Qatar, Turkey to enhance economic cooperationThe Minister of Economy and Commerce H E Sheikh Ahmed bin Jassim Al Thani (right) met with the head of Qatar-Turkey Business Council and member of directors’ board at Foreign Economic Relations Board of Turkey (DEIK) Ethem Sancak (left) and his accompanying delegation in Doha, yesterday. During the meeting, they discussed aspects of joint cooperation, especially in the field of economic, trade and investment, and means of developing them. Bilateral trade volume stood at QR4.9bn in 2017, which is expected to jump significantly in coming years. Turkey’s Ambassador to Qatar Fikret Ozer was also present.

The UK is one of the biggest trading partners of Qatar. The volume of trade exchange between Qatar and the UK stood at $3bn (about QR10.92bn) last year,

BUSINESSFriday 23 March 2018

PAGE | 19PAGE | 18 China accuses US of abusingtrade practices

8,825.70-47.68 pts0.54%

24,414.98-267.33 pts1.08%

6,952.59-86.38 pts1.23%

64.40-0.77

US home prices surge as listings

grow scarce

QSE DOW FTSE100 BRENT

Qatar & UK to boost ties in healthcare sectorMOHAMMAD SHOEB THE PENINSULA

DOHA: Prominent Qatari business leaders and represent-atives of leading companies from Qatar and the United Kingdom (UK) yesterday held a meeting with the visiting members of a trade mission representing UK’s healthcare sector.

During the meeting, both sides discussed ways of expanding trade relations between the two friendly nations, and also explored business and investment oppor-tunities in new areas, with special focus in the field of healthcare.

The meeting was held at Qatar Chamber headquarters. The UK side was presided over by the Deborah Kobewka, Man-aging Director of HealthcareUK, and head of the trade mission, and Qatari side was chaired by Qatar Chamber board member Ibtihaj Al Hmadani.

The UK is one of the biggest trading partners of Qatar. The volume of trade exchange between Qatar and the UK stood at $3bn (about QR10.92bn) last year, which is growing fast.

On the investment side, UK is a very safe and attractive investment and tourist desti-nation for Qatar and Qatari investors. There are mega Qatari investments in the UK.

“Qatar and the United Kingdom enjoy profound and distinct relations. Both sides are making very tremendous efforts to develop economic and trade relations for the advantage of the friendly people of the countries. The strong historical ties reflected positively on the com-mercial and investment sectors,” noted Ibtihaj in her address at the meeting.

Commenting on the presence of the UK companies

and their extent of operations in Qatar, she added: “There are 622 Qatari-British companies in Qatari market with a total capital of QR14.5bn, and out of that 135 are fully British.”

Highlighting Qatar’s signif-icant achievements in the field of healthcare sector, Ibtihaj said that the country has made a quantum leap and mega transformation in its health system in recent decades. Enormous progress in terms of both increasing capacity and advancing the quality of care has been made. In the past few years, new hospitals and private clinics have been opened to provide world-class and dis-tinctive healthcare services for all patients.

“Despite the unfair siege imposed on Qatar, country’s primary healthcare services remain unaffected. Moreover, it has helped us to become self-suf-ficient in our programmes,” she said. She also expressed her optimism that the meeting would provide a good opportunity for both sides to enhance cooper-ation in this vital sector and to benefit from the UK expertise in this regard.

Ibtihaj Al Ahmadani, board member of Qatar Chamber; Deborah Kobewka, Managing Director of HealthcareUK and head of the trade mission, with other officials during the meeting with British business mission at Qatar Chamber headquarters in Doha yesterday.PIC: ABDUL BASIT / THE PENINSULA

QSE index closes at 8,825.70 pointsTHE PENINSULA

DOHA: Qatar Stock Exchange (QSE) main index lost 22.09 points, or 0.25 percent, last week when the bourse closed at 8,825.70 points.

Trading value during last week decreased by 40.39 percent to reach QR1.65bn com-pared to QR2.77bn at the closing of previous week.

Trading volume decreased by 14.57 percent to reach 76.70 million shares, as against 89.78 million shares, while the number of transactions fell by 15.02 percent, to reach 24,688 trans-actions as compared to 29,051 transactions.

Market cap rose by 0.99 percent to reach QR485.44bn as compared to QR480.67bn at the end of previous week.

Banking and Financial Services sector led traded value last week with 35.58 percent of the total traded value. Industries sector accounted for 19.61 percent. Insurance sector

accounted for 14.80 percent and Telecoms sector accounted for 9.71 percent.

Banking and Financial Services sector led traded volume last week with 29.98 percent of the total traded volume. Industries sector accounted for 21.58 percent. Tel-ecoms sector accounted for 19.41 percent and Real Estate sector accounted for 12.63 percent.

Banking and Financial Services sector led traded number of transactions last week with 30.46 percent of the total number of transactions. Indus-tries sector accounted for 20.11 percent. Real Estate sector accounted for 14.60 percent and Telecoms sector accounted for 11.28 percent.

Out of the 46 companies listed at QSE, 24 companies ended last week higher, while 18 fell and three remained unchanged, reports QNA.

Qatar Insurance led trading value during last week

accounted for 14.54 percent of the total traded value. QNB accounted for 11.52 percent and Vodafone Qatar accounted for 7.46 percent.

When compared on daily basis, the QSE index dropped 47.68 points, or 0.54 percent. The volume of shares traded increased to 16.38 million from 11.73 million on Wednesday and the value of shares increased to QR281.03m from QR278.50m on Wednesday.

Out of the 46 companies, shares of 42 saw trading yes-terday. From these, 13 com-panies gained, 27 companies closed lower, two remained unchanged.

Indices of three sectors ended in red and four sectors ended in green yesterday. QSE Total Return Index dropped 0.18 percent to 15,502.91 points and QSE Al Rayan Islamic Index lost 0.18 percent to 3,655.60 points. QSE All Share Index decreased 0.05 percent to 2,602.39 points.

→ CONTINUED ON PAGE 18

Oil retreats after hitting six-week highs near $70 a barrelREUTERS

LONDON: Oil prices fell yesterday as investors booked profits after this week’s rally, but losses were limited by the ongoing efforts of Opec and its allies to curb supplies.

Brent crude futures were down 61 cents at $68.86 a barrel by 1247GMT after rising to a session peak at $69.70, near their highest level since the start of February. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures fell 57 cents to $64.60.

Oil prices have risen nearly 10 percent in the last two weeks, boosted by a weaker US dollar and tensions between Iran and Saudi Arabia that raised concern about Middle East supplies, which are already restricted by an Opec-led supply deal.

Prices recorded their biggest one-day gain since November on Wednesday after an unex-pected drop in US crude inventories.

“The bulls are back in town and they’re all looking for much

bigger gains. But I think it is too early and today is really just a reality check,” Saxo Bank senior manager Ole Hansen (pictured) said.

“We have come within half a dollar of key resistance on May crude and that is attracting some profit-taking,” he said.

The US Energy Information Administration said on Wednesday US crude inventories fell 2.6 million barrels to 428.31 million barrels in the week ending March 16.

ING said the drawdown was partly due to a drop in imports of about 500,000 barrels per day (bpd) to an average 7.08 million bpd last week and an 86,000 bpd rise in exports to an average 1.57 million bpd.

The dollar, which last month hit a three-year low, has also helped push up oil prices towards the $70 mark, as weakness in the US currency tends to encourage holders of other currencies to buy dollar-denominated assets.

But the confident mood in the oil market has been tem-pered by US crude production, which climbed to a fresh record of 10.4 million bpd last week, putting US output ahead of Saudi Arabia and closing in on Russia’s 11 million bpd. US production rises have been countered by the deal to cut output by the Organ-ization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, Russia and their allies. The agreement has run since the start of 2017 and is due to expire at the end of 2018.

18 FRIDAY 23 MARCH 2018BUSINESS

China accuses US of abusing trade practicesREUTERS

BEIJING: China accused the United States of ‘repeatedly abusing’ trade practices, as Beijing braced yesterday for an imminent announcement from US President Donald Trump slapping more tariffs on Chinese imports.

The US tariffs on Chinese imports worth as much as up to $60bn were unveiled yesterday, raising fears that the world’s two largest economies could be sliding towards a trade war.

On Wednesday, the World Trade Organization ruled that Washington had not fully com-plied with a 2014 ruling against its anti-subsidy tariffs on various Chinese products ranging from solar panels and wind towers to steel cylinders and aluminium extrusions.

The WTO ruling proves that the US side has violated WTO rules, repeatedly abused trade

remedy measures, which has seriously damaged the fair and just nature of the international trade environment, and weakened the stability of the multilateral trading system,” China’s commerce ministry said late on Wednesday.

The tariffs Trump is set to announce will be imposed under Section 301 of the 1974 US Trade Act, following an intellectual property probe launched in August last year.

Trump is accusing Beijing of compelling US firms to transfer their intellectual property (IP) to

China as a cost of doing business there.

Trade wars are ‘good’ and ‘easy to win’, said Trump, having made election campaign promises to get tough with China over its huge surplus with the United States.

China has repeatedly said it has no wish to fight a trade war, but warned that it is ready if needed.

“With regards to the Section 301 investigation, China has expressed its position on many occasions that we resolutely oppose this type of unilateral and protectionist action by the US,” the Commerce Ministry said in a fresh statement yesterday.

“China will not sit idly by while legitimate rights and interests are hurt. We must take all necessary measures to firmly defend our rights and interests.” The Wall Street Journal reported that Beijing has already prepared to strike back with tariffs aimed

at Trump’s support base, including levies targeting US agri-cultural exports.

US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer (pictured) said on Wednesday the tariffs would target China’s high-technology sector and there could also be restrictions on Chinese invest-ments in the United States.

Other sectors like apparel could also be hit.

Jacob Parker, Beijing-based Vice-President of China opera-tions at the US-China Business Council said the group wanted to know what action the US admin-istration wants China to take to improve protection for intel-lectual property, and over forced technology transfer.

“It’s really important for them to lay that out so that we have a strategy going forward and it’s not just tariffs for tariffs’ sake.” Parker said China needs to adopt a tougher deterrent against coun-terfeiting and IP theft, and do away with joint venture and business licensing requirements that can be used to mandate tech-nology transfers to gain market access.

“At the moment, it’s very dif-ficult for the two sides to sit down and talk because the Trump administration seems determined to go this way regardless of China’s manoeuvres,” said He Weiwen, a senior fellow at the

Center for China and Globali-zation (CCG), a Beijing-based think tank.

The measures planned by Washington so far are expected to have a limited impact on China’s economy, which is far less dependent on exports than it was a decade ago.

“Most Chinese corporates seems to be quite resilient against a potential trade war given the high share of domestic revenue,” said Alicia Garcia Herrero, Chief Economist for Asia Pacific at Natixis.

“However, there are certain sectors which will be relatively more affected, such as infor-mation technology and consumer durables.” In a possible sign of what is to come, Best Buy Co Inc, the largest US consumer elec-tronics retailer, has decided to stop buying smartphones from Chinese telecom equipment maker Huawei, a source familiar with the matter said.

The US tariffs on Chinese imports worth as much as up to $60bn were unveiled yesterday.

BoE keeps rates unchanged; hints at rise in MayAP

LONDON: The Bank of England kept its interest rates unchanged yesterday but appeared to hint that another rate hike in May was possible as inflation remains high.

The minutes to the meeting showed that two of the nine members on the Monetary Policy Committee backed an immediate quarter-point increase in the bank’s main interest rate to 0.75 percent. The other seven, including Governor Mark Carney, preferred to keep it unchanged at 0.5 percent.

Ian McCafferty and Michael Saunders argued that a “modest

tightening could mitigate the risks from a more sustained period of above-target inflation that might necessitate a more abrupt change in policy and hence a greater adjustment in growth and employment.” Despite resisting an immediate hike, a majority in the committee is ready to back another interest rate increase soon, the minutes indicated. In November, the bank raised rates for the first time in a decade to clamp down on high inflation even though higher bor-rowing rates have the potential to weigh on the economy, which had already slowed in the face of uncertainty related to the exit from the European Union.

As in February, the minutes showed that the ‘best collective judgment’ of the rate-setting panel was that ‘an ongoing tight-ening of monetary policy over the forecast period would be appro-priate to return inflation sus-tainably to its target at a more conventional horizon’.

Rate-setters also said future increases were likely to be ‘gradual’ and ‘limited’. In financial markets, investors have price in 80 percent of another rate rise and yesterday’s minutes did nothing to alter that view. The recently resurgent pound remained firm, trading 0.1 percent higher after the rate decision at $1.4150.

“It now looks increasingly likely we’ll see a rise to 0.75 percent at the bank’s May meeting,” said Ben Brettell (pic-tured), senior economist at stockbrokers Hargreaves Lansdown. In February, when the bank published its quarterly eco-nomic projections, Carney indi-cated that a hike in May was likely. Economic figures since then, according to yesterday’s minutes, were ‘broadly con-sistent’ with those views.

Official figures this week showed inflation in the year to February fell - to an annual rate of 2.7 percent - though that’s still above the bank’s target of 2 percent. In its February’s

projections, the Bank of England said it expects inflation to remain above target for another year or two, supporting predictions for at least one more rate hike this year.

The International FinTech ConferenceBritain’s Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond (left) and Australian Treasurer Scott Morrison tour the exhibition at The International FinTech Conference 2018, in central London, yesterday.

Toyota suspends self-driving car tests TOKYO: Japanese auto-maker Toyota said yesterday it was suspending tests of its self-driving cars so staff could ‘emotionally process’ after an autonomous Uber car killed a pedestrian in an accident.

Ride-sharing giant Uber has already suspended use of self-driving cars after one of its vehicles struck and killed a pedestrian Sunday in the US state of Arizona.

UK retail sales jump in FebruaryREUTERS

LONDON: British retail sales jumped in February, further adding to the case for the Bank of England to raise interest rates in May even if March’s heavy snowfall is likely to take a chunk out of growth in the first quarter of 2018.

British consumers have been squeezed for the past year by a big rise in inflation. But Febru-ary’s data suggested a turning point was near as the cost of goods in stores rose at the slowest pace in over a year. Retail sales volumes rose 0.8 percent from January, the Office for National Statistics said yesterday.

Sales in January dropped 0.2 percent. “Not a sparkling result for Britain’s retailers in February, but a marked improvement from the start of the year,” said Ian

Gilmartin, a banker at Barclays who focuses on the retail sector. Sterling rose slightly against the US dollar immediately after the figures to touch a fresh seven-week high.

Still, looking at the three months to February, which smoothes out monthly volatility in the data, sales fell 0.4 percent - the weakest growth in nearly a year - after a big drop in sales in December.

There is a risk of a further downturn in March, when snow storms brought widespread dis-ruption across Britain. Britain’s economy under performed its rivals last year as higher inflation - caused by the fall in the pound since the Brexit vote in June 2016 - hurt consumers’ spending power.

The Bank of England, which is due to announce its March policy decision at 1200 GMT,

expects the consumer squeeze to ease in 2018 as inflation cools and wage growth ticks higher. Capital Economics said yester-day’s figures suggested retail was likely to drag on economic growth over the first three months of 2018 but other measures of spending were turning a corner.

The data showed retail prices rose in February by 2.5 percent year-on-year, the smallest increase since January 2017.

Most economists polled by Reuters think the BoE will raise interest rates in May for only the second time since the financial crisis, spurred partly by a recovery in pay growth. Official data published on Wednesday showed overall wages rose at the fastest annual pace since mid-2015 during the three months to January.

Cryptocurrency in Mexico to let buyers invest in Habanero peppersBLOOMBERG

MEXICO CITY: A cryptocurrency called Agrocoin is giving buyers a chance to invest in some of the world’s spiciest peppers.

Mexico’s Amar Hidroponia, which grows only habanero chilis, started selling digital tokens in September as a way to raise capital from smaller investors. Each 500 peso ($27) Agrocoin is backed by a square meter of hydroponic production in Quintana Roo state. The company says it expects to pay a yearly div-idend equal to about 30 percent of the cost, depending on output and demand.

“We had a lot of people who wanted to invest, but with less money,” company President Rodrigo Domenzain said in an interview from Leona Vicario, a town about 25 miles southwest

of Cancun. “Agrocoin allows us to have a new investment product backed by agricultural goods.” The small peppers are an integral part of Mexican cuisine -- partic-ularly in the Yucatan Peninsula where Quintana Roo is located.

Agrocoins can be bought on the company’s website, and -- after a year-long lockup period -- exchanged on a cryptocurrency trading platform. The company has sold 50,000 of the 1 million it’s planning to issue.

This isn’t the first vegetable-related blockchain enterprise. In August last year, startup company Ripe began tracking tomato quality using the technology. Louis Dreyfus Co., one of the world’s biggest foodstuffs traders, used a blockchain platform to sell a cargo of US soybeans to China’s Shandong Bohi Industry Co in January.

Qatar & UK to boost ties in healthcare sector Continued from page 17

For her part, Deborah said: “We intend to bring the expertise that we have developed in the UK to organ-isations and health systems in overseas. It is an absolute delight for me today to leading the delegation of 16 organisa-tions that have expertise across a broad range of areas.”

She added: “We have organisations that represent clinical services, public health and oncology, skills in digital services, pharmaceutical industry, education and training. They are representing entities that have developed and acquired great range of capabilities with years of expe-rience.” Deborah also noted that the UK is very keen to con-tinue to expand its historic trading relationships with Qatar. “It is something the British government has made its priority, and is supported very strongly by our Prime Minister Theresa May.”

Facebook investors fret over costs as Mark Zuckerberg apologisesREUTERS

WASHINGTON: Facebook Inc Chief Executive Mark Zucker-berg’s apology for mishandling user data and some limited proposals for change at the social network drew mixed responses yesterday, while Wall Street analysts worried about costs and a loss of trust.

Another pair of major bro-kerages cut price targets for a stock that has shed around $50bn in value since Monday. Shares in the company fell as much as 2.5 percent in heavy trading.

In Washington, Zuckerberg’s media rounds did little to satisfy lawmakers in either political

party who demanded this week the billionaire testify before Congress.

Facebook was expected to brief two additional congres-sional committees yesterday. Executives met with staff for the House Energy and Commerce Committee on Wednesday for nearly two hours to discuss the allegations of improper use of data on 50 million users by political consultancy Cambridge Analytica.

Facebook Deputy Chief Privacy Officer Rob Sherman and other executives were unable to answer many questions at Wednesday’s meeting, according to two aides who were present.

The Facebook executives

said they had written down a list of 60 questions they pledged to answer, the aides said.

Zuckerberg on Wednesday promised tougher steps to restrict developers’ access to user infor-mation, his first response to alle-gations that London-based Cam-bridge Analytica improperly accessed data to build profiles on American voters that were later used to help elect US President Donald Trump in 2016.

Wall Street analysts expressed relief that there were no signs in the chief executive’s status update or in subsequent interviews of a more funda-mental shift in the company’s advertising-driven revenue model.

19FRIDAY 23 MARCH 2018 BUSINESS

German business morale downREUTERS

BERLIN: German business confi-dence deteriorated for a second straight month in March, dropping to its lowest level in nearly a year, as managers in Europe’s largest economy became more concerned about the rising threat of protectionism.

The Munich-based Ifo eco-nomic institute said yesterday that its business climate index, based on a monthly survey of some 7,000 companies, fell to 114.7 from 115.4 in February.

The reading, an 11-month low, undershot the expectations of analysts polled by Reuters, whose consensus forecast was 114.8.

“The threat of protectionism

is dampening the mood in the German economy,” Ifo Chief Clemens Fuest said.

German managers were less satisfied with their current business situation, which never-theless remained at a high level,

Ifo said. Firms were also less upbeat about the coming months.

A sector breakdown of the Ifo figures showed the main drag came from retailing and manu-facturing. Business sentiment improved in construction.

The Ifo data chimed with HIS Markit’s latest survey among pur-chasing managers, which showed growth in Germany’s private sector lost a little steam in March as factory output slowed.

HIS Markit economist Chris Williamson said that the outlook for exporters had been clouded by US President Donald Trump’s decision to impose import tariffs on steel and aluminium, as well as the recent appreciation of the euro. However, the overall high

readings of the PMI survey also suggested that Germany’s upswing is likely to continue.

“We’ll probably see a strong first quarter with a growth rate of around 0.7 percent,” Williamson said. This compares with a growth rate of 0.6 percent on the quarter in the last three months of 2017. Economic advisers to the German government on Wednesday raised their 2018 growth forecast to 2.3 percent but warned that protectionist measures could limit the upswing.

The Ifo institute is even more optimistic, with its researchers confirming their forecasts - orig-inally made in December - of 2.6 percent German growth this year and 2.1 percent in 2019.

German managers were less satisfied with their current business situation, which nevertheless remained at a high level.

Zimbabwe signs $4.2bn platinum mine & refinery dealREUTERS

HARARE: A Cypriot investor signed a $4.2bn deal yesterday to develop a platinum mine and refinery in Zimbabwe, an investment that President E m m e r s o n M n a n g a g w a (pictured) said showed the country was ‘open for business’.

Signing the agreement with Cyprus-based Karo Resources, Mines Minister Winston Chitando said work would start in July, with the first output of platinum group metals expected in 2020, aiming to reach 1.4 million ounces annually within three years.

It was unclear, however, where all the funding would come from and analysts said the project start date of July looked very ambitious.

Located in the Mhondoro-Ngezi platinum belt, west of

Harare, where Impala Platinum Holdings has operations, the project will include a coal mine and power station to produce electricity for the smelter, and should employ 15,000 people when fully implemented, Karo head Loucas Pouroulis said.

Keen to revive the mining sector after years of reticence by foreign investors during Robert Mugabe’s rule, President Mnan-gagwa said the deal showed things had changed since his ascendancy after Mugabe’s ousting in November.

“Zimbabwe is open for business and whoever stands in the way, hurting business in this country, will fall. It is not business as usual anymore, things have to change,” Mnan-gagwa said at the signing ceremony.

The project was first mooted six years ago but had been held

back by government red tape and ‘”other unnamed vested interests, which are corrupt interests,” he said.

Mines Minister Chitando added: “This is the largest investment structure in the country’s mining industry in

Zimbabwe. The landscape of Zimbabwe’s mining industry will never be the same.”

Zimbabwe’s government did not give details of the source of funding for such a big investment.

Industry sources, who asked not to be named, said there was no obligation to provide any cash until firmer plans for the devel-opment were in place.

Cyprus-born Pouroulis spent his early career with industry giant Anglo American in South Africa, branching out on his own to establish more niche oper-ators such as Petra Diamonds, Eland Platinum and Tharisa Min-erals, according to his profile on Tharisa’s website.

As well as heading Karo, Pouroulis is chairman and founder of Tharisa, in which his family has a 45 percent stake.

Tharisa, which has chrome

and platinum operations in South Africa’s Bushveld, has made clear its interest in the potential of Zimbabwe, which holds the world’s second-largest platinum deposits after neigh-bouring South Africa.

The company, however, has a market capitalisation of only 5.5bn rand ($464m), although it is well regarded by many city analysts and its share price has rallied 15 percent this year.

HSBC initiated covered of the stock yesterday, rating it a buy.

It predicted it would have a net cash position of $185m by the end of 2022 and said platinum prices should benefit from continued supply cur-tailment in South Africa because of regulatory and funding uncertainty.

Foreign investment stalled in Zimbabwe during the later

years of Mugabe’s reign. Ana-lysts say the outlook is still uncertain, but interest is strong in a country that has rich, under explored resources.

An investment conference on Zimbabwe in London last w e e k w a s h e a v i l y oversubscribed.

On Monday, Mnangagwa’s government amended the Mugabe-era Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Act, which aimed to increase black Zimbabweans’ ownership of mines by preventing foreign entities holding majority stakes.

The revised law removed that stipulation for most types of mining, but not diamond and platinum mines.

Chitando said Karo Resources was expected to comply with the empowerment law by giving up majority ownership in the project. He did not elaborate.

Starbucks annual meetingFROM LEFT: Colgate-Palmolive Company retired Vice-Chairman, Javier Teruel; Hearsay Systems Inc Chief Executive Officer Clara Shi; Microsoft Chief Executive Officer, Satya Nadella and Pepsi-Cola Company retired Chief Executive Officer, Craig Weatherup enjoying coffee during an audience tasting the Starbucks Annual Meeting of Shareholders at McCaw Hall in Seattle, Washington.

Deloitte hires Europol chief to help lead cyber businessBLOOMBERG

LONDON: Europol Executive Director Rob Wainwright (pictured) is leaving the EU intelligence agency he’s led for almost a decade to help run Deloitte LLP’s cybersecurity practice, as companies wake up to the growing ‘systemic’ threat of cyber crime.

The 50-year-old MI5 veteran will join the Amsterdam-based unit in June, according to Deloitte, which shared an advanced copy of its announcement. Deloitte is planning to add 500 people to its European cyber practice to meet growing demand from corporate clients anxious to prevent hacks.

“I spent a lot of the last few years encouraging private-sector leaders to take cyberse-curity more seriously, to invest more,” Wainwright said in an interview at Europol’s head-quarters in The Hague on Tuesday. “So now I will go directly in there and try to help them do it myself.” Wainwright has spent 28 years working for the UK government, including more than a decade at the MI5 domestic intelligence service, where he specialised in counter-terrorism and organised crime. After stints as head of the UK liaison bureau for Europol and running the international department of what is now called the National Crime Agency, he returned to Europol as director in 2009.

During his time at Europol, which acts as an intermediary for 1,000 global law enforcement bodies and coor-dinates major investigations involving terrorism and money laundering, Wainwright helped

oversee a number of high-profile stings. He played a key role in last year’s takedown of AlphaBay and Hansa, dark-web markets that sold everything from drugs to hacking tools. AlphaBay was more than 10 times the size of Silk Road, which the US closed in 2013.

More companies are waking up to the ‘systemic’ threat of cybercrime, Deloitte UK Chief Executive Officer David Sproul said. Hiring Wainwright adds ‘”a further stamp of authenticity and seriousness to what we’re doing,” he said.

It’s a propitious time for Wainwright to join the private sector. European spending on computer security is forecast to rise 25 percent to $35.5bn over the next three years, according to Gartner Inc, a US advisory firm.

His departure from Europol comes at a critical moment for the UK, which is preparing to leave the 28-member European Union.

Prime Minister Theresa May has pledged to unconditionally continue security and defense cooperation with the EU after Brexit and proposed a new treaty to continue the data sharing and other forms of col-laboration Europol oversees.

Businesses in

Slovenian urge free

movement of

labour from Croatia

REUTERS

LJUBLJANA: Slovenia’s Chamber of Commerce and Industry urged parliament yesterday to reject a draft law proposed by the government that would delay the free movement of workers from neighbouring Croatia to Slovenia until mid-2020.

Croats should be able to work in Slovenia without special permits from July this year, in line with European Union rules. But weeks ahead of a general election, the centre-left government is seeking a delay to prevent what it calls potential labour market disruption.

The Chamber said in a statement that local labour could not meet rising demand for workers in Slovenia, and “therefore we are and will be dependent on employing for-eigners if we want to retain economic growth and development”.

“Prolonging limitations for Croatian workers is therefore entirely contradictory to the needs and expectations of the economy and particularly companies on the Slovenian-Croatian border,” it added.

Parliament is expected to debate the draft law before the election, which is expected in late May or early June.

The government said on Wednesday that Croatia’s geo-graphic and cultural ties to Slovenia meant ‘the levelling of Croatian citizens with domestic workers could have a significant negative effect on the Slovenian labour market’. Slovenia’s jobless rate was 5.8 percent in the last quarter of 2017, the lowest level in 8.5 years.

BLOOMBERG

NEW YORK: BlackBerry Ltd will help Jaguar Land Rover develop new automotive technology, adding another major brand to its web of partnerships on car software.

Jaguar, owned by Indian conglomerate Tata Motors Ltd, will license BlackBerry’s tech-nology and host some of the former smart phone maker’s engineers to work on a new info-tainment system.

The deal is the latest Black-Berry has trumpeted over the last year as it seeks to expand its QNX car software unit from in-car entertainment systems to other realms of auto software, i n c l u d i n g s e l f - d r i v i n g technology.

Chief Executive Officer John Chen (pictured) has used QNX’s network of customers in the car industry and BlackBerry’s library of wireless tech to sign new deals with companies including Ford Motor Co, Qualcomm Inc, Baidu

Inc and Nvidia Corp. Working with Jaguar could open the door to other partnerships within Tata’s massive empire.

The agreements with high-profile companies has helped push BlackBerry’s stock up about 90 percent since the end of 2016.

Though car software is still a relatively small part of Black-Berry’s business, it’s becoming an important growth area.

After jettisoning the smart phone unit due to shrinking sales, Chen has worked to shift the Waterloo, Ontario-based company’s focus onto secure software for a range of different businesses, as well as taking other tech companies to court for allegedly using BlackBerry’s old wireless patents.

BlackBerry to help Jaguar develop new automotive technology

US home prices surge as listings grow scarceBLOOMBERG

BOSTON: If you’re hunkered down in California or Colorado, this chart of US home prices might just make your day. If you’re house-hunting there, it might spoil it.

That’s because home-price gains in the US in January, which surged past expectations, were driven by huge increases in the West and Southwest as listings grew scarce, the Federal Housing Finance Agency said in a statement yesterday.

While prices nationwide jumped 7.3 percent from a year earlier, they were up 10 percent in the Mountain region, including Colorado, Nevada and Arizona. The Pacific area, which includes California, Washington and Oregon, rose 9.4 percent.

Even where growth was less dramatic, gains accel-erated. In New England, for example, prices were up 7.1 percent from January 2017. Back then, they were up only 4.6 percent from a year earlier.

The month-to-month increase was hefty as well.

US home prices rose 0.8 percent from December, on a seasonally adjusted basis, the FHFA said.

That’s twice the 0.4 percent average estimate of 11 economists.

The US housing market -- and the hapless buyers in it -- are suffering from a worsening supply crunch, partly because builders haven’t kept up with demand and many seniors are choosing to stay in their homes rather than down size.

20 FRIDAY 23 MARCH 2018BUSINESS

QATAR STOCK EXCHANGE

QE Index 8,825.70 0.54 %

QE Total Return Index 15,502.91 0.18 %

QE Al Rayan Islamic Index

- Price 2,280.87 0.58 %

QE Al Rayan Islamic Index 3,655.60 0.18 %

QE All Share Index 2,602.39 0.05 %

QE All Share Banks &

Financial Services 2,885.67 0.15 %

QE All Share Industrials 2,959.45 0.07 %

QE All Share Transportation 1,874.91 0.02 %

QE All Share Real Estate 1,911.56 0.77 %

QE All Share Insurance 3,321.54 0.40 %

QE All Share Telecoms 1,096.24 1.97 %

QE All Share Consumer

Goods & Services 5,375.89 0.25 %

QE INDICES SUMMARY QE MARKET SUMMARY COMPARISON WORLD STOCK INDICES

GOLD AND SILVER

22-03-2018Index 8,825.70

Change 47.68

% 0.54

YTD% 3.55

Volume 16,386,492

Value (QAR) 281,034,307.58

Trades 4,591

Up 13 | Down 27 | Unchanged 221-03-2018Index 8,873.38

Change 104.47

% 1.66

YTD% 4.11

Volume 11,730,609

Value (QAR) 278,506,455.02

Trades 5,732

EXCHANGE RATE

GOLD QR156.0733 per grammeSILVER QR1.9421 per gramme

Index Day’s Close Pt Chg % Chg Year High Year Low

All Ordinaries 6043.2 -9.9 -0.16 6256.5 5887.3

Cac 40 Index/D 5185.48 -54.26 -1.04 5567.03 5051.21

Dj Indu Average 24682.31 -44.96 -0.18 26616.71 20379.55

Hang Seng Inde/D 31071.05 -343.47 -1.09 33484.08 29129.26

Iseq Overall/D 6569.03 -32.67 -0.49 7257.41 6469.04

Kse 100 Inx/D 45032.41 386.46 0.87 45494.52 40169.62

S&P 500 Index/D 2711.93 -5.01 -0.184399 2872.87 2532.69

Currency Buying SellingUS$ QR 3.6305 QR 3.6500

UK QR 5.1219 QR 5.1934

Euro QR 4.4588 QR 4.5207

CA$ QR 2.8061 QR 2.8614

Swiss Fr QR 3.8214 QR 3.8758

Yen QR 0.03418 QR 0.03484

Aus$ QR 2.7905 QR 2.8454

Ind Re QR 0.0554 QR 0.0565

Pak Re QR 0.0311 QR 0.0319

Peso QR 0.0689 QR 0.0703

SL Re QR 0.0231 QR 0.0236

Taka QR 0.0435 QR 0.0444

Nep Re QR 0.0346 QR 0.0353

SA Rand QR 0.3055 QR 0.3116

INTERNATIONAL MARKETS - A LIST OF SHARES FROM THE WORLD

Aarti Drugs-B/D 527.4 -2.7 4364

Aban Offs-A/D 165.4 3.9 453342

Acc Ltd-A/D 1546.4 -7.95 7738

Ador Welding-B/D 385.9 -9.85 1962

Aegis Logis-A/D 250.75 -0.65 10417

Alembic-B/D 55.95 -3.45 146738

Alkyl Amines-B/D 603.5 -6.5 6130

Alok Indus-T/D 3.05 0.05 1509040

Apollo Tyre-A/D 259.4 -3.55 74604

Asahi I Glass-/D 334.85 1.4 126843

Ashok Leyland-/D 141.95 -5.65 2250930

Ballarpur In-B/D 12.94 -0.39 255250

Bannari Aman-B/D 1600 -0.05 13427

Bata India-A/D 704.95 -1.55 20601

Bayer Crop-A/D 4103.15 -20.9 15373

Beml Ltd-A/D 1077.55 -23.45 45534

Bhansali Eng-B/D 166.5 -3.15 166095

Bharat Bijle-B/D 1453.15 -43.35 1833

Bharat Ele-A/D 143.45 -4.8 501588

Bharat Heavy-A/D 81.6 -1.75 484432

Bharatgears-B/D 168.6 -7.55 9106

Bom.Burmah-X/D 1155.45 -32.8 30506

Bombay Dyeing-/D 249.9 -8.85 473557

Canfin Homes-A/D 511.2 -10.05 31272

Caprihans-X/D 83 -1.5 9542

Castrol India-/D 200.1 -3.3 52774

Century Enka-B/D 304.6 -0.85 5055

Century Text-A/D 1148.05 -5.3 25242

Chambal Fert-A/D 169.8 0.5 56530

Chola Invest-A/D 1426.5 -24.4 8566

Chowgule St-Xt/D 13.8 0.05 3225

Cimmco-T/D 80.55 -4.2 8215

Cipla-A/D 540.55 -8.9 76905

City Union Bk-/D 174.5 -2.1 21113

Colgate-A/D 1042.65 1.45 12222

Dai-X/D 402.55 -13.1 5647

Dcm Shram Ind-/D 211.05 -11.95 12324

Dhampur Sugar-/D 147.65 -8.95 45880

Dr. Reddy-A/D 2107.7 -34.2 40791

E I H-B/D 165 0.05 577861

E.I.D Parry-A/D 276 -0.5 12207

Eicher Motor-A/D 27944.6 -9.9 1311

Eimco Elecon-B/D 415.95 -14.05 2080

Electrosteel-B/D 26.25 -0.75 99587

Emco-B/D 10.6 -0.25 99635

Escorts Fin-Xt/D 3.99 0.19 1829

Escorts-A/D 810.4 -15.4 44253

Federal Bank-A/D 90.85 -0.15 350415

Ferro Alloys-X/D 9.25 0.12 242476

Finolex-A/D 668.85 -2.7 18303

Forbes-B/D 2975 -25.15 2076

Gail-A/D 439.35 4.85 59050

Galada Power-X/D 7 -1.75 1032

Garden P -B/D 33.75 0.4 10262

Godfrey Phil-A/D 816.4 -18.1 6491

Goodricke-X/D 323.25 -0.15 7632

Goodyear I -B/D 1165.2 -13.95 3286

Hcl Infosys-A/D 51.75 -1.8 381819

Him.Fut.Comm-A/D 26.25 -0.6 1170987

Himat Seide-X/D 345 8.8 9273

Hind Motors-T/D 7.63 0.11 88662

Hind Org Chem-/D 25.35 -0.5 60844

Hind Unilever-/D 1312.25 -2.05 49812

Hind.Petrol-A/D 342.7 -10.8 200580

Hindalco-A/D 216.25 1.85 374615

Hous Dev Fin-A/D 1808.55 -10.3 120562

Idbi-A/D 76.55 0.65 2826902

Ifb Ind.Ltd.-B/D 1267.6 -10.05 1576

Ifci Ltd-A/D 20.15 -0.2 949377

India Cement-A/D 140.65 -4.15 190502

India Glycol-B/D 450 -17.65 55841

Indian Hotel-A/D 128.9 0.4 139116

Indo-A/D 85.7 -3.95 183863

Indusind-A/D 1756 24.5 40189

J.B.Chemical-B/D 290 -2.65 2240

Jagatjit Ind-X/D 98.7 4.7 5953

Jagson Phar-B/D 27.85 -0.05 7593

Jamnaauto-B/D 79.95 0.85 149072

Jbf Indu-B/D 104.3 -2.6 40550

Jct Ltd-X/D 2.91 0.02 187682

Jindal Drill-B/D 164.5 12.25 366826

Jktyre&Ind-A/D 146.45 -2.6 104648

Jmc Projects-B/D 554 1.7 15478

Kabra Extr-B/D 115 -4.4 6180

Kajaria Cer-A/D 565 -9.45 21377

Kalpat Power-B/D 454.15 0.1 3178

Kalyani Stel-B/D 270.85 -10.65 96011

Kanoria Chem-B/D 67 -2.25 9442

Kg Denim-X/D 51.5 -0.9 10988

Kilburnengg-X/D 75.3 -0.45 5526

Kinetic Eng-Xt/D 69.75 1.35 3856

Kopran-B/D 59.4 -1 34846

Lakshmi Elec-X/D 619 2.5 1749

Laxmi Prcisn-B/D 42.05 0.55 298774

Lgb Broth-B/D 1088 34.2 1917

Lloyd Metal-X/D 14.5 -0.1 334313

Lupin-A/D 759.05 -8.75 114832

Lyka Labs-B/D 48.35 -0.65 46757

Mafatlal Ind-X/D 269.55 2.4 2310

Mah.Seamless-B/D 443.1 -4.9 6292

Mangalam Cem-B/D 308.45 -2.75 3514

Maral Overs-B/D 31 -1.75 13566

Mastek-B/D 560.75 -18.45 295375

Max Financial-/D 437.5 2.65 46263

Mrpl-A/D 111.4 -1.6 303010

Nagreeka Ex-T/D 27.6 -0.95 5897

Nagreeka Ex-T/D 27.6 -0.95 5897

Nahar Spg.-B/D 88.65 -2.65 13037

Nation Alum -A/D 68.95 4.1 2040347

Navneet Edu-B/D 141.15 -2.65 109643

Neuland Lab-B/D 709.9 -7.4 4490

Nrb Bearings-B/D 154.45 -0.6 6311

O N G C-A/D 179.75 4.3 570874

Ocl India-B/D 1311 -11.45 6021

Oil Country-B/D 33.8 -2.5 267689

Onward Tech-B/D 91 -2 134726

Orchid Pharm-M/D 12.5 -0.65 82304

Orient Hotel-B/D 42.8 -0.1 8179

Orient.Carb.-B/D 1017.5 -6.75 5860

Orient.Carb.-B/D 1017.5 -6.75 5860

Patspin India-/D 14.45 -0.75 7818

Radico Khait-A/D 340.85 -2.45 283832

Rallis India-A/D 222 3.5 25215

Rallis India-A/D 222 3.5 25215

Reliance Indus/D 438.65 -8.45 94029

Ruchi Soya-B/D 17.8 -0.15 201550

Samtel-T/D 1.8 0 5000

Saur.Cem-X/D 70.9 -1.25 19491

Savita Oil-B/D 1422 44.65 3242

Sterling Tool-/D 359.7 -9.85 11297

Tanfac Indu-Xt/D 118.25 -2.5 5793

Thirumalai-B/D 1784.15 -52.3 5700

Til Ltd.-B/D 445 0 1392

Timexgroup-T/D 44.5 -1.15 54499

Tinplate-B/D 198.25 -6.45 177755

Ucal Fuel-B/D 251.5 -2.25 9951

Ucal Fuel-B/D 251.5 -2.25 9951

Ultramarine-X/D 295 3.35 17220

Unitech P -B/D 5.96 -0.11 4144882

Univcable-B/D 124.05 -4 9373

3I Group/D 880.8 -5.2 317574

Assoc.Br.Foods/D 2438 21 462117

Barclays/D 208 -3.45 9548183

Bp/D 470.75 -1.95 6878794

Brit Am Tobacc/D 3825 -49.5 1753988

Bt Group/D 219 -2.95 4349338

Centrica/D 131.8 -0.7 2261538

Gkn/D 429 0 694746

Hsbc Holdings/D 683.4 -10.6 4884662

Kingfisher/D 294.8 -6.8 5073758

Land Secs./D 935.1 -3.3 282614

Legal & Genera/D 260 -2.3 2630231

Lloyds Bnk Grp/D 66.58 -0.58 37635023

Marks & Sp./D 271.3 1.4 3046135

Next/D 4674 45 206340

Pearson/D 764 1.6 827934

Prudential/D 1880.5 -16.5 815151

Rank Group/D 218 3.5 2141

Rentokil Initi/D 275.8 1.9 2965158

Rolls Royce Pl/D 884.6 -7.6 567959

Rsa Insrance G/D 629.6 -7 338755

Sainsbury(J)/D 230.4 -1.6 1259874

Schroders/D 3303 -83 54601

Severn Trent/D 1714 -11.5 125536

Smith&Nephew/D 1308.5 -10.5 236776

Smiths Group/D 1546 -15.5 265450

Standrd Chart /D 730.8 -16.3 1479561

Tate & Lyle/D 536.2 -3.2 234558

Tesco/D 204.6 -1.2 4933476

Unilever/D 3730 -4 446467

United Util Gr/D 674.4 -4.4 432168

Vodafone Group/D 192.96 -3.86 26506074

Whitbread/D 3679 -18 61581

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