.651,046.051,292.4599.00218.85407.651,945.451,524.60894.457,497.5516,364.70103.40110.70236.502,067.70893.50415.2027,623.35616.05697.753,057.351,010.601,433.00323.85541.056,325.85432.95

1.273.46-0.10-2.49-0.81-1.210.134.98-0.14-1.233.51-0.760.36-1.686.47-0.710.52-2.15-2.031.47-1.711.97-0.79-1.931.240.874.210.51-0.26-2.21-1.53-2.24-0.08-2.254.088.262.80-0.751.860.84-2.28-0.840.14-0.513.08-1.88-1.910.38-1.450.64

SENSEX

Company Name Lt Price % Chg

WORLD INDICESIndices Lt Price Change

GCC INDICESIndices Lt Price Change

Dow Jones Indus. Avg

S&P 500 Index

Nasdaq Composite Index

S&P/Tsx Composite Index

Mexico Bolsa Index

Brazil Bovespa Stock Idx

Ftse 100 Index

Cac 40 Index

Dax Index

Ibex 35 Tr

Nikkei 225

Japan Topix

Hang Seng Index

All Ordinaries Indx

Nzx All Index

Bse Sensex 30 Index

Nse S&P Cnx Nifty Index

Straits Times Index

Karachi All Share Index

Jakarta Composite Index

31,384.133,895.5313,783.1818,265.8044,787.67119,271.306,605.645,730.1113,891.488,059.80

30,236.091,941.9130,595.277,155.472,080.4051,324.6915,118.952,908.8531,759.826,200.31

-228.89-35.80-182.32-108.98-274.28-1,084.50-105.26-35.73-17.79-62.90

-56.10-19.58-489.67-3.35-6.72-379.14-89.95-11.58-288.86-27.42

Doha Securities Market

Kuwait Stocks Exchange

Oman Stock Market

10,273.35

4,662.81

3,565.55

-69.35

-19.00

+7.09

“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.”

3,810,100 5,862,400 3,684,000 3,499,200 682,300 1,171,400 180,100 6,882,200 935,900 1,541,100 895,000 1,144,400 6,587,800 1,577,600 2,754,100 426,100 1,789,800 8,308,500 17,364,700 7,010,700 2,377,200 1,488,900 7,083,200 21,874,700 2,279,000 4,624,500 9,582,500 2,985,900 1,026,100 1,789,000 700,900 6,285,900 4,487,500 2,207,000 4,005,900 832,300 30,147,600 6,124,700 1,489,200 6,935,600 1,482,700 1,015,200 1,229,800 2,965,300 975,000 2,691,100 3,087,700 943,600 1,897,600 5,646,900 6,651,000 756,600 817,500 424,900 1,743,800 2,505,600 1,878,900 4,694,400 753,200 21,890,100 820,200 437,300 7,024,800 3,473,800 10,200,800 1,759,800 765,900 6,236,200 625,500 3,296,100 4,424,300 1,438,600 1,192,200 1,731,600 295,400 3,457,000 1,713,900 1,428,400 1,059,600 1,829,900 -

13,189,027 4,253,843 19,685,663 2,317,513 21,784,559 440,460 434,741 20,755,494 616,156 4,114,251 22,069,738 884,937 1,029,506 1,924,724 114,715,328 1,536,486 5,133,094 2,937,262 7,360,280 2,949,918 1,701,157 16,202,053 3,205,806 27,845,347 8,911,120 6,437,551 54,055,390 24,070,563 5,889,983 3,538,208 2,446,843 4,616,205 821,462 251,066 50,705,280 110,000,964 24,914,207 8,605,531 2,387,930 67,154,539 63,910 5,633,766 14,856,147 4,189,909 6,742,595 2,686,046 49,204,247 6,399,026 573,974 8,385,736

Volume

Volume

Visitors pass a London Stock Exchange sign inside the main atrium of the London Stock Exchange Group headquarters. London stocks tumbled 1.4% at 6,617.15 points as the pound approached $1.40 yesterday.

BUSINESS5Gulf Times

Friday, February 19, 2021

BUSINESSGulf Times Friday, February 19, 20216

WTO needs to show results on economic crisis, vaccines: Okonjo-IwealaAFPWashington

Nigeria’s Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, newly selected head of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), said she will push for concrete results in addressing the dual economic and health crises facing the globe.Her immediate goals are to ensure vaccines are produced and distributed worldwide, not just for rich nations, and to resist the push towards protectionism that worsened during the pandemic, so that free trade can help the economic recovery.“I think the WTO is too important to allow it to be slowed down, paralysed and moribund,” she told AFP in an interview on Wednesday. “That’s not right.”She will take over leadership on March 1 of an institution that has become weighed down and increasingly defanged, especially by the open hostility of Donald Trump’s administration.Amid the turmoil, including the US move that shutdown the dispute resolution court in December 2019 about complaints about handling of disputes with China, her predecessor stepped down last August, a year before his term was up.Selected by the membership on Monday, after US President Joe Biden’s administration backed her candidacy, Okonjo-Iweala promised to breathe fresh life into the trade body which she says has lost focus on helping improve living conditions for real people.“I believe the WTO can contribute more strongly to a resolution of the Covid-19 pandemic by helping to improve access accessibility and aff ordability of vaccines to poor countries,” she said.“It’s really in the self-interest of every country to see everyone vaccinated because you’re not safe until everyone is safe.”Some countries, such as India and South Africa, have been pushing for a suspension of trade rules on patents to allow more rapid vaccine rollout.But rather than get caught in another squabble among WTO members, Okonjo-Iweala said the organisation could promote a quicker path.“Instead of spending time arguing on those we should look at what the private sector is doing” with licensing agreements, to allow vaccines to be produced in

multiple countries – something she noted AstraZeneca already has done in India.“The private sector has already looked for a solution because they want to be part of reaching poor countries and poor people,” she said.In addition, the WTO needs to work to ward off the trend towards export restrictions for medical devices and therapeutics, as well as the possibility of restrictions on the vaccines themselves.While it is natural for politicians to help their own countries first, she warned that supply chains are tightly linked and cannot be quickly disentangled to create all-domestic production.The MIT-trained economist, who served as Nigeria’s first woman and longest serving finance minister, who also is a US citizen, is adamant the WTO must return to its original function of helping countries to deliver better living standards to their people.“It’s about creating employment, decent work for people. It’s about... improving

lives,” she said. “There is definitely a role for trade to play in the recovery” from the Covid-19 economic crisis.Even before the pandemic sparked a global recession, the organisation had lost sight of that goal, she said, lamenting the example of the negotiations over a fisheries subsidies agreement that has dragged on for two decades.“This cannot go on. We must bring it to a conclusion. We can’t afford to fail on this.”The talks, which aim to end subsidies that lead to overfishing, failed to yield an agreement by the end-2020 deadline.She blamed some of the calcification on the dominance of negotiators, which she called an “Achilles heel” of the WTO.“Geneva is full of negotiating experts, but the problems have not been solved they’ve gotten worse,” she said. “For them it’s all about winning or not losing and so they stalemate each other.”The WTO needs “something entirely diff erent” to turn things around, she said,

rejecting criticism from some sectors that she lacks trade experience.“You need strong political skills you need the ability to manoeuvre,” she said, adding that she can serve as a bridge between developed and developing nations, pulling on her 25-year career at the World Bank as well.She also intends to push to schedule the pandemic-delayed WTO ministerial meeting by the end of this year to start which will allow her to spark movement on critical issues.Okonjo-Iweala will once again be the first woman in a key leadership role, taking over the WTO for a term that runs through August 31, 2025, but is renewable.She agreed it was a challenging, thankless job, but said that make her even more passionate to show results, so that in future no one can question placing a woman in the role.“That means I need people to support me even more. I need more co-operation,” she said.

EU to push greener trade policy, WTO reform

AFPBrussels

The European Union will make fighting the climate emergency central to its trade policy and push for major reform at the WTO, according to a new strategy revealed yesterday.The new thinking on EU trade policy came with hopes in Brussels for deeper cooperation with the Biden Administration in the US after four years of fractious ties with the protectionist Donald Trump.The EU, a massive market of 450mn people, has struggled to meet its trade policy objectives in the face of US protectionism and other obstacles.A top off icial of the European Commission, which handles trade policy for the EU’s 27 member states, announced the new strategy, which is intended to help set goals over the next 10 years.“The challenges we face require a new strategy for EU trade policy,” EU Executive Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis, who leads the bloc’s trade policy, said in a statement.“Trade policy must fully support the green and digital transformations of our economy and lead global eff orts to reform the WTO,” he said.In its new vision, the Commission proposed that future trade deals embrace the 2015 Paris climate change agreement, whose absence from previous accords has been seen as a major shortcoming.

One example is the EU’s long-negotiated trade deal with the South American Mercosur countries, which is in jeopardy because of concerns over mass deforestation in Brazil.Brussels will also seek to become more assertive in projecting its independence from the US and Chinese economic behemoths, with an embrace of multilateralism to include India and African nations.This would require a major overhaul of the 164-member World Trade Organization that has been crippled by a deep rift with the US, which believes its rules are inadequate on reining in China.“The global rulebook is outdated. It no longer guarantees a level playing field,” Dombrovskis said. The new appointment of Nigerian-American Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala as the WTO’s new head presents “an opportunity for a fresh start,” the commission said.She will take over leadership on March 1 of an institution that has become weighed down and increasingly defanged, notably by Washington’s refusal to replace key posts.The EU also said it would set up mechanisms to ensure that companies do not use forced labour, an especially sensitive topic after Europe signed a controversial investment deal with China in December.That deal faces a tough ratification process, with the European Parliament keen for Beijing to sign on to the International Labour Organisation’s ban on the use of forced labour.

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala’s immediate goals as WTO chief are to ensure vaccines are produced and distributed worldwide, not just for rich nations, and to resist the push towards protectionism that worsened during the pandemic, so that free trade can help the economic recovery.

BUSINESS7Gulf Times

Friday, February 19, 2021

Daimler sees good times ahead despite pandemicCORPORATE RESULTS

German automobile giant Daimler yesterday predicted its sales and revenues will rise “significantly” in 2021, despite the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.“We are confident that we can maintain positive momentum if current market conditions prevail,” CEO Ola Kallenius said in a statement.Current shortages of semiconductor chips that are slowing car production worldwide “can be compensated for by the end of the year”, the Mercedez-Benz maker said.Outsized demand for personal electronics as huge swathes of populations work from home during the pandemic has led to an acute shortage of semiconductor chips.For 2020, Daimler booked €4.0bn in net profit, a 48% increase on the previous year when it was hit by one-off expenses.The group confirmed preliminary results from January showing profit before interest and taxes

(EBIT) of €6.6bn ($8.0bn), up by around half on 2019’s figure.Activity rebounded sharply in the fourth quarter after a dramatic slowdown early in the year due to the pandemic.Daimler said it expects the global economy to recover strongly in 2021 “in the absence of further unexpected pandemic-related setbacks”. The group announced in early February that it would spin off its truck division and rename itself Mercedes-Benz after its top-selling luxury brand.Shares in the new truck company will be off ered to the group’s existing shareholders.The planned listing on the Frankfurt stock exchange will be put to shareholders for approval during an extraordinary meeting likely during the third quarter of the year.Daimler also warned that the positive effects expected in the second half of the year

“cannot be reliably determined at present”.

Barclays

British bank Barclays yesterday announced a 38% slump in net profit for 2020 and said expenses related to the coronavirus pandemic were set to stay high this year.Profit after tax fell to £1.53bn ($2.12bn, €1.76bn), Barclays said in a statement.Group credit impairment charges shot up to £4.8bn from £1.9bn owing “to the deterioration in the economic outlook driven by the Covid-19 pandemic”, the bank said.Despite the tough year, “Barclays remains well capitalised, well provisioned for impairments...with a strong balance sheet, and competitive market positions across the group”, chief executive Jes Staley said in the statement.“We expect that our resilient and diversified business model will deliver a meaningful

improvement in returns in 2021,” he added.As well as off ering a dividend to shareholders, Barclays said it would buy back shares at a cost of up to £700mn.The bonus pool for 2020 stood at around £1.6bn, up 6%.At the same time, the bank said that “Covid-19 related expenses are likely to remain elevated in 2021”.Barclays has kicked off the annual earnings round from Britain’s major banks, with NatWest – formerly Royal Bank of Scotland – reporting today, before updates from HSBC and Lloyds next week.Barclays’ “results are far from perfect, but in opening the reporting season it has set the bar high for its rivals”, said Richard Hunter, head of markets at trading group Interactive Investor.“The announced share buyback of £700mn should lend some support to the share price (going forward) and is indicative of management confidence in prospects.”The bank said that group income edged up 1.0% last year to £21.8bn, as a hefty drop in consumer payments off set a strong performance by its investment bank division.Stock markets have surged in recent months on economic recovery hopes following the production of Covid-19 vaccines that governments worldwide are starting to roll out.Staley said he was looking forward to welcoming staff back to the bank’s off ices later in the year.“Right now there is no plan to make a major real estate move” regarding Barclays’ headquarters in London, he said, amid expectations that off ice staff in general could continue working from home even after vaccination.Staley noted that Barclays had moved some staff to its European headquarters in Dublin following Brexit. He insisted however that “the EU will want to stay connected to the capital markets in London” after Britain’s formal divorce from the bloc at the start of 2021.

Credit Suisse

Credit Suisse, Switzerland’s number two bank, said yesterday that its 2020 net profit tumbled 22% to 2.7bn Swiss francs (€2.4bn), hit by the pandemic downturn and provisions.Income was flat at 22.3bn Swiss francs as international fund management suff ered, but this was off set in part by gains in investment services, it said.Fund management fell 8.0% to 13.6bn Swiss francs as a drop in commission charges undercut an increase in business.The investment banking arm saw turnover jump 19% to 10.2bn Swiss francs, reflecting the rebound in financial markets after the initial sharp falls of early 2020 caused by the pandemic.Credit Suisse said it set aside provisions of just under one billion Swiss francs to cover legal disputes dating back to the global financial crisis in 2008-09, and also took restructuring charges.

For 2021, the bank said it had got off to a “very good” start, but it warned that the “Covid-19 pandemic is not over... and the pace of the recovery remains uncertain.”

Walmart

Walmart reported another round of strong sales yesterday amid the coronavirus pandemic as it announced significant investments on higher employee wages and technology for growing e-commerce demand.The retail giant, which has become a one-stop shop for many consumers during the pandemic, said the new investments will bolster delivery and curbside pickup programs connected to e-commerce and lift wages for some 425,000 US workers.“Our business is strong, and we’re making it even stronger with targeted investments to accelerate growth,” said chief executive Doug McMillon.“This is a time to be even more aggressive because of the opportunity we see in front of us.”Walmart reported a fourth-quarter loss of $2.1bn from the accounting for asset sales, compared with profits of $4.1bn in the year-ago period.Revenues rose 7.3% to $152.1bn as the company pointed to a bounce from a strong holiday shopping season and a lift from a fresh US government stimulus package enacted at the end of 2020.For all of 2020, Walmart reported profit of $13.5bn, down 9.8%.Annual revenues jumped 6.7% to $524bn.At a presentation to Wall Street analysts, Walmart executives said they planned new investments on automation and supply chain improvements in line with a “hybrid” model of traditional and digital commerce.“We know where the customer is going,” said McMillon, who said the spending would boost e-commerce off erings and the attractiveness of “Walmart +,” a subscription plan that includes grocery delivery and is a rival to Amazon’s “Prime” service.Walmart projected capital spending of $14bn in fiscal 2022 compared with $10.3bn in the year that just ended.The wage increases will lift Walmart’s US employee average wage to above $15 per hour.However, Walmart did not alter its national minimum wage, which is currently $11 an hour.President Joe Biden and congressional Democrats have championed legislation to boost the US minimum wage to $15 an hour from the current $7.25 an hour.However, the fate of the plan is uncertain.Republicans so far oppose the plan and some Democrats have baulked at the size of the increase.McMillon, in response to an analyst question, said $15 an hour was an “important target” for the company, but that wage increases should be “paced to the US economy” and take into account regional cost-of-living patterns.

Asian equity markets slip as infl ation fears trump recovery hopesAFPHong Kong

Asian markets mostly fell yesterday on profi t-taking and growing wor-ries about infl ation, which off set

long-running optimism about the global recovery as vaccines are rolled out, infec-tion rates slow and Joe Biden’s stimulus winds through Congress.

Oil prices pushed further up to 13-month highs as the severe cold snap in the United States hammers production, even trumping news that Saudi Arabia is planning to up output in light of the com-modity’s strong performance in recent months.

Confi dence that the world economy will enjoy a scorching rebound from last year’s collapse has fi red global equities and other risk assets for months as im-munisation programmes allow people to slowly get back to a semblance of normal-ity and lockdowns are eased.

Underpinning that has been vast amounts of government spending as well as ultra-loose central bank mon-etary policies and pledges of continued support until the recovery is well un-derway.

But that has led to expectations of a surge in infl ation and a spike in US Treas-ury yields to around one-year highs, sparking worries of higher borrowing costs down the line.

And it is these fears, along with warn-ings equities may have run ahead of themselves, that are playing on investors’ minds.

Those concerns were allayed by a fore-cast-beating jump in US retail sales last

month, and wholesale infl ation climbed at its fastest pace since the index was re-vamped in December 2009.

“Strong US economic data dampened the argument that the economy still needs massive stimulus and as rising in-fl ation expectations start to weigh on val-uations,” said OANDA strategist Edward Moya.

“Technology stocks are leading the de-cline as pricing pressures will likely have the biggest impact on their bottom line.

The skyrocketing move in yields is trig-

gering some investors to take off some of their most profi table frothy trades.”

Still, observers said the surprise jump would be unlikely to shift the Federal Re-serve from its course as the economy con-tinues to be threatened by the pandemic and is “far from” achieving growth and employment goals.

While the Dow edged to another record high, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq both dipped.

Asian markets struggled.Tokyo, Singapore, Seoul, Wellington,

Manila, Mumbai and Bangkok all fell, with Hong Kong more than 1% off after a seven-day run-up.

Shanghai rose as it reopened after a week-long holiday, while Taipei and Ja-karta also rose and Sydney was barely moved.

Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 ended 0.2% down at 30,236.09 points, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng ended 1.6% down at 30,595.27 points and Shanghai’s Composite fi nished 0.6% up at 3,675.36 points.

London, Paris and Frankfurt were steady at the open.

Stephen Innes at Axi said while rising yields and price concerns remained, “im-proving Covid-19 trends and robust eco-nomic data allow investors to turn their attention to updates on reopening time-lines – especially from the UK and the US as cries for a quicker end to mobility re-strictions grow more vocal”.

Oil prices rose more than 1% as eco-nomic reopening optimism was mixed with news that the US cold snap had hammered output, with Bloomberg News reporting 40% of the nation’s production had been hit.

Expectations US stockpiles had fallen also provided support to the black gold.

The US troubles overshadowed Riy-adh’s decision to ease production cuts within the next few months.

“I don’t think the markets were overly shocked about the Saudi rollback amid the roaring recovery in global demand, good news on the Covid-19 vaccine roll-out, and the extremely healthy oil price,” Innes added.

Bitcoin tapped another record of $52,631, just days after breaking $50,000, before easing back slightly.

People walk and gather along an elevated walkway with an electronic ticker displaying stock figures in the Pudong Lujiazui Financial District of Shanghai. Shanghai’s Composite index finished 0.6% up at 3,675.36 points yesterday.

Emerging market stocks end 9-day winning streakReutersLondon

Emerging-market stocks broke their longest winning streak since June yesterday as concerns about spreading variants of the coronavirus gave investors an opportunity to cash in, while Turkey’s lira was muted ahead of a central bank meeting.MSCI’s index of EM stocks fell 0.9% after gaining 4% over the last nine sessions, when optimism around vaccine rollouts and stimulus measures buoyed sentiment.

But many countries are seeing rising spreads of the UK, Brazil and South African variants, increasing fears of more lockdowns that would threaten reviving business activity.Asia was a sea of red led by tech stocks, although the Shanghai composite and Taiwan shares outperformed.In South Africa, shares were set for their worst day in three weeks.Turkish and Russian shares managed to gain.Turkey’s lira was up 0.07%. Policy makers were expected to keep the key interest rate at 17% though a minority were expecting a hike to 18%. The decision was expected at 1100 GMT.The lira declined 20% last year, pushing inflation

higher through imports denominated in hard currencies.Annual inflation climbed more than expected to some 15% last month, leading individuals to snatch up foreign currencies and gold.“Turkish inflation dynamics continue to be disastrous,” said Tatha Ghose at Commerzbank, who predicts policy makers will hold.“Still, in Turkey, a diff erent rationale works – CBT’s monetary policy has to be a much trickier balancing act.It also happens to be pandemic times, when even in other countries, monetary policy in support of economic recovery is now part of the political landscape.”Raising hopes for a pick-up in business activity, President Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey would begin a gradual return to normal life from Covid-19-induced curbs on a province-by-province basis from March.Russia’s rouble was steady with an upward bias as oil prices remained buoyed by a deep freeze in Texas.South Africa’s rand made slight moves. “Market attention is likely to increasingly focus on the fiscal risks again, as (South Africa’s) Finance Minister Tito Mboweni will present his new projections on the budget deficit and debt levels next week,” said Commerzbank’s Elisabeth Andreae.“The strains caused by the pandemic suggest that new highs can be expected which in turn means that we might see rating downgrades. The prospects for the rand are not good.”

MSCI’s index of EM stocks fell 0.9% aft er gaining 4% over the last nine sessions, when optimism around vaccine rollouts and stimulus measures buoyed sentiment

BUSINESSFriday, February 19, 2021

GULF TIMES

Domestic, Gulf institutions and Arab individuals increasingly turn net buyers on QSEBy Santhosh V PerumalBusiness Reporter

The domestic institutions were increasingly net buyers amidst a 69-points fall on the Qatar Stock Exchange, whose key barometer yesterday settled below 10,300 levels.Both Gulf institutions and Arab individuals were increasingly net buyers even as the 20-stock Qatar Index settled 0.67% lower at 10,273.85 points, having touched an intraday high of 10,391 points.The insurance, real estate, banking and telecom counters witnessed higher-than-average selling pressure on the bourse, whose year-to-date losses widened to 1.56%.

Foreign funds were increasingly net sellers on the market, whose capitalisation saw about QR4bn or 0.63% decrease to QR591.57bn, mainly owing to large and small cap segments.The Islamic index was seen declining faster than the other indices on the bourse, which saw the local retail investors continue to bet net buyers but with lesser intensity.Trade turnover and volumes were on the decrease on the market, where the industrials and banking sectors together accounted for about 78% of the trading volume.A total of 82,785 exchange traded funds (Masraf Al Rayan sponsored QATR and Doha Bank sponsored QETF) valued at QR641,832 changed hands across 16 deals; while in the debt market, there

was no trading of sovereign bonds and treasury bills.The Total Return Index fell 0.67% to 19,821.46 points, Al Rayan Islamic Index (Price) by 0.72% to 2,376.85 points and All Share Index by 0.68% to 3,152.35 points.The insurance sector’s index tanked 1.27%, real estate (1.03%), banks and financial services (0.93%), telecom (0.91%), industrials (0.31%) and transport (0.05%); whereas consumer goods and services gained 0.11%.More than 57% of the traded constituents were in the red with major losers being Qatar National Cement, Qatar Insurance, QIIB, Barwa, Qatar Islamic Bank, QNB, Doha Bank, Al Khaliji, Al Meera and Mesaieed Petrochemical Holding; even as Qamco, Qatar

Industrial Manufacturing, Medicare Group, Commercial Bank and Qatar Islamic Insurance were among the gainers.The foreign institutions’ net selling increased markedly to QR73.94mn against QR63.23mn the previous day.Qatari investors’ net buying decreased considerably to QR16.36mn compared to QR49.03mn on Wednesday.However, the domestic institutions’ net buying grew noticeably to QR40.26mn against QR13.6mn on February 17.The foreign individuals were net buyers to the tune of QR7.5mn compared with net sellers of QR2.65mn the previous day.The Gulf institutions’ net buying shot up significantly to QR4.97mn against QR0.59mn on Wednesday.The Arab individuals’ net buying

also rose perceptibly to QR4.29mn compared to QR3.61mn on February 17.The Gulf individuals were net buyers to the extent of QR0.32mn against net sellers of QR1mn the previous day.The Arab institutions’ net buying strengthened marginally to QR0.25mn compared to QR0.02mn on Wednesday.Total trade volume fell 19% to 139.6mn shares, value by 12% to QR400.96mn and transactions by 11% to 10,274.The consumer goods and services sector’s trade volume plummeted 69% to 9.24mn equities, value by 74%to QR23.64mn and deals by 22% to 776.The banks and financial services sector saw 53% plunge in trade volume to 27.51mn stocks, 8% in value to QR203.37mn and 5% in transactions to 3,993. The insurance sector’s trade

volume tanked 51% to 1.39mn shares, value by 49% to QR3.95mn and deals by 25% to 197.The transport sector reported 16% shrinkage in trade volume to 3.38mn equities, 13% in value to QR14.85mn and 25% in transactions to 487.However, the telecom sector’s trade volume soared 40% to 5.07mn stocks, while value declined 4% to QR14.79mn and deals by 40% to 536.The market witnessed 27% surge in the industrials sector’s trade volume to 81.29mn shares and 35% in value to QR119.2mn but on 15% contraction in transactions to 3,283.The realty sector’s trade volume expanded 19% to 5.07mn equities, value by 33% to QR22.17mn and deals by 63% to 1,002.

Deutsche Bank cut bonus pool plans after criticism from ECBBloombergFrankfurt

Deutsche Bank AG scaled back plans for its bonus pool after the European Central Bank objected to proposed payout levels, highlighting the challenges of rewarding top performers while heeding demands for restraint during the global pandemic.Germany’s largest lender had initially planned to pay out more than €2bn ($2.4bn) for staff performance in 2020, but that amount has been cut after several rounds of talks with the regulator in recent months, according to people familiar with the matter. The ECB has now dropped its reservations, the people said, asking not to be identified discussing the private information.Representatives for Deutsche Bank and the ECB declined to comment.Chief executive off icer Christian Sewing has promised to reward high-performing staff after soaring revenue from securities trading helped keep his turnaround on track even as the global economy slumped. But regulators have urged banks to show constraint after receiving unprecedented relief to weather the crisis, which has wreaked havoc on many other industries.“We’re obviously very mindful of the guidance that we’ve got from the ECB to apply moderation in vari-able compensation,” chief financial off icer James von Moltke said in a Bloomberg TV interview in early February. “We of course need to balance that with

what was a strong performance year and the need to compensate people for that performance on a com-petitive basis.”For 2019, the bank had a bonus pool of €1.52bn. That was a reduction of 22% on the previous year, after the bank reported a loss of €5.7bn on large write-downs and restructuring expenses.Traders, who traditionally take the lion’s share of the pool, are in line for a boost of more than 10% for 2020, Bloomberg News has reported. Revenue from buying and selling securities was up 28% last year.

US weekly jobless claims rise as labour market recovery stallsWeekly jobless claims increase 13,000 to 861,000; housing starts drop 6.0% in January; permits up 10.4%; imported prices surge 1.4%; rise 0.9% year-on-year

ReutersWashington

The number of Americans fi ling fi rst-time applications for un-employment benefi ts unexpect-

edly rose last week, raising the risk of a second straight month of tepid job growth despite declining new Cov-id-19 infections.

The weekly unemployment claims report from the Labour Department yesterday, the most timely data on the economy’s health, could add impe-tus to President Joe Biden’s push for a $1.9tn package to aid the recovery from the pandemic.

At least 18.3mn Americans were re-ceiving unemployment cheques at the end of January.

Government-funded benefi ts for millions of these people will expire in mid-March unless Congress approves the Biden administration’s spending plan.

“Robust pandemic aid is precisely the medicine the economy needs to get Americans back where they want to be, at work,” said Andrew Stettner, senior fellow at The Century Foundation.

Initial claims for state unemploy-ment benefi ts increased 13,000 to a seasonally adjusted 861,000 for the week ended February 13.

Data for the prior week was revised to show 55,000 more applications re-ceived than previously reported.

Economists polled by Reuters had forecast 765,000 applications in the latest week.

Many were perplexed by the sec-ond straight weekly increase in claims, given the declining coronavirus cases, the disbursement of nearly $900bn in additional rescue aid by the govern-ment in late December and the White House’s pending massive stimulus package.

Timely data have shown an im-provement in economic activity, with retail sales surging by the most in seven months in January.

Job openings have also been creep-ing higher.

Minutes of the Federal Reserve’s Jan 26-27 policy meeting published on

Wednesday showed most Fed offi cials “anticipated continued progress in vaccinations would lead to a sizeable boost in economic activity.”

“There have been promising signs of improvement which will hopefully be further boosted by the upcoming spring weather,” said AnnElizabeth Konkel, an economist at Indeed Hiring Lab in Washington.

Stocks on Wall Street were trading lower.

The dollar slipped against a basket of currencies.

US Treasury prices fell.Part of the increase in claims could

be related to the temporary closure of automobile plants beginning last week due to a global semiconductor chip shortage.

General Motors announced it would take down production entirely at its Fairfax plant in Kansas City during the

week of February 8. Ford Motor has re-duced shifts at its Dearborn truck plant and Kansas City assembly plant.

There were big jumps in fi lings in California and Illinois.

Including a government-funded programme for the self-employed, gig workers and others who do not qual-ify for the regular state programmes, 1.4mn people fi led claims last week.

Claims remain above their 665,000 peak during the 2007-2009 Great Re-cession, though they are below the record 6.867mn reported last March when the pandemic hit the United States.

Last week’s claims data covered the period during which the government surveyed businesses for the nonfarm portion of February’s employment re-port.

Though claims have not provided a good signal on job growth because

of the economic shock caused by the pandemic, the continued increase in fi lings is consistent with weak labour market conditions.

“Through the recent choppiness, the data from the past few months generally have been higher than the fi gures reported for much of Octo-ber and November, suggesting some weakening in the labour market since then,” said Daniel Silver, an economist at JPMorgan in New York.

The economy created 49,000 jobs in January after shedding 227,000 in December, the fi rst drop in payrolls in eight months.

About 12.3mn of the 22.2mn jobs lost during the pandemic have been recov-ered.

The Congressional Budget Offi ce has estimated employment would not return to its pre-pandemic level before 2024.

Away from the labour market, the economy is steadily improving.

A second report from the Commerce Department yesterday showed permits for future home construction soared in January to their highest level since 2006.

The housing market has outper-formed other sectors of the economy during the Covid-19 pandemic, sup-ported by lower mortgages rates and demand for spacious accommodations for home offi ces and schooling.

But expensive inputs and lack of land pose a threat to continued robust housing market gains.

Other data from the Labour Depart-ment showed import prices increased by the most in nearly nine years in Jan-uary, lifted by higher prices for energy products and a weak dollar, supporting expectations for an acceleration in in-fl ation in the coming months.

An employee works at the Gifts For You company warehouse in Woodridge, Illinois. At least 18.3mn Americans were receiving unemployment cheques at the end of January, according to the weekly report from the Labour Department yesterday.

World Bank names former Senegal finance minister to head IFC

AFPWashington

The World Bank yesterday an-nounced that it has selected former Senegal finance minister Makhtar Diop to lead the agency responsible for private sector finance at a criti-cal time for the global recovery.He would be the first African to lead the International Finance Corp (IFC), which leverages financing to support private firms in developing nations.The announcement comes just days after the World Trade Organisation (WTO) selected Nigeria’s former fi-nance minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala as its new director-general, the first African and first woman to serve in that role.Noting his “deep development and finance experience,” World Bank President David Malpass said, Diop’s “skills at IFC will help the World Bank Group continue our rapid response to the global crisis and help build a green, resilient, inclusive recovery.”Diop, currently World Bank vice president for infrastructure and previously vice president for Africa, will start his new role at the IFC on March 1.As countries struggle to recover from the economic crisis sparked by the Covid-19 pandemic, and acquire enough vaccines, Diop cautioned that “the coming months will be very hard.”“The private sector has critical role to play in development,” Diop told reporters.“My goal is to help bring back in-vestment flows in emerging country to preserve jobs to create long term employment opportunities, espe-cially the poorest country.”Malpass said the IFC will play a key role in the World Bank eff ort to ac-celerate vaccine distribution.“Our goal is to have as many people vaccinated as quickly and as fairly... as possible” in the developing world, he told reporters.He said the World Bank expects to have $3bn committed to vaccine purchases by the end of March.The Washington-based devel-opment lender said Diop’s key responsibilities will be to “deepen and energise” what it called the IFC’s 3.0 strategy to mobilise private capital, increase climate and gender investments and support countries facing conflict.

Deutsche Bank off ice building in Frankfurt. Germany’s largest lender had initially planned to pay out more than €2bn ($2.4bn) for staff performance in 2020, but that amount has been cut after several rounds of talks with the regulator in recent months, according to people familiar with the matter.