Friday, August 17, 2018Dhul-Hijja 6, 1439 AH

BUSINESSGULF TIMES

US housing starts miss expectations

Japan export growth slows on US fall

JOBS BOOST | Page 12CARS HIT | Page 5

EMERGING MARKETS PAIN: Page 3

As quantitative tightening era nears, Turkey proves a test case

Higher oil prices fuel Qatar export growth in July: QNBQatar’s exports grew 46% year-on-

year (y-o-y) in July as a result of higher oil prices while imports grew

50% refl ecting the low base in July 2017, QNB said in its latest ‘Qatar Monthly Monitor’.

The country’s current account surplus, according to QNB, widened to 7.3% of GDP in the fi rst quarter (Q1), while the fi nancial account defi cit narrowed.

The fi scal account turned to a surplus in Q1 as revenue rose in line with higher oil prices.

Qatar’s foreign exchange reserves with the Qatar Central Bank rose 0.9% month-on-

month to reach $45.2bn in June, equating to seven months of import cover, the monthly monitor showed.

Booming construction output, which was up 17.2% y-o-y, remained the key driver of activity in the non-hydrocarbon sector. Manufacturing gained 3% y-o-y, QNB said.

Industrial production rose 4.7% y-o-y in May from 1.4% the previous month.

Qatar’s CPI Infl ation was broadly fl at at 0.2% year-on-year in July, while food infl a-tion dropped due to the base eff ect from last year. The month also saw defl ation in hous-ing costs getting moderated.

Qatar’s real GDP growth slowed in Q1, thanks to a further fall in the hydrocarbon output. Non-hydrocarbon GDP growth was a solid 4.9% year-on-year.

Qatar’s bank assets grew 6.6% year-on-year in June, QNB said. Bank deposits grew 6.2% year-on-year in June, while credit growth stood at 6% year-on-year that month.

Deposits from the non-resident and pub-lic sector grew 7.1% and 8.9% month-on-month respectively in June, while the private sector declined 0.7% month-on-month.

According to the monthly monitor, the broad money supply (M2) grew by 10.2%

year-on-year in June, while interbank rates remained steady despite higher US short-term rates.

Brent crude prices slipped to an average of $75 for a barrel in July, QNB data showed. Qatar’s oil production rose to 601,000 bpd in May from 578,000 bpd in the earlier month.

Five-star and 4-star hotel occupancy rates dipped slightly in July to 55% and 60% respectively, QNB said.

Qatar’s population increased 0.9% year-on-year to 2.45mn in July and according to offi cial data women made up nearly 22% of the population.

Turkey fi nance minister’s reassurances win welcome from global investorsReutersLondon

Nervous investors gave a cau-tious thumbs-up yesterday to a carefully prepared presenta-

tion by Turkey’s new Finance Minister, Berat Albayrak, after he promised not to bring in capital controls in response to its currency crisis.

Both the lira and Turkey’s govern-ment and bank bonds extended gains they had made in the run-up to the conference call presentation, which lasted roughly 45 minutes and provid-ed replies to a handful of pre-approved investor questions.

Albayrak’s main message was that a recent 40% rout in the lira was unwar-ranted.

But he also tried to douse fears about Turkey’s banks and stressed that the government had options if the turmoil reignited.

“What was really assuring, and which he stressed in a number of dif-ferent ways, was that capital controls will never be on Turkey’s agenda,” said

State Street’s lead EM portfolio man-ager, Abhishek Kumar.

That had been the biggest concern for investors.

Capital controls would not just impact on any Turkish investors but would also damage the European Un-ion due to Turkey’s proximity and its strong trade and banking links to the bloc, Kumar said.

Albayrak’s remarks also included commitments to shore up banks if required and to hold regular calls or meetings with foreign investors.

Albayrak, who is President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s son-in-law, was named fi nance minister just over a month ago and is a relative unknown to international investors.

The lira has lost nearly 40% against the dollar this year, and tumbled to a record low of 7.24 on Monday.

The slump has also led to fears of contagion across emerging mar-kets.

Almost an hour after Albayrak’s call the lira was more than 25% off its low and was up 5% on the day at 5.71 per dollar.

Turkey’s dollar-denominated gov-ernment bonds rallied hard as well.

They were up as much as 3 cents in the dollar and currency market implied volatility gauges had also dropped back.

“Considering this was his fi rst call with investors, it went okay, said M&G fund manager Claudia Calich. “He didn’t demonise investors or use an antagonistic tone,” she said.

However, there were still some signs of stress.

The price of insuring against a de-fault on Turkey’s government debt in the next year using credit default swaps (CDS) was higher than the price of doing so for fi ve years.

That CDS ‘curve inversion’ as it is dubbed in fi nancial market jargon, generally happens in times of turmoil.

Pakistan’s curve has inverted in the past during various crises that have tended to require the International Monetary Fund support.

“We have no engagements with the IMF” apart from the regular monitor-ing missions, Albayrak said on his con-ference call.

Dubai regulator investigating Abraaj as liquidator appointed

BloombergDubai

Regulators in Dubai said they’re investigating a “range of matters” within Abraaj Group and warned one of the embattled private equity company’s Cayman-registered entities not to do business from the emirate.The Dubai Financial Services Authority told Abraaj Investment Management Ltd “to ensure it does not undertake any unauthorised financial services activities” from the city’s financial free zone, where it isn’t registered to do business, according to a statement yesterday. The Dubai International Financial Center’s court also appointed Deloitte LLP to help liquidate Abraaj Capital Ltd after it filed a petition to wind up its operations, the DFSA said.The DFSA said it’s been probing Abraaj for some time, but won’t comment on the matters under investigation. Once a jewel of the emirate’s financial sector, the private equity firm defaulted on debt amid allegations it borrowed money from some of its own funds to meet operating expenses without investors’ consent.“Given the onset of financial diff iculties of the wider Abraaj Group, the DFSA has been closely monitoring the activities of its regulated entity Abraaj Capital Ltd,” the regulator said. The DFSA has taken “regulatory actions” to safeguard “the interests of investors and the DIFC, including actions to prevent AIML or any aff iliates from removing funds from Abraaj Capital and prohibiting it from dealing with new clients.”Abraaj Capital is registered in the DIFC financial free zone and the only entity in the Abraaj Group to be regulated by the DFSA. Its parent entities, Abraaj Investment Management Ltd, and Abraaj Holdings Ltd, are domiciled in the Cayman Islands.DFSA said it will engage with Abraaj Capital’s joint provisional liquidators, David Soden and Phil Bowers of Deloitte, and with those liquidating the parent entities in the Caymans.Deloitte is also one of two court-appointed liquidators in the Cayman Islands trying to settle more than $1bn of debt owed by Abraaj, one of the most influential emerging-market investors until its dramatic collapse this year.Abraaj has faced a liquidity crisis since it emerged in February that some of its investors, including the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, commissioned an audit to investigate the alleged mismanagement of money in its health-care fund.The company oversaw funds from 18 off ices in emerging markets spanning Latin America, Africa and Asia — a network that several US investors have since tried to buy at fire-sale prices.

Oil tanker is seen at sunset anchored off the Fos-Lavera oil hub near Marseille, France (file). The recovery in the oil industry is attracting some of the most recognised billionaires in money management, according to Bloomberg. Stanley Druckenmiller’s Duquesne Family Off ice bought 1.68mn shares in VanEck Vectors Oil Services ETF in the second quarter, the third-biggest addition to its portfolio in the period, a regulatory filing showed on Tuesday. It also added the Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund. George Soros’s hedge fund bought energy stocks including Chevron Corp. The global energy industry is extending a recovery from the worst crude crash in a generation, with benchmark US oil prices touching a more-than three-year high in July. The revival kicked off in the shale fields of North America last year, and is now spreading outside the US and Canada. Schlumberger Ltd, the world’s biggest oilfield services provider, said last month it expects business to be so brisk that it will sell out the services and equipment it supplies internationally by the end of the year. “Global oil markets have tightened and oil prices will remain elevated in our view for the next few years,” James West, an analyst at Evercore ISI, said earlier this month in a note to investors. “The international inflection point is underway and we believe it has been stronger than anticipated.”

Billionaires throw weight behind oil rally

This file photo taken on February 1, 2006 shows an oil refinery on the outskirts of Doha. Qatar’s exports grew 46% year-on-year in July as a result of higher oil prices while imports grew 50%, QNB said in its latest ‘Qatar Monthly Monitor.’

BUSINESS

Gulf Times Friday, August 17, 20182

DP World cautions on trade, posts drop in H1 net profitReutersDubai

DP World, one of the world’s biggest port

operators, posted a 2.1% drop in first-half

net profit yesterday, and cautioned about

geopolitical risks and recent changes to

trade policies.

US President Donald Trump is taking a

more aggressive, protectionist posture

on trade than his recent predecessors,

sparking retaliatory measures from other

countries such as China.

“The near-term trade outlook remains

uncertain with recent changes in trade

policies and geopolitical headwinds in

some regions continuing to pose uncer-

tainty to the container market,” said the

company’s chairman and chief executive,

Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem.

“However, the robust financial perform-

ance of the first six months also leaves us

well placed for 2018 and we expect to see

increased contributions from our recent

investments in the second half of the

year,” he said in a statement.

Lower export orders and car sales are

likely to slow world trade growth in the

third quarter, the World Trade Organiza-

tion said recently, as a global tariff crusade

by Trump to protect American jobs begins

to bite.

DP World said it posted a net profit at-

tributable to owners of the company of

$593mn in the first half of the year, com-

pared to $606mn during the same period

a year earlier.

Cash from operating activities was re-

corded at $979mn in the first half, slightly

lower than $1bn a year earlier.

The port operator said capital expenditure

guidance for 2018 remains unchanged

at up to $1.4bn with investments planned

in the UAE, Posorja (Ecuador), Berbera

(Somaliland), Sokhna (Egypt) and London

Gateway.

DP World recently won a 30-year conces-

sion for the management and develop-

ment of a port project at Banana in the

Democratic Republic of the Congo, which

currently has no direct deep-sea port

despite being Africa’s third-most populous

country.

Lebanon banks suck in dollars to maintain peg, but economy stagnatesReutersBeirut

Lebanese banks are pulling out the stops to bring in dollars as the country strives to preserve a two-decade old currency peg, of-

fering high returns to customers willing to change their hard currency into long-term Lebanese pound deposits.

It is one sign of Lebanon’s determination to maintain monetary stability as political leaders’ warnings of economic crisis have fuelled rumours that have led the central bank to issue repeated as-surances about the peg’s soundness.

But the central bank’s high interest rates that keep money fl owing into banks are increasing risk within the fi nancial system and strangling an al-ready depressed economy.

That all comes at a time of renewed political uncertainty as Lebanon nears three months with-out a government.

With growth low and traditional sources of for-eign exchange — tourism, real estate and foreign investment — undermined by years of regional tension, Lebanon is now relying more on the bil-lions of dollars expatriate Lebanese deposit in lo-cal banks.

The banks buy government debt, which fi nanc-es the country’s eye-watering public indebted-ness, and defi cits.

There is broad agreement that Lebanon — the world’s third most indebted state — needs urgent fi scal reform to help the economy and reduce de-pendence on central bank operations described as unconventional by the International Monetary Fund.

But since parliamentary elections in May, politicians have failed to form a government that could tackle the defi cit, reinforce confi dence in the fi nancial system and unlock billions in donor fi nancing.

Focusing on high interest rates has come at a price.

“The priority today for the central bank is to raise rates to attract capital and preserve capital in foreign currency in Lebanon so we can continue with the policy of stabilising the pound, which is the top priority,” Raed Khoury, Lebanon’s care-

taker economy minister, told Reuters last month. “It is the reason for Lebanon’s political and mon-etary stability and confi dence in Lebanon. Of course these factors don’t come at a low cost. The cost is high for our economy.”

Ordinary Lebanese are feeling the eff ects of the weak economy.

Lending is down and business activity is falling along with prices in a real estate sector that was once a pillar of the economy.

Annual growth rates have fallen to between 1% and 2%, from between 8% and 10% in the four years before the Syrian war, and Lebanon’s debt-to-GDP ratio hit more than 150% at the end of 2017, the IMF said.

The central bank last hiked interest rates at the end 2017, by 2 percentage points in response to the crisis caused by Prime Minister Saad al-Har-

iri’s resignation, later rescinded. But almost two months ago banks began telephoning customers asking if they had foreign currency — locally or abroad — they could deposit to earn interest rates of up to 15% on fi ve-year term Lebanese pound deposits.

Other off ers heard by Reuters include 10% on one-year and 11% on two-year terms, with mini-mum deposits ranging from $20,000 to $50,000.

The weighted average interest rate on Lebanese pound deposits was 6.7% in June, the highest since December 2009.

The average rate on dollar deposits was 4.1%, the highest since February 2008.

And since the Hariri crisis, the average term of Lebanese pound deposits increased from 40 days in October to 120 days today, Bank Audi chief economist Marwan Barakat said.

Banks convert customers’ cash into local cur-rency and deposit the dollars in the central bank which, a number of complex operations later, gives the banks even more attractive returns.

“There is now a lot of competition between banks to attract deposits,” BlomInvest Bank’s head of research Marwan Mikhael said. “The central bank is trying to suck all the dollars in the market.”

But the increasing reliance on bank deposits to fund the state — and the increasingly high expo-sure of banks to sovereign debt this entails — is making Lebanon and its banks more susceptible to political shocks.

“The situation of banks has become fragile, vulnerable to the situation of the public sector,” said Toufi c Gaspard, an economist and former adviser at the International Monetary Fund in Washington.

He said half of the banks’ balance sheets are de-posits at the central banks.

“Two thirds of their balance sheets are loans to the public sector, defi ned as the central bank and government, as illustrated by treasury bills,” Gaspard said.

Gaspard last year wrote a paper saying the cen-tral bank’s policy of off ering high interest rates on dollars was resulting in “mounting losses” for the central bank and “negative net reserves”.

The scale of these losses is, however, not pub-licly known as “the central bank hasn’t published its profi t and loss statements since 2002”, Gaspard told Reuters.

In an unusual move, the central bank responded to the report and said its interest rate policies were in line with Lebanon’s risk profi le.

On the subject of the non-publication of its an-nual reports, the central bank said it is required annually to report its balance sheet and profi t and loss accounts to the fi nance minister, and said the central bank “continues to generate sustained and substantial profi ts”.

Lebanon’s vulnerability to political shocks was demonstrated in November, when Hariri unex-pectedly resigned during a visit to Saudi Arabia, causing a temporary outfl ow of funds from his country.

The crisis was resolved in a matter of weeks when Hariri cancelled his resignation, but the currency peg came under pressure.

Israel growth slows to 2% as housing construction slumpsBloombergTel Aviv

Israel’s economy grew 2% in the second quarter, the narrowest quarterly expansion in a year, as housing construction continued to slump.The Finance Ministry had expected the pace of growth to slow in the second quarter to 2% to 2.5%, stressing the economy is still set to grow 3.5% this year. The result was below the median expectations of 2.5% growth in a Bloomberg survey.The shekel was little changed after the data at 3.6810 per dollar. Ten-year benchmark bond yields dropped 5 basis points to 1.94%.“The trend is still toward strong growth, which is clear if you see this in the context of the first half of 2018,” said Rafi Gozlan, chief economist at Israel Brokerage and Investments Ltd in Tel Aviv. “We’ve know about the slowdown in housing for several quarters, but investment in Israel is quite robust.”The country’s growth had surpassed analyst expectations in recent quarters,

rising as high as 4.8% to start the year, driven by one-time factors. The expansion has started to push up prices, with inflation – which had hovered near zero in recent years – finally hitting the Bank of Israel’s 1% to 3% target for two consecutive months.Given the growth and inflation trends, the Bank of Israel, which has held its benchmark rate at 0.1% for more than three years, may soon begin to tighten monetary policy. The central bank’s own research department expects a rate increase to 0.25% by the end of the year.Exports dropped 0.1% in the second quarter while capital investment fell 6.6%. Residential building fell 9.6%, and private consumption rose 0.5%. Analysts emphasized that data for the first half of the year still looks healthy, with exports gaining 3.3% from January to June.“Growth in the past year has been very strong and that sort of pace can’t be sustained every quarter,” said Ori Greenfeld, chief economist at Psagot Investment House Ltd in Tel Aviv. “As a whole, 2018 is looking good.”

Bahrain Gulf allies reviewing aid plan to repair its fi nances

BloombergDubai/Washington

Bahrain’s Gulf Arab allies met to review a fi nancial support programme de-

signed to help the country re-pair its fi nances and stave off a possible currency devaluation that could roil regional mar-kets.

The fi nance ministers of Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Ku-wait met with their Bahraini counterpart on Wednesday in the island-kingdom. They said their countries were “com-mitted to backing Bahrain’s fi scal stability” and economic growth, according to the offi -cial Bahrain News Agency.

The ministers reviewed a re-port prepared by a joint tech-nical team in co-ordination

with the Arab Monetary Fund, BNA said. The AMF is an Abu Dhabi-based organisation modelled on the International Monetary Fund.

Bahrain’s economy, the smallest among the six mem-bers of the oil-rich Gulf Co-operation Council, has been hit hard by low oil prices since 2014. Investors fear that with-out aid to help bolster low foreign-exchange reserves and cut ballooning debt, the small kingdom will be forced to abandon the dinar peg to the dollar, triggering specula-tion that its neighbours would follow suit. Bahrain offi cials have repeatedly said they have enough reserves to maintain the peg.

“At this stage, it’s still talk, there is nothing tangible,” said Mohieddine Kronfol, the

Dubai-based chief investment offi cer for global sukuk, Mid-dle East and North Africa fi xed income at Franklin Templeton Investments.

Any aid package needs to come with “some funds behind it, some dollars that people can look at but also there needs to be credible plan,” he told Bloomberg TV.

The yield on Bahrain’s dol-lar-denominated bonds due 2028 fell two basis point to 8.1% as of 8.31am in London, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Bloomberg News reported this month that the multi-year programme discussed between Bahrain and its allies would involve spending cuts and measures to increase non-oil revenue, including the intro-duction of a value-added tax.

DNO pays surprise dividend as Kurdistan oil output growsBloombergOslo

DNO ASA, the Norwegian oil producer focused on Iraq’s Kurdistan region, plans to

pay the fi rst dividend in 13 years thanks to growing production and earnings.

The $50mn payout comes as a surprise and highlights the com-pany’s faith that Kurdish au-thorities will continue paying for exports. Producers in the semi-autonomous Iraqi region have now enjoyed a steady stream of income from the regional government for more than two years following a period of intermittent transfers. DNO also raised the production target for its Peshkabir fi eld, which it said is proving “prolifi c.”

“With growing production and robust and reliable revenues, the dividend announcement under-scores confi dence in our strong growth prospects,” executive chairman Bijan Mossavar-Rah-mani said in a statement released with its second-quarter report. “Kurdistan is back and so is DNO.”

In a note sent to clients on Au-gust 13, SpareBank 1 Markets said it didn’t anticipate a dividend and neither did Bloomberg. The planned annual distribution will be made in two tranches and is subject to shareholder approval, DNO said.

Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation of $105.2mn in the quarter beat the average analyst forecast of $100.5mn.

After exceeding a previous tar-get of 30,000 barrels of oil a day from Peshkabir last month, DNO now expects the fi eld to reach 50,000 bpd by the end of the year. It’s also drilling with two rigs on its fl agship Tawke fi eld in the same license to reverse natural output decline, it said.

A man walks past a DP World sign in Dubai (file). The company, one of the world’s biggest port operators, posted a 2.1% drop in first-half net profit yesterday, and cautioned about geopolitical risks and recent changes to trade policies.

Bahrain’s economy, the smallest among the six members of the oil-rich Gulf Co-operation Council, has been hit hard by low oil prices since 2014. Investors fear that without aid to help bolster low foreign-exchange reserves and cut ballooning debt, the small kingdom will be forced to abandon the dinar peg to the dollar.

A money exchange vendor displays Lebanese pound banknotes at his shop in Beirut yesterday. Lebanese banks are pulling out the stops to bring in dollars as the country strives to preserve a two-decade old currency peg, off ering high returns to customers willing to change their hard currency into long-term Lebanese pound deposits.

BUSINESS3Gulf Times

Friday, August 17, 2018

As quantitative tightening era nears, Turkey proves a test caseBloombergHong Kong/Singapore

Turkey is just a drill.A push by major central banks to reverse crisis-era policies is primed to accelerate into 2019 amid plans for higher interest rates and smaller balance sheets. So-called quantitative tightening then risks sucking dollars and euros from nations whose governments and companies binged on cheap debt without improving the fundamentals of their economies.The Federal Reserve is already letting some of its bond holdings mature and the European Central Bank plans to cease purchasing assets in December. That leaves Bloomberg Economics predicting net asset purchases by the three main central banks will dwindle to zero by the end of this year from close to $100bn a month at the end of 2017.The looming pivot from easy money means that investors could switch from worrying about idiosyncratic factors in markets such as Turkey and Argentina to displaying broader nervousness around emerging economies hooked on cheap liquidity. Poland and Malaysia, for example, have external debts equivalent to about 70% of their gross domestic product, according to the International Monetary Fund and World Bank.“There’s still complacency across EM,” Alberto Gallo, a money manager at Algebris Investments in London, told Bloomberg Television. “EM debt has been flashing red.”The Institute for International Finance estimates the debt of households, governments, corporations and the financial sector in the 30 emerging markets it tracks increased to 211% of gross domestic product at the start of

this year from 143% at the end of 2008. For 21 of those, dollar-denominated debt jumped to around $6.4tn from $2.8tn over the same period.The IMF estimates public debt in emerging markets and middle-income economies now averages almost 50% of GDP, the most since the 1980s debt crisis. Levels top 70% in one-fifth of such countries.Perhaps most worryingly, the Bank for International Settlements calculates

dollar-denominated corporate liabilities alone total $3.7tn in emerging markets, double the amount in the same period of 2010.Against such a backdrop, Bloomberg Economics tags Turkey, Argentina, Colombia, South Africa and Mexico as the most vulnerable to investors turning tail, given a potentially toxic combination of fast inflation alongside bloated current-account and budget deficits.

“The governments, corporations, banks, and households in EM have dollar liabilities that will become a problem as the dollar rises,” Stephen Jen and Joana Freire of London-based hedge fund Eurizon SLJ wrote in their latest report to clients. “One gets a hangover only after she stops drinking.”To be sure, not every emerging economy faces the same risk and many sought to insulate themselves in the last decade. In the main, average

inflation rates are at record lows and current-account balances are improving. An early casualty of the Asia crisis of the 1990s, Thailand, now boasts healthy reserves and a rare current-account surplus. Bloomberg Economics also rates South Korea and Taiwan as relatively robust.Still, there is pressure to respond even for those emerging economies in Asia that are bolstered by strong reserves and robust fundamentals.

India’s policy makers caught some reprieve from tightening pressure earlier this week as data showed inflation subsided last month. India’s rupee and Indonesia’s rupiah, meanwhile, remain the two weakest currencies in Asia this year.Indonesia’s central bank surprised most economists on Wednesday by raising its benchmark interest rate a fourth time since May. In some of the other action this week, the Bank of Thailand said it is monitoring any spillovers from the Turkish crisis and Argentina’s central bank jacked up its already highest-in-the-world interest rate by 5 percentage points to 45% Monday.Strategists at Morgan Stanley look to the Bank of Japan’s decision to cut its balance sheet in early 2016 as a case study, noting it can take months before investors react to lower liquidity and risk.“Within a world of ample liquidity, recent EM developments would have a far smaller impact on price fluctuations and local liquidity,” Hans Redeker and Gek Teng Khoo said in a report on Tuesday. “What we have experienced in EM over recent weeks is the outcome of tighter global liquidity conditions.”The problems in Turkey may be emblematic of wider risks as key central banks inch away from their policy accommodation, said Jim Reid, global head of credit strategy at Deutsche Bank AG.“Financial crises are always likely to happen somewhere in a Fed tightening cycle, especially when a lot of money chased high yielding assets in the easing stage of the cycle,” he said. “The latest developments are therefore familiar to global investors even if there is always a hope that this time is diff erent.”

After years of easing, meet quantitative tighteningBy Alessandro Giovanni Borghese and Christopher AnsteyTokyo/New York

For a decade, investors around the world have ridden a rising tide of more than $12tn – the extra cash pumped into the global system by key central banks to counter the deepest financial crisis since the Great Depression and its aftermath. Now that flow of so-called quantitative easing is turning to the ebb of quantitative tightening, and markets are – perhaps not coincidentally – showing increasing volatility.

1. What’s quantitative tightening?

The easy answer is that it’s the opposite of quantitative easing, or QE. Milton Friedman had proposed a type of QE decades ago, and the Bank of Japan pioneered its use in 2001 after it had run out of conventional ammunition by lowering its benchmark short-term interest rate to zero. In QE, a central bank buys bonds to drive down longer term rates as well. As it creates money for those purchases, it increases the supply of bank reserves in the financial system, and the hope is that lenders go on to pass that liquidity along as credit to companies and households – spurring growth. To avoid the impression that the central bank is just financing the government, it buys the bonds in the secondary market rather than directly from the Treasury or finance ministry.

2. When did QE switch to QT?

The US Federal Reserve applied QE in force starting in 2008, buying up bonds to revive

the flow of credit to a shrinking economy. It stopped increasing its stockpile of bonds in 2014, and now it’s shrinking its balance sheet. While the BoJ and European Central Bank are still in the QE business, they’re tapering their purchases. Their collective balance sheet peaked in March. That means the era of QT is upon us.

3. How does QT work?

The Fed is now letting up to $40bn of its bond holdings mature every month without replacing them, a cap it will raise to $50bn later in the year. That takes money out of the financial system, as the Treasury Department then finds new buyers for its debt. The Fed describes the winding down of its balance sheet as part of a “normalisation” of its policy stance, along with rate hikes, given the solid performance of the American economy and rising inflationary pressures. The ECB, BoJ and Bank of England were among the central banks that deployed QE and may at some point start shrinking their own balance sheets as the Fed is now doing.

4. How much QT has there been?

Since the ECB and BoJ are still buying securities, so far the biggest impact has come more from QE being scaled back than from actual unwinding. But the shift is significant. The combined G-3 central banks’ balance sheet increased by $76bn in the first half of 2018, compared with a $703bn jump in the prior six months. That suggests well over half a trillion dollars worth of liquidity injection went missing from the markets. Balance sheets can be aff ected month-to-month by items other than just the QE programmes, but the

direction is clear. And the pace of change is likely to increase: The Fed’s draw-down will step up to $50bn a month in October, the ECB is scheduled to terminate QE by year-end and the BoJ has been opportunistically trimming its bond purchases.

5. How are the markets reacting?

Although the Fed’s unwinding is a slow and gradual process, it has still roiled markets. QT has been the primary driver of asset-class performance this year, according to Bank of America Merrill Lynch analysts. Declines have hit markets from emerging-nation stocks to corporate bonds, responding to a climb in yields on benchmark government debt. Treasury bills reacted particularly quickly to the shift (alongside rising issuance from the Treasury), with rates climbing steadily in recent months. That’s helped propel strengthening in

the dollar, which reached a one-year high last month. Markets have also been more volatile this year compared to 2017.

6. Who are the winners and losers of QT?

The assets that were QE winners are QT losers and vice-versa. Longer-duration bonds have held up so far, though many predict declines – JPMorgan Chase & Co chief executive off icer Jamie Dimon for one has warned of 10-year Treasury yields climbing past 4%, from less than 3% now. Investors in money markets are big winners. They’ve gone from earning next-to-nothing to drawing almost 2%. The stronger dollar means that emerging markets in particular are facing strains, as investors worry about the ability of developing countries to pay off their dollar-denominated debt.

7. Does anyone think this is a bad idea?

Yes. The damage to emerging markets has sparked calls for the Fed to be mindful of the ramifications of its normalisation campaign. India’s central bank governor, Urjit Patel, wrote a column in the Financial Times last month urging the Fed to ease off on QT, warning that a “crisis” in dollar funding will be inevitable if it doesn’t – given how the US fiscal deficit is widening. In Europe, populist political parties may agitate against the ECB drawing down its holdings of debt and – by extension – potentially pushing up government borrowing costs. Some Fed off icials are also calling for discussion about bringing an earlier end than anticipated to the balance-sheet contraction, given some signs of tightness in the market for overnight cash.

Bloomberg QuickTake Q&A

An Indian man withdraws money from a mobile bank ATM in New Delhi (file). India’s rupee and Indonesia’s rupiah remain the two weakest currencies in Asia this year.

China and US to resumetrade talks in late AugustAFPBeijing

China will send a senior nego-tiator to the United States in late August to resume trade talks, its

commerce ministry said yesterday, the fi rst public meeting on the dispute in weeks as the trade confl ict intensifi es.

Beijing and Washington have slapped tariff s on tens of billions of dollars worth of each other’s goods since they held their last high-level meeting in June, raising fears that the trade war could shake the global economy.

At the invitation of the United States, a delegation led by Vice Commerce Minister Wang Shouwen, the deputy representative on international trade negotiations, will meet with a team led by senior US treasury offi cial David Malpass, the ministry said in a state-ment.

“The Chinese side reiterates that it opposes unilateralism and trade protec-tionism practices and does not accept any unilateral trade restriction meas-ures,” the ministry said.

“China welcomes dialogue and com-munication on the basis of reciprocity, equality and integrity.”

White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow confi rmed the meeting and said, “I just think this is a good thing.

It’s better to talk than not talk.”“We haven’t had a sit-down with the

Chinese either at the top level or the in-termediate level in quite some time,” he said on CNBC.

US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross held talks with Chinese Vice Premier Liu He in Beijing in June.

Liu had met with US Treasury Secre-tary Steven Mnuchin in Washington a month earlier.

The White House previously said it would not hold talks unless Beijing was willing to off er a deal to reduce the US trade defi cit but Kudlow declined to say whether there was a deal under discus-sion.

But he said the Chinese government “must not underestimate President Trump’s toughness and willingness to continue this battle.”

Talks in June failed to reduce tensions as the United States slapped tariff s on $34bn worth of Chinese goods in early July, triggering an immediate dollar-for-dollar retaliation from Beijing.

The two countries are expected to

launch a new round of tit-for-tat tar-iff s on $16bn worth of goods from each country on August 23.

Washington has also lined up an ad-ditional $200bn in Chinese imports and US President Donald Trump said he could raise tariff s on those products to 25% instead of the previously planned 10%.

Those could take eff ect as soon as September.

China responded by threatening in early August to impose new tariff s on $60bn worth of US goods.

“It is hard to tell how the talks will go but it’s a positive signal that the two countries are looking for some com-promise plan,” said Makoto Sengoku, market analyst at Tokai Tokyo Research Institute.

“If they were determined to fi ght it out, they wouldn’t meet,” he told AFP.

Larry Hu, head of greater China eco-nomics at the Macquarie Group, said the two sides may discuss what Beijing needs to do, such as increasing US im-ports, further opening its markets and making eff orts to protect US intellectual property rights.

Depending on actions taken by Chi-na, the US side may discuss what it can do to temporarily prevent an escalation of the trade war, Hu said.

“I think we are still at an ice break-ing stage, the two sides are testing each other’s bottom line,” he said, noting that it will be a lower-level meeting than the previous talks.

The yuan has declined in recent weeks, helping Chinese exporters as

it makes their products cheaper, but it could fuel tensions with Trump, who has accused Beijing of manipulating its currency.

Meanwhile the dollar has been strengthening, in part due to rising US interest rates.

Trump touted that in a tweet yester-day, even though a stronger dollar hurts US exports.

“Our Economy is doing better than ever. Money is pouring into our cher-ished DOLLAR like rarely before...” he said on Twitter.

Chinese offi cials say the tariff s have yet to make an impact on the country’s economy, with its exports even beating forecasts in July.

The threatened tariff s on $200bn worth of Chinese goods could have

“some direct impact” on industrial production, employment, foreign trade and commodity prices, but “the overall impact is generally controllable,” Cong Liang, spokesman at the National De-velopment and Reform Commission, told reporters on Wednesday.

But analysts warned that China could feel the full eff ect of tariff s in August.

Trump has boasted that trade wars are “easy to win” and warned he would hit virtually all Chinese imports if Bei-jing does not back down and take steps to reduce its $335bn surplus with the United States.

China does not import enough from the United States to match Wash-ington dollar-for-dollar, but it has warned that it could fire back with other measures.

BUSINESS

Gulf Times Friday, August 17, 20184

China nearly quadruples infrastructure approvalsReutersBeijing

China almost quadrupled the value of fi xed-asset investment projects approved in July from

the previous month as Beijing looks to accelerate infrastructure spending to stabilise the cooling economy.

China gave the green light to 17 fi xed-asset investment projects in July, worth a combined 77.69bn yuan ($11.24bn), Zhao Chenxin, an offi cial at the Na-tional Development and Reform Com-mision (NDRC), told reporters yester-day. That compared with approvals for 20.8bn yuan of spending in June, Reu-ters calculated from offi cial data.

Beijing is accelerating infrastructure

spending and rolling out other support measures for businesses to cushion the economy as it braces for the impact of escalating US trade tariff s.

Data this week showed China’s in-vestment growth has slowed to a record low and consumers are turning cau-tious on spending.

A sweeping multi-year government crackdown on risky lending and hid-den debt has sharply pushed up fund-ing costs and slowed investments in big-ticket government infrastructure projects.

But with the economy starting to lose momentum, the government is now shifting its priorities to more immedi-ate risks to growth.

The government will fi ne-tune its policies in a preemptive way to keep

economic growth within a reasonable range, state radio quoted the cabinet as saying yesterday.

Eff orts will be made to ease fi nanc-ing diffi culties facing small fi rms and widen access for private investment in some sectors, the cabinet was quoted as saying.

When asked by Reuters if the econ-omy has been hurt by deleveraging measures, as suggested by the weak July data, NDRC offi cial Chen Hongwan said the twin goals of sustainable eco-nomic growth and debt reduction were not mutually exclusive.

“We can’t just simply say deleverag-ing is at odds with economic growth,” he said, adding that moves such as forcing “zombie” fi rms to close were good for the economy and healthier

companies in the long run. However, many deeply troubled companies are state owned with many employees, raising the risk of layoff s.

Beijing has also encouraged such highly indebted fi rms to enter into debt-to-equity swap agreements as part of the solution to reduce risks in the fi nancial system and heaps of debt.

The NDRC said that 1.73tn yuan worth of debt-to-equity swap agree-ments had been signed as of end-July, although only 352bn yuan has been transacted.

Under debt-to-equity swap schemes, investors get equity stakes in fi rms and in exchange the fi rms are able to lower their debt burden, though the specifi cs of each deal are diff erent and often complex, making it tough to tell if

companies have really been weaned off state life support.

Despite a broad economic slowdown refl ected in July data, China’s prop-erty market, a key growth driver, has remained a bright spot. The housing ministry said yesterday over 990bn yuan ($143.63bn) was invested in mas-sive urban redevelopment projects in the fi rst seven months of 2018.

But further stimulus in smaller cit-ies could add to worries about property bubbles and rising household debt.

Moreover, while announcements of big infrastructure projects are starting to come thick and fast, analysts caution they have long lead times and they may not begin to arrest the decline in Chi-na’s economic growth until next year.

“The key headwinds were the same

as before – slowing investment (espe-cially infrastructure) and an ongoing unwind of shadow credit due to delev-eraging measures,” analysts from UBS China wrote in a recent note.

The stream of new stimulus meas-ures and easier credit conditions have raised fears that Beijing is putting debt reduction eff orts on the back burner again.

But economists at Nomura believe the country’s policymakers are apply-ing stimulus more cautiously and se-lectively than in past downturns, keep-ing much higher debt levels in mind.

Beijing is most likely saving its policy ammunition for September and the fourth quarter, after more sweeping US tariff s take eff ect, Nomura said in a note this week.

Chinese Vice Commerce Minister and Deputy China International Trade Representative Wang Shouwen chats with participants after a speech at the annual session of China Development Forum 2018 at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing. China will send a senior negotiator to the United States in late August to resume trade talks, its commerce ministry said yesterday, the first public meeting on the dispute in weeks as the trade conflict intensifies.

S Korea, Japan steel exports to India surgeReutersNew Delhi

India is being hit by a wave of

steel from producers in Japan

and South Korea, a govern-

ment document showed, as

mills there redirect supply after

US President Donald Trump

slapped an import duty on the

alloy earlier this year.

During the first quarter of

the fiscal year starting in April,

India’s steel imports from

South Korea rose 31% from a

year earlier, while those from

Japan climbed 30%, according

to an internal document from

the Ministry of Steel that was

reviewed by Reuters.

The flood of imports is so big

that the government in New

Delhi is considering measures

to control imports, Minister

Chaudhary Birender Singh told

Reuters. “The concern is there,

of course, and if we are to take

some measures, we will not

hesitate on that account,” Singh

said in an interview.

Between April and June, India

became a net importer of steel,

with foreign supplies reach-

ing 2.1mn tonnes, 15% higher

than a year earlier, according

to the note. With the increase,

the South Asian nation has

now passed the United States

as South Korea’s third-largest

market for steel, according to

data from the Korea Iron & Steel

Association.

New Delhi could look at im-

posing safeguards, said a senior

government off icial, who did

not wish to be identified in line

with government policy.

Under World Trade Or-

ganization rules, safeguards

are temporary restrictions on

imports of a product to protect

a domestic industry.

However, renewed govern-

ment measures would take

place despite India’s domestic

steel industry being unable to

meet the country’s demand

for high-end steel products

needed for railroads and struc-

tural steel used in construction

projects. India’s imports of

steel products used by railways

rose to more than 18,000

tonnes during the April to June

period compared with 500

tonnes a year earlier, the Steel

Ministry note said.

ReutersBeijing

Toyota Motor Corp is likely to make 120,000 more cars a year in the Chinese port city of Tian-

jin as part of a medium-term strategy that’s gathering pace as China-Japan ties improve, said four company insid-ers with knowledge of the matter.

The Japanese auto maker’s plan to boost annual production capacity by about a quarter in the port city will lay the foundation to increase sales in Chi-na to 2mn vehicles per year, a jump of over 50%, the four sources said.

The Tianjin expansion signals Toyo-ta’s willingness to start adding signifi -cant manufacturing capacity in China with the possibility of one or two new assembly plants in the world’s biggest auto market, the sources said.

Car imports could also increase, they said. The move comes at a time when China’s trade outlook with the United States appears fraught and uncertain.

Toyota plans to signifi cantly expand its sales networks and focus more on electric car technologies as part of the strategy, the sources said, declining to be identifi ed as they are not authorised to speak to the media.

Toyota sold 1.29mn vehicles in China

last year and while sales are projected at 1.4mn this year, “capacity constraints” have restricted stronger growth, the sources said.

Toyota’s manufacturing hub in Tian-jin currently has the capacity to pro-duce 510,000 vehicles a year, while

Toyota as a whole, between two joint ventures, has overall capacity to churn out 1.16mn vehicles a year.

Manufacturing capacity numbers provided by automakers are called straight-time capacity without over-time. With overtime, a given assembly

plant can produce 20% to 30% more than its capacity. According to two Tianjin government websites last week, Toyota has been given regulatory ap-proval by the municipal government’s Development and Reform Commission to pursue its expansion.

The two websites – including the of-fi cial website for the Tianjin develop-ment district where Toyota’s produc-tion hub is based – said the Japanese automaker plans to expand its Tianjin base to be able to manufacture 10,000 all-electric battery cars and 110,000 so-called plug-in electric hybrids an-nually.

It wasn’t immediately clear when Toyota will be able to start producing those additional cars. A Beijing-based Toyota spokesman declined to com-ment. The Tianjin facilities, which pro-duces cars such as the Toyota Corolla and Vios cars, are owned and operated by one of Toyota’s joint ventures in China. The venture with FAW Group Corp in Tianjin plans to invest 1.76bn yuan ($257mn) for the expansion, ac-

cording to the two Tianjin websites.China is sometimes a market diffi cult

to operate for Japanese companies be-cause of historical reasons.

In 2012, cars sold by Toyota and other Japanese automakers were battered when protests erupted across China af-ter diplomatic spats over disputed islets known as Diaoyu in China and Senkaku in Japan.

Since then, Toyota has emphasised steady growth rather than taking on risky expansion projects. According to the four sources, Toyota’s attitude to-wards China began changing markedly after an offi cial visit to Japan by Chi-nese Premier Li Keqiang in May.

During the visit, Li toured Toyota’s facilities on the northern island of Hokkaido, and was escorted by Toy-ota’s family scion and chief executive Akio Toyoda. Toyoda has since sought to boost his company’s presence in China, a vision that had culminated in an active eff ort to identify specifi c ways to do just that, according to the four sources.

Toyota lays foundation in Chinese port city to ramp up sales

BUSINESS5Gulf Times

Friday, August 17, 2018

ReutersTokyo

Japan’s export growth slowed in July, with shipments of cars to the United States sinking and as global trade

disputes cast doubt over demand for products from the world’s third-biggest economy.

Exports rose 3.9% from a year earli-er, Finance Ministry data showed yes-terday, well below the 6.3% increase forecast by economists in a Reuters poll and slowing from June’s 6.7% in-crease.

Japan’s exports to the United States fell 5.2%, a second straight decline, paced by a 12.1% fall in car shipments.

There were no immediate signs that trade tensions with Washington have aff ected Japan’s auto sector, but ana-lysts say external risks are increasing. “While caution is heightening over US trade policy, US car sales are level-ling off , causing Japan’s car exports to the United States to level off as well,” said Takeshi Minami, chief economist at Norinchukin Research Institute. “If capital outfl ows from emerging econo-mies accelerate on top of this, it would cause a marked slowdown in the global economy, further weighing on Japan’s exports.” President Donald Trump is pressing Japan and other nations to reduce their trade surpluses with the United States and has threatened to raise tariff s on the critical auto sector after raising them on steel and alu-minium.

Japanese carmakers have shown no sign, though, of rushing to boost car shipments to the United States in an-ticipation of higher levies.

Imports from the United States rose 11% in July, led by crude oil, motors and liquefi ed petroleum gas.

As a result, Japan’s trade surplus with the United States fell 22.1% year-

on-year to ¥502.7bn ($4.55bn). Ex-ports to China, Japan’s largest trading partner, rose 11.9% in July from a year ago. Shipments to Asia, which account for more than half of Japan’s overall ex-ports, rose 8%, led by semiconductor

production equipment and electron-ics parts for China and sales of steel to Thailand.

Overall imports rose 14.6% in the year to July, roughly matching econo-mists’ median estimate, resulting in

a trade defi cit of ¥231.2bn, vastly ex-ceeding the expected ¥50bn.

Yesterday’s trade fi gures came af-ter gross domestic product (GDP) data last week showed Japan’s economy, the world’s third largest, rebounded in the

second quarter from a January-March dip. Japan’s economy grew at an an-nualised rate of 1.9% in the second quarter on the back of household and business spending, recovering from an earlier contraction.

Japan export growth slows as US-bound car shipments fall

Pakistan banking on CPEC to revive economyInternewsIslamabad

The new Pakistani government has a major agenda of bringing the economy back on track.

Imran Khan, whose political party PTI emerged victorious in the country’s recent election, appears ready for some drastic moves, and building on China’s ambitious Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is one of them.

The China-Pakistan Economic Cor-ridor (CPEC), a fl agship BRI project, is the largest Chinese investment in Pakistan to date. Often termed a game changer, the $62bn mega-project in-volves a massive fi nancial infl ow into Pakistan to promote infrastructure, en-ergy and trade development and create

many jobs. Imran has promised con-tinued support to CPEC involving all sectors of Pakistani society, according to an article published by China.org.cn on Wednesday. While he (Imran) has taken up the challenge of turning state-owned companies into profi t-generat-ing machines, his plan also has the po-tential of engaging private industry to ensure success for the CPEC.

The national cricket hero-turned-politician laid out his intentions for en-gaging with Pakistan’s closest ally in an interview with the Chinese newspaper the Guangming Daily last month.

He sees the CPEC as a medium and long-term project, pledging to guaran-tee the corridor’s construction so both Pakistan and China could benefi t.

His party has identifi ed several ar-eas where co-operation with China will

be expanded. Clean energy is one area where his neighbour has achieved mon-umental success. After the industrial boom, China was faced with heavy pol-lution which had to be tackled by taking radical measures.

Large cities like Beijing almost im-mediately saw a turnaround in air qual-ity indices as the government imposed strict monitoring and implementation mechanisms much praised interna-tionally. Although China’s economy has been transformed into an industry-based one, its agricultural practices have also progressed at the same pace. Farm-produce has been increased by adopting innovative methods and by implementing high-end research. Pa-kistan’s economy, meanwhile, is still based on agriculture because of its vast fertile land. While co-operation be-

tween the two countries on several agri-products is under way, the new govern-ment intends to give this a further push.

Industrial co-operation is a medium and long-term objective to be eff ected through the CPEC. Assistance will be sought to improve domestic manufac-turing capabilities as China has long been more than willing to off er its ex-pertise. Imran cites examples of China’s poverty alleviation programme. The globally-admired initiative China un-dertook enabling millions of people to escape from poverty is seen as giv-ing Pakistan a way forward in this re-gard, and special teams are to be sent to China for in-depth study of the poverty reduction model. Representatives of his party have already visited China’s Yun-nan province where the local govern-ment briefed them how they attained

the poverty-reduction goals. The new Pakistani government also plans to fo-cus on developing indigenous resources and promoting local value-addition ap-proaches.

This can be worked out by establish-ing more vocational training institutes in Pakistan and sending young people to China to acquire higher education and better skills. If this goes as planned, the indigenous resource pool will witness augmented benefi ts from engagement in CPEC projects. Pakistan has im-mense manufacturing potential owing to ample availability of raw materials. As the incoming government looks to revitalise Pakistan’s industry on mod-ern lines, companies will eventually be looking for global consumption and should be ready for integration with various global supply chains.

A worker is seen among newly manufactured cars awaiting export at a port in Yokohama. Japan’s exports to the US fell 5.2%, a second straight decline, paced by a 12.1% fall in car shipments.

China ploughs $144bn into shantytown rebuilding so far in 2018

ReutersBeijing

China has invested 990bn yuan ($143.63bn) for a massive urban redevel-

opment project in the fi rst seven months of 2018, the housing ministry said yesterday.

China’s central bank has in-jected hundreds of billions of dollars into such shantytown redevelopment projects (SRP) through the Pledged Supple-mentary Lending (PSL) pro-gramme, which has been largely used for cash compensation to residents whose homes are de-molished.

The policy helped boost home sales and prices in smaller cit-ies that struggled for years with a glut of unsold homes, playing a key role in reviving economic growth since 2015.

Led by gains in smaller cities, China’s new home prices ac-celerated at their fastest pace in almost two years in July, defying persistent government curbs.

In 2017, China poured a record 1.84tn yuan ($278.21bn) into the project, with new construction started on over 6mn homes that year, offi cial data showed.

The government is aim-ing to build another 5.8mn homes in 2018. China’s shanty-town spending so far this year is roughly equal to the market value of video streaming giant Netfl ix Inc.

The housing ministry, in a statement yesterday, said con-struction work began on 4.07mn homes in the fi rst seven months this year. But ballooning prop-erty bubbles and hidden local debt risks as a result of credit stimulus from the project have sounded alarm bells for China’s top leaders.

The housing ministry said in July it will restrict subsidies for new shantytown development projects to cities with hot prop-erty markets.

In late June, Reuters reported that China Development Bank (CDB) had halted funding for new shantytown redevelop-ment projects, and transferred approval authority from its lo-cal branches back to the policy bank’s headquarters, in a sign of tighter scrutiny over the project.

While Beijing is seen to sig-nifi cantly reduce the size of the project especially in low-tier cities in the future, it may be hesitant to dial back support too quickly amid a slowing economy.

Economists at Nomura, in a note this week, said they believe that in the short term, Beijing will maintain a normal pace for fi nancing all renovation projects “given the strong headwinds to China’s economy”.

If rupee slump persists, it can hurt India’s ModiReutersNew Delhi/Mumbai

The rupee’s plunge to a record low has worried a

wide cross-section of India’s society: companies,

importers, those going on vacation and students

planning to study overseas.

But if the weakness persists, Prime Minister

Narendra Modi’s job could become a lot harder

just before big state and national elections.

India is a big buyer of everything from crude

oil and electronics to gold and edible oil, and its

import bill was expected to cross $600bn in the

fiscal year ending in March 2019, from about

$565bn in the previous year.

The 9.3% fall in the rupee this year has

already led to a surge in local prices of goods

with an imported component.

July was the ninth straight month in which

India’s inflation was higher than the central

bank’s medium-term target of 4%.

The currency fell to a fresh low of 70.40 to

the dollar yesterday.

“The sharp rupee depreciation has come as

a shock for us,” said Kamal Singh, 50, a senior

government off icial in Delhi visiting family in

the United States. “Now I will have to spend at

least 10,000 rupees ($143) more on travel.”

Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) consid-

ers urban middle-class Indians a key voting

bloc, the segment most aff ected by the rupee

depreciation.

The opposition Congress party has blamed

the government’s policies for the rupee slump

and called it an indication of weakness in the

economy.

Most political analysts agree that Modi does

not yet face a significant challenge, but believe

he will be hard put to repeat the BJP’s sweep of

the 2014 general election.

Besides the next general election due by

May, three big BJP-ruled states in India’s heavily

populated northern plains go to the polls over

the next four months.

Satish Misra, senior fellow at the Observer

Research Foundation in New Delhi, said

although the rupee slide was a result of several

factors, it was aff ecting the image of the Modi

government.

“As prices shoot up and products become

costlier, the middle class will begin to get

angry,” Misra told Reuters. “Since the middle

class is the opinion maker, the BJP will suff er

electorally.”

The government has said the depreciation

is due to the economic woes in Turkey that has

dragged down currencies of emerging market

countries around the world.

“Recent developments relating to Turkey

have generated global risk aversion towards

emerging market currencies and the strength-

ening of the dollar,” said senior cabinet minister

Arun Jaitley.

“However, India’s macro fundamentals re-

main resilient and strong. Developments are be-

ing monitored closely to address any situation

that may arise in the context of the unsettled

international environment.”

The rupee fall, however, benefits exporters

such as software companies.

The Thomson Reuters India IT Services &

Consulting share index, which includes top

Indian firms such as Infosys, Tata Consultancy

Services, Wipro and HCL Technologies Ltd, has

risen about 31% this year.

Indian companies which have raised funds

overseas are worried about the rise in servicing

costs.

The country’s external debt rose to $530bn

at the end of March, out of which nearly 42%

constituted debt maturing by March 31.

Several companies have said the rupee’s

slide will hit their margins.

New Delhi-based Jindal Stainless (Hisar) Ltd

said that as it is a net importer of raw materi-

als, the sharp rupee depreciation would badly

hurt the company, which has been lobbying to

reduce an import tariff on steel scrap.

“With the depreciating currency, this problem

gets further aggravated,” managing director

Abhyuday Jindal told Reuters.

Other companies such as JSW Steels Ltd and

the GVK Group – which has business interests in

energy, resources, airports, transportation and

hospitality – are also bracing for higher input

costs, which if not passed on to customers,

would hit profitability.

“Inherently if you look at it, inflation is at a

rate of 4.5% per year, so we cannot expect the

rupee to be stable,” said Seshagiri Rao, joint

managing director of JSW, which is a heavy

importer of high-quality coal.

“Everybody is expecting (some) rupee depre-

ciation, but it’s (happening) too fast.”

To temper the inflation and arrest the rupee

slide, the Reserve Bank of India has raised

interest rates by a total of 50 basis points in two

consecutive policy meetings since April, the

latest one on August 1. It has also spent around

$23bn selling dollars since April.

If the rupee stays around current levels,

the government might have to consider cut-

ting taxes on petroleum products to soothe

customer anger at higher pump prices, said a

finance ministry off icial, who spoke on condi-

tion of anonymity.

NR Bhanumurthy, an economist at the

National Institute of Public Finance and Policy

think-tank, partly funded by the finance min-

istry, said a further rate hike was likely, which

would take a toll on growth.

The government had forecast the economy

would grow by 7.5% this fiscal year, one of the

biggest expansions by a major economy in the

world, after a 6.7% rise a year earlier.

A bank executive counts new 2000 Indian rupee notes at a bank in Srinagar. The rupee’s plunge to a record low has worried a wide cross-section of India’s society: companies, importers, those going on vacation and students planning to study overseas.

Asia stocks pare losses after US-China trade talk newsAFPTokyo

Asia stocks closed lower yester-day, joining a global sell-off on concerns over Turkey’s fi-

nancial crisis, although losses were capped by news that China and the United States would hold trade talks.

Equities across the region suffered steep losses at the opening bell, with Tokyo and Shanghai off by more than 1%, dragged down by a weak session on Wall Street as traders fretted over possible contagion from Turkey’s cur-rency crisis.

Japan’s main Nikkei 225 index shed 1.20% in early trade and closed 0.05% lower at 22,192.04 points. China’s benchmark Shanghai Composite opened weaker by 1.17% and closed after 0.7% lower at 2,705.19, another day of volatile trading driven by Tur-key.

But surprising news that the world’s top two economies would hold talks in a bid to bury the trade hatchet dented investors’ pessimism and even pushed some Asian markets into the green.

China’s Vice Commerce Minister Wang Shouwen, the deputy repre-sentative on international trade nego-tiations, will meet senior US treasury official David Malpass at Washing-ton’s invitation, the ministry in Bei-jing said in a statement.

Traders saw a glimmer of hope of a detente in the ongoing trade battle that has seen the two sides hit each other with reciprocal tariffs on goods worth $34bn, with much more threat-ened.

Washington and Beijing plan to launch a new round of tariffs on $16bn worth of goods from each country on August 23.

“It is hard to tell how the talks will go but it’s a positive signal that the two countries are looking for some

compromise plan,” said Makoto Sen-goku, market analyst at Tokai Tokyo Research Institute.

“If they were determined to fight it out, they wouldn’t meet.”

After a see-saw session, the Nikkei 225 closed down 0.05% to end at 22,192.04 while the wider Topix in-dex was down slightly more, losing 0.64%. Hong Kong closed down 0.8%

at 27,100.06 while Shanghai was 0.7% lower. Despite the positive news of US-China talks, however, nervous-ness over the Turkish currency crisis lingered in the background and kept bulls on the back foot. On Wednes-day, Ankara hiked tariffs on imports of several US goods in retaliation to American sanctions, the latest step in a tit-for-tat spat between the two

Nato allies that shows little sign of easing. The crisis has sent the Turk-ish currency into free fall and sparked concerns that European banks and other emerging markets exposed to the unit could also suffer.

Nevertheless, the lira managed to claw back some ground after losing just under a quarter of its value on Friday and Monday, a loss that had

prompted fears of a fully-fledged eco-nomic crisis in the critical emerging economy.

At the European open, the lira was trading around 5.81 to the dollar, gain-ing throughout the trading day and considerably stronger than at the start of the week when it dropped below the psychologically important seven mark.

BUSINESS

Gulf Times Friday, August 17, 20186

China online parenting fi rm eyes up to $1bn HK IPOReutersHong Kong

China’s leading online parenting fi rm Babytree Group, backed by e-commerce giant Alibaba

Group, plans to raise up to $1bn in a Hong Kong initial public off ering (IPO) in October, people close to the transac-tion told Reuters.

Babytree, which also counts con-glomerate Fosun International among

its backers, is looking to raise $800mn to $1bn from the fl oat, the people said on condition of anonymity as the plans have not been made public.

It is targeting a valuation of $3bn-$5bn, they added.

Babytree plans to seek approval from the Hong Kong stock exchange’s listing committee in late September, the peo-ple said.

Babytree did not immediately re-spond to a request for comment from Reuters.

The proposed fl oat is the latest on a packed Hong Kong IPO calendar for the coming months, including a $4bn deal from online food delivery-to-ticketing services platform Meituan Dianping and a $1bn listing of popular hotpot chain Haidilao.

Escalating Sino-US trade tensions are, however, making investors more cautious toward new listings.

Tit-for-tat tariff s from Washington and Beijing have roiled global mar-kets, with the Hang Seng Index down

19% from its January peak. Four re-cent major listings of Chinese fi rms in the city – smartphone maker Xiaomi Corp, mobile telecoms tower operator China Tower as well as biotech fi rms Ascletis Pharma and BeiGene – have all seen their shares trading below the IPO prices.

In a preliminary IPO prospectus fi led in late June, Babytree said it is China’s largest maternity and child-focused online community and had 139mn monthly active users last year.

Its main platform – Babytree.com – allows parents to receive and share pregnancy and parenting information.

The company, founded in 2007, has also developed other outlets such as Babytree Parenting mobile app and e-commerce site Meitun Mama.

Alibaba in late May invested $214mn in Babytree, valuing the 11-year-old fi rm at 14bn yuan ($2bn), betting on the latter’s business growth amid China’s easing of control over decades-long family planning policy.

Babytree posted revenue of 730mn yuan ($106mn) in 2017, primarily from advertising and e-commerce business-es, up 43% from a year ago.

It reported 911mn yuan loss for the period, versus a 935mn loss a year ago.

According to the prospectus, Ba-bytree had connected 338 advertising clients and 2,253 third-party e-com-merce vendors as of the end of 2017.

It has hired China Merchants Securi-ties, Haitong International and Morgan Stanley as joint sponsors for the IPO.

Passersby using umbrellas struggle against a heavy rain and wind in front of an electronic stock quotation board of the Tokyo Stock Exchange (file). Japan’s Nikkei 225 index closed down 0.05% to 22,192.04 points yesterday.

Indian equities fall as weakerrupee dims earnings outlookBloombergMumbai

Indian stocks fell as the rupee’s

slide to a record low against the

US dollar dimmed the outlook

for company earnings growth in

Asia’s third-largest economy.

The S&P BSE Sensex declined

0.5% to 37,663.56 at the close in

Mumbai, its second day of losses

this week.

Markets were closed for a

holiday on Wednesday.

Fourteen of 19 sectoral

sub-indexes compiled by BSE

Ltd retreated, led by gauges of

metal-makers and capital goods

stocks. Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd

was the biggest loser, dropping

3.6%, while Sun Pharmaceutical

Industries Ltd rose the most after

getting US FDA approval for a

drug.

India’s rupee weakened after

a government report showed the

nation’s trade deficit widened to

the most in five years, partly due

to a higher oil import bill. The cur-

rency fell to a fresh low of 70.40

to the dollar yesterday.

“The weak rupee is bad for the

economy because India is a net

importer, so costs would increase

and unhedged dollar debt would

also go up,” said Aneesh Srivas-

tava, chief investment off icer at

IDBI Federal Life Insurance Co.

Investors may shift funds from

domestic companies’ shares to

those that get most of their sales

abroad, such as information

technology and pharmaceutical

firms, he said. The Sensex has

advanced 11% this year, holding

its place as the best performing

market in the Asia-Pacific region

amid improving earnings growth.

Best commodity bets? Exposedto China and less open to tradeBy Clyde RussellLaunceston, Australia

The recent gyrations in the world economy around

Turkey’s currency and the escalating US-China trade

dispute have taken a toll on commodity prices, especially

industrial metals.

However, while news-driven sentiment can clearly

pummel markets, over a longer period of time not all com-

modities will be equally aff ected by the changing global

economic dynamics.

The key to which commodities are likely to perform

better is China, which is the world’s largest commodity

importer.

Even if the Chinese economy does struggle under

the weight of the trade barriers erected by US President

Donald Trump, there are still likely to be commodities that

can hold their own.

The key is to look for commodities that are likely to

remain in relatively high demand, and are subject to sup-

ply constraints.

On this basis, coal becomes the darling of the commod-

ity complex, as Chinese import demand has been robust

and will likely remain so as Beijing cuts back on domestic

output as part of eff orts to cut pollution.

China’s coal imports surged 15% to 175.2mn tonnes in

the first seven months of the year from the same period

last year, according to customs data.

And it’s not just China boosting coal, with the world’s

second-largest importer, India, also increasing overseas

purchases by about 7.8% in the first seven months to

about 112.2mn tonnes.

While it’s true that Chinese import demand for coal has

been partially driven by higher power generation because

of the recent heatwave, the market may also be changing

from a structural perspective.

China’s coal output fell 2% in July from the prior month

to 281.5mn tonnes, the lowest in two years, the National

Bureau of Statistics said on August 14.

While coal has in recent weeks reached 6-1/2 year highs

of around $120 a tonne, China is also importing more less-

polluting natural gas, both in a liquefied state on ships and

by pipeline from neighbouring countries.

Imports of pipeline and liquefied natural gas (LNG) rose

34.3% in the first seven months of the year to 49.43mn

tonnes, according to customs data.

While the rate of growth has slowed from 2017’s break-

neck speed, China is still increasing its demand for natural

gas at a pace that is rapidly eating away expectations of

an oversupplied LNG market after the commissioning of

several new projects in Australia and the United States.

However, coal is still a better bet than LNG from a sup-

ply perspective, with major exporters Australia, Indonesia

and South Africa all largely unable to boost exports as

mines are already running at capacity and new projects

have been lacking.

Only the United States can realistically supply much

more coal to the global market, and its exports to China

are now uncompetitive after Beijing slapped a tariff on

them in retaliation for US tariff s on its goods.

The other commodities that China may exert a positive

influence upon are those most likely to benefit from the

current ramp-up in infrastructure spending, most likely

iron ore, coking coal and steel.

Beijing has once again opened the fiscal taps in an

eff ort to counteract any economic slowing caused by

the trade dispute with the administration of US President

Donald Trump.

China rolled out a $14bn urban railway plan on August

14 and pushed local governments to speed up the issu-

ance of special infrastructure bonds amid fears of a slow-

down in fixed asset investment, which grew at 5.5% in the

first seven months of the year, below market expectations.

While these, and other measures, do little to ease

worries about credit quality in China, from a commodity

perspective they are likely to underpin demand for the

steel complex, and perhaps to a lesser extent copper,

which is also used in construction for wiring.

Another factor worth noting is that while the com-

modities likely to perform better on the back of Chinese

demand are all tradable, they are nowhere near as liquid

as the ones that may underperform.

Crude oil, natural gas, copper and other metals such as

zinc and nickel, all have deep and liquid futures markets.

While paper coal markets are well established, they are

tiny in comparison, and the same can be said for iron ore

and LNG. They key to success in commodity markets in

what may be challenging times ahead may lie in being a

commodity that remains in demand in China and is less

accessible to your average investor.

Clyde Russell is a columnist for Reuters. The opinions

expressed here are those of the author.

Bears maul emerging marketsReutersLondon

Emerging-market equities languished in bear terri-tory yesterday, shrugging

off the prospect of new trade talks between China and the United States, while Turkey’s lira extended its rally.

MSCI’s benchmark emerg-ing-markets stocks index is down around 20.7% from its peak in January, dogged by tit-for-tat tariff s between China and the United States and by political and economic strains in countries such as Turkey and Argentina.

The index fell 0.2% yester-day, set for its sixth day loss in a row – its longest losing streak in six months. A weak ses-sion in Asia set the tone, with Chinese stocks falling 0.4% to their lowest since September 2016. Hong Kong shares fell 0.8%, with Tencent losing 3%.

The social media and gam-ing company reported quarterly profi t that fell for the fi rst time in nearly 13 years and said it did not know when it would get Chinese approval for its most popular game. Per Hammarlund, chief emerging markets strategist at SEB, said the news that China and the United States would hold another round of trade talks later in August was not enough to lift the mood.

“This trend we have seen since January is continuing – growth is slowing down, you have worries about the sus-tainability of debt in emerging market economies and that is dampening risk appetite,” he

said. China’s yuan found some support, however, after reports the central bank had restricted commercial banks from using interbank accounts to deposit or lend yuan off shore through free trade zone schemes.

The off shore yuan gained 0.8% while the onshore yuan rose 0.6%, up from a 15-month low. It earlier approached 7 per dollar, considered a key threshold.

Turkey’s lira also extended its rally, up 2.6% as central bank measures squeeze liquid-ity, while Qatar has pledged some $15bn to support Turkey’s banks and fi nancial system.

Turkish fi ve-year credit de-fault swaps continued to fall, down 21 basis points (bps) from Wednesday’s close to 494 bps.

Sovereign dollar-denom-inated bonds rose across the curve. But Turkish stocks fell 1% as Turkey’s diplomatic and trade row with Washington showed no sign of easing.

The White House has ruled out removing steel tariff s even if Ankara frees a US pastor de-tained by Turkey on terrorism charges. Investors are awaiting a conference call with Finance Minister Berat Albayrak later yesterday.

Hammarlund said he ex-pected a “carefully orches-trated” speech to assure inves-tors Turkey could ride out the storm.”Nevertheless, I suspect this rebound in the lira will be temporary,” he said. “The un-derlying causes for the weak-ness are still there – the exter-nal fi nancing need is still very big and the US looks set to con-tinue hiking rates.

And then you have (Presi-dent Tayyip) Erdogan, and his resistance to hiking rates and to allow the central bank the independence it needs.”

The South African rand also recovered, gaining 0.6% after sliding over 2% the day before on concerns over a weak eco-nomic outlook The sell-off was triggered by a Moody’s warning that the pace of fi scal consoli-dation had slowed.

Because Moody’s is the only one of the big three ratings agencies to give South African sovereign an investment-grade rating, any hint it might lower that rating unsettles markets.

MSCI’s Emerging Currency

index was trading just off a 13-month low hit in the previ-ous session, but some curren-cies continued to slide.

India’s rupee dropped 0.6% to another record low as wor-ries about a widening trade defi cit continued to weigh on the currency. The Argentine peso also hit a record low on Wednesday, pressured by in-fl ation concern.

The central bank sold $781mn in reserves in a bid to stop the slide. “A strong dollar and rate hikes in the US make life very diffi cult for emerging markets,” said Rory McPherson, invest-ment director at Psigma Invest-ment Management.

LATEST MARKET CLOSING FIGURES

ZAD HOLDING COWIDAM FOOD CO

VODAFONE QATARUNITED DEVELOPMENT CO

SALAM INTERNATIONAL INVESTME

QATAR & OMAN INVESTMENT COQATAR NAVIGATION

QATAR NATIONAL CEMENT COQATAR NATIONAL BANK

QATAR ISLAMIC INSURANCEQATAR INDUSTRIAL MANU-

FACTURQATAR INTERNATIONAL

ISLAMICQATARI INVESTORS GROUP

QATAR ISLAMIC BANKQATAR GAS

TRANSPORT(NAKILAT)QATAR GENERAL INSURANCE

& REQATAR GERMAN CO FOR MEDI-

CALQATAR FUEL QSC

QATAR FIRST BANKQATAR ELECTRICITY & WATER

COQATAR EXCHANGE INDEX ETF

QATAR CINEMA & FILM DISTRIBAL RAYAN QATAR ETF

QATAR INSURANCE COOOREDOO QPSC

NATIONAL LEASINGMAZAYA QATAR REAL ESTATE

DEVMESAIEED PETROCHEMICAL

HOLDIAL MEERA CONSUMER GOODS

COMEDICARE GROUP

MANNAI CORPORATION QSCMASRAF AL RAYAN

AL KHALIJ COMMERCIAL BANKINDUSTRIES QATAR

90.50

69.01

8.70

13.99

5.17

6.08

65.15

55.75

163.52

53.45

40.10

56.17

30.74

124.00

16.86

50.00

5.16

141.45

5.12

188.19

94.00

16.13

22.51

35.41

70.00

9.22

6.92

15.55

155.00

66.88

50.00

36.74

11.00

119.52

27.01

5.42

40.50

16.86

9.31

12.60

25.59

14.52

39.04

35.01

-0.33

0.74

-0.80

0.43

-1.52

0.00

-1.59

-0.45

0.01

-0.07

0.25

-0.34

-0.90

-4.62

-0.65

0.00

-0.58

-0.04

-0.39

-0.95

-1.52

0.00

-0.40

-1.34

-3.18

-1.39

-2.12

-0.06

-0.43

-0.83

-1.57

-0.76

0.00

-2.05

-2.88

0.18

-0.95

-1.81

-6.99

0.00

-1.20

-1.89

-1.16

-2.21

2,157

19,496

735,332

156,165

28,855

5,676

14,065

10,000

248,664

1,085

1,740

1,561

13,005

104,506

243,222

-

11,777

5,131

232,092

25,382

918

-

760

90,377

72,590

31,679

325,650

109,448

46,023

9,289

13,641

257,027

14,761

115,386

16,774

180,631

7,005

130,878

977,402

-

144,027

436,442

150,479

172,746

QATAR

Company Name Lt Price % Chg Volume

UNITED WIRE FACTORIES COMPAN

ETIHAD ETISALAT CODAR AL ARKAN REAL ESTATE

DEVALAWWAL BANK

RABIGH REFINING AND PET-ROCHE

BANQUE SAUDI FRANSISAUDI ENAYA COOPERATIVE

INSUMEDITERRANEAN & GULF

INSURANSAUDI BRITISH BANK

RED SEA INTERNATIONAL COTAKWEEN ADVANCED INDUS-

TRIESSABB TAKAFUL

SAUDI ARABIAN FERTILIZER CONATIONAL GYPSUMSAUDI CERAMIC CO

NATIONAL GAS & INDUSTRI-ALIZA

SAUDI PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTR

THIMARNATIONAL INDUSTRIALIZA-

TION CBATIC INVESTMENTS AND

LOGISTSAUDI ELECTRICITY CO

SAUDI ARABIA REFINERIES COARRIYADH DEVELOPMENT

COMPANYAL-BAHA DEVELOPMENT &

INVESTSAUDI RESEARCH AND MARKET-

INGALDREES PETROLEUM AND

TRANSPSAUDI VITRIFIED CLAY PIPE CO

JARIR MARKETING COARAB NATIONAL BANK

YANBU NATIONAL PETROCHEMI-CAL

ARABIAN CEMENTMIDDLE EAST SPECIALIZED CABL

AL KHALEEJ TRAINING AND EDUC

AL SAGR CO-OPERATIVE INSURAN

TRADE UNION COOPERATIVE INSU

ARABIA INSURANCE COOPERA-TIVE

SAUDI CHEMICAL COMPANYFAWAZ ABDULAZIZ ALHOKAIR

& CBUPA ARABIA FOR COOPERA-

TIVEWAFA INSURANCE

JABAL OMAR DEVELOPMENT COSAUDI BASIC INDUSTRIES CORP

SAUDI KAYAN PETROCHEMI-CAL CO

ETIHAD ATHEEB TELECOMMU-NICAT

CO FOR COOPERATIVE INSUR-ANCE

NATIONAL PETROCHEMICAL COGULF UNION COOPERATIVE

INSURGULF GENERAL COOPERATIVE

INSBASIC CHEMICAL INDUSTRIES

SAUDI STEEL PIPE COBURUJ COOPERATIVE INSUR-

ANCEMOUWASAT MEDICAL SERVICES

COSOUTHERN PROVINCE CEMENT

COMAADANIYAH

YAMAMA CEMENT COJAZAN ENERGY AND DEVELOP-

MENTZAMIL INDUSTRIAL INVEST-

MENTALUJAIN CORPORATION (ALCO)

TABUK AGRICULTURAL DEVEL-OPME

UNITED CO-OPERATIVE AS-SURANC

QASSIM CEMENT/THESAUDI ADVANCED INDUSTRIES

KINGDOM HOLDING COSAUDI ARABIAN AMIANTIT CO

16.20

18.70

10.18

14.30

24.38

31.95

23.16

20.90

32.00

16.54

11.34

20.50

63.10

13.40

18.20

25.70

30.00

26.20

20.92

38.50

18.40

44.35

16.86

15.64

99.30

25.75

47.00

181.60

32.75

72.40

22.00

7.50

13.80

13.82

23.98

20.10

33.00

25.20

93.70

9.65

35.90

123.00

17.70

5.35

54.50

26.75

13.56

14.56

23.20

17.50

26.10

88.00

34.75

17.74

14.38

16.00

20.86

32.85

10.80

12.24

34.00

13.30

8.80

6.02

23.24

8.50

16.70

32.25

50.20

10.04

21.58

10.98

35.10

7.48

44.40

17.86

17.54

13.46

30.65

226.60

14.40

92.00

29.10

12.32

21.06

6.14

12.46

22.40

12.60

25.30

9.12

25.70

73.30

8.10

7.40

17.06

18.90

1.38

0.43

0.20

1.42

-1.53

-0.16

1.05

-0.38

0.79

0.73

-0.18

5.13

-0.79

0.45

1.11

1.98

-1.48

0.58

0.58

0.00

0.55

1.49

0.12

1.16

-0.10

0.39

-1.26

0.00

-0.15

0.42

-0.36

0.00

-0.29

2.67

-1.64

2.66

0.00

-1.37

-0.74

-1.53

-0.28

-0.65

0.57

0.00

-0.73

-2.19

0.74

-1.22

0.26

2.58

-1.51

-3.19

0.72

-0.22

0.42

2.43

-0.19

1.39

0.00

0.00

0.89

2.15

0.69

0.84

0.43

-0.23

0.60

0.94

0.00

-0.40

-0.83

-0.36

1.59

-0.66

-0.11

0.22

2.21

0.00

0.49

-0.09

0.70

2.00

-0.68

0.82

0.86

0.00

-0.16

0.18

1.29

1.44

0.22

1.18

0.27

-0.12

0.14

0.59

-1.56

79,520

2,592,224

7,773,668

53,355

1,088,669

501,580

464,830

170,394

131,274

69,314

390,927

257,897

153,777

101,909

357,523

221,721

92,852

52,434

1,052,328

50,286

732,542

493,404

85,695

36,225

142,812

101,056

14,425

51,823

135,408

101,975

99,405

164,318

73,379

626,558

356,696

124,489

27,924

603,220

58,688

485,922

1,252,861

3,378,921

6,932,782

-

228,126

253,888

34,183

85,212

30,802

35,010

63,100

7,490

122,643

21,165

34,436

388,919

32,217

1,102,432

49,233

66,310

20,914

181,570

93,175

745,090

26,909

179,862

1,502,569

17,244

2,210

999,035

23,656

88,580

51,245

340,995

73,448

66,002

106,759

141,654

15,897

8,270

123,262

295,678

1,095,737

3,010,749

64,500

1,598,805

156,377

79,260

816,813

281,976

146,991

38,281

14,743

59,613

127,520

201,685

280,815

SAUDI ARABIA

Company Name Lt Price % Chg Volume

AL JOUF AGRICULTURE DEVEL-OPM

SAUDI INDUSTRIAL DEVELOP-MENT

RIYAD BANKTHE NATIONAL AGRICULTURE

DEVHALWANI BROS COARABIAN PIPES CO

EASTERN PROVINCE CEMENT COAL GASSIM INVESTMENT HOLD-

INGFILING & PACKING MATERIALS M

SAUDI CABLE COTIHAMA ADVERTISING & PUBLIC

SAUDI INVESTMENT BANK/THEASTRA INDUSTRIAL GROUP

SAUDI PUBLIC TRANSPORT COTAIBA HOLDING CO

SAUDI INDUSTRIAL EXPORT COSAUDI REAL ESTATE CO

SAUDIA DAIRY & FOODSTUFF CONATIONAL SHIPPING CO OF/THE

METHANOL CHEMICALS COCHUBB ARABIA COOPERATIVE

INSMOBILE TELECOMMUNICA-

TIONS COSAUDI ARABIAN COOP INS CO

11.80

17.90

7.14

21.84

52.90

30.90

28.25

33.05

21.38

34.10

25.45

14.56

84.00

29.80

54.30

18.40

13.88

19.44

19.46

30.45

14.04

11.94

29.60

18.50

44.50

26.95

18.12

10.00

26.10

2.61

-0.56

-0.42

0.28

0.38

-0.32

-1.57

0.00

-0.65

0.00

-0.20

0.41

0.96

-0.67

-1.27

0.55

-0.14

0.31

-0.10

-0.98

0.00

0.67

0.68

-0.54

-0.34

-2.00

-0.55

-0.20

1.16

36,549

91,824

262,620

16,422,807

457,485

171,147

314,822

254

467,437

21

78,626

1,425,408

3,124,614

1,824,433

397,415

90,116

152,053

578,258

401,556

347,612

-

92,046

5,312

1,732,037

28,060

688,069

367,997

960,092

41,286

SAUDI ARABIA

Company Name Lt Price % Chg Volume

SULTAN CENTER FOOD PROD-UCTS

KUWAIT FOUNDRY CO SAKKUWAIT FINANCIAL CENTRE SAK

AJIAL REAL ESTATE ENTMTKUWAIT FINANCE & INVEST-

MENTNATIONAL INDUSTRIES CO KSC

KUWAIT REAL ESTATE HOLD-ING C

SECURITIES HOUSE/THEBOUBYAN PETROCHEMICALS CO

AL AHLI BANK OF KUWAITAHLI UNITED BANK (ALMUTA-

HED)NATIONAL BANK OF KUWAIT

COMMERCIAL BANK OF KUWAITKUWAIT INTERNATIONAL BANK

GULF BANKAL-MASSALEH REAL ESTATE CO

AL ARABIYA REAL ESTATE COKUWAIT REMAL REAL ESTATE CO

A’AYAN REAL ESTATE CO SAKINVESTORS HOLDING GROUP

CO.KAL-MAZAYA HOLDING CO

AL-MADAR FINANCE & INVT COGULF PETROLEUM INVESTMENT

MABANEE CO SAKCINOVEST CO BSC

AL-DEERA HOLDING COMENA REAL ESTATE CO

AMAR FINANCE & LEASING COUNITED PROJECTS FOR AVIA-

TIONNATIONAL CONSUMER HOLD-

ING COAMWAL INTERNATIONAL

INVESTMEEQUIPMENT HOLDING CO K.S.C.CARKAN AL KUWAIT REAL ESTATE

GFH FINANCIAL GROUP BSCENERGY HOUSE HOLDING CO

KSCPKUWAIT CO FOR PROCESS PLANT

AL MAIDAN DENTAL CLINIC CO KNATIONAL SHOOTING COMPANYAL-AHLEIA INSURANCE CO SAKP

WETHAQ TAKAFUL INSURANCE CO

SALBOOKH TRADING CO KSCPAQAR REAL ESTATE INVEST-

MENTSHAYAT COMMUNICATIONS

SOOR FUEL MARKETING CO KSCTAMKEEN HOLDING CO

BURGAN CO FOR WELL DRILLINGKUWAIT RESORTS CO KSCCOULA FUEL MARKETING CO

PALMS AGRO PRODUCTION COMUBARRAD HOLDING CO KSC

SHUAIBA INDUSTRIAL COAAN DIGITAL SERVICES CO

FIRST TAKAFUL INSURANCE COKUWAITI SYRIAN HOLDING CO

NATIONAL CLEANING COMPANYUNITED REAL ESTATE COMPANY

AGILITYKUWAIT & MIDDLE EAST FIN INVFUJAIRAH CEMENT INDUSTRIES

LIVESTOCK TRANSPORT & TRADNG

INTERNATIONAL RESORTS CONATIONAL INDUSTRIES GRP

HOLDWARBA INSURANCE CO

FIRST DUBAI REAL ESTATE DEVEAL ARABI GROUP HOLDING CO

MOBILE TELECOMMUNICA-TIONS CO

EFFECT REAL ESTATE COTAMDEEN REAL ESTATE CO KSC

AL MUDON INTL REAL ESTATE COKUWAIT CEMENT CO KSC

SHARJAH CEMENT & INDUS DEVEL

KUWAIT PORTLAND CEMENT COEDUCATIONAL HOLDING GROUP

ASIYA CAPITAL INVESTMENTS CO

KUWAIT INVESTMENT COBURGAN BANK

KUWAIT PROJECTS CO HOLD-INGS

AL MADINA FOR FINANCE AND INKUWAIT INSURANCE CO

AL MASAKEN INTL REAL ESTATEINTL FINANCIAL ADVISORS

FIRST INVESTMENT CO KSCCAL MAL INVESTMENT COMPANY

BAYAN INVESTMENT CO KSCCEGYPT KUWAIT HOLDING CO SAE

COAST INVESTMENT DEVELOP-MENT

PRIVATIZATION HOLDING COMPAN

INJAZZAT REAL STATE COMPANYKUWAIT CABLE VISION SAK

SANAM REAL ESTATE CO KSCCITHMAAR HOLDING BSC

AVIATION LEASE AND FINANCE CARZAN FINANCIAL GROUP

FOR FIAJWAN GULF REAL ESTATE CO

KUWAIT BUSINESS TOWN REAL ES

FUTURE KID ENTERTAINMENT AND

SPECIALITIES GROUP HOLDING CABYAAR REAL EASTATE DEVEL-

OPMKGL LOGISTICS COMPANY KSCC

COMBINED GROUP CONTRACT-ING

JIYAD HOLDING CO KSC

62.60

198.00

105.00

151.00

48.50

171.00

34.00

50.20

1,000.00

287.00

299.00

832.00

510.00

256.00

262.00

39.00

31.80

37.40

55.60

14.20

86.10

100.50

26.70

699.00

92.00

17.50

24.70

32.80

640.00

44.00

63.50

27.10

81.00

105.00

28.20

257.00

1,220.00

17.40

423.00

28.60

44.00

70.00

0.00

122.00

8.50

91.00

57.30

120.00

50.00

58.50

0.00

19.90

41.90

36.00

53.00

67.50

866.00

23.90

63.50

198.00

22.90

168.00

71.00

41.00

70.00

488.00

20.10

380.00

30.90

380.00

75.00

1,085.00

315.00

38.90

125.00

270.00

229.00

27.20

307.00

58.00

24.90

43.00

17.30

50.10

342.00

32.00

57.00

83.50

9.00

60.00

32.40

360.00

30.00

21.90

51.20

104.00

76.00

18.90

44.00

412.00

86.00

30.00

19.00

521.00

206.00

98.50

60.00

341.00

25.50

25.00

222.00

71.00

812.00

130.00

65.00

195.00

107.00

3,300.00

119.00

51.00

20.00

34.00

800.00

60.00

33.40

1.13

0.00

0.00

1.34

0.00

-0.58

0.00

1.83

0.20

-8.60

0.67

-0.36

0.99

0.00

1.55

0.00

0.00

2.47

-2.11

1.43

-0.92

0.50

1.52

-0.29

0.22

-4.37

-1.20

-8.89

0.00

-37.14

-0.63

-3.56

0.00

-0.94

0.00

0.39

0.00

-1.14

0.00

-6.23

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.83

13.33

5.00

0.53

-0.83

0.00

-0.17

0.00

-0.50

0.00

0.00

0.19

0.00

1.64

12.21

0.47

-1.98

0.00

0.00

4.41

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

-3.44

0.00

0.00

0.00

-7.35

6.58

-0.79

-0.37

-0.43

-1.09

0.00

0.00

-0.40

0.00

-2.26

0.20

0.00

-1.54

-0.87

-2.91

0.00

0.00

-1.22

0.00

0.00

3.79

4.28

0.00

0.00

0.53

0.00

0.24

0.00

2.39

0.00

0.39

0.98

3.36

0.00

0.59

2.00

4.17

0.00

1.43

0.00

0.00

0.78

0.00

-0.93

0.15

-11.19

2.00

0.00

0.00

2.43

-0.83

1.21

228,525

50,000

30

177,889

12,000

3,937

1,050

180,000

64,400

3,989,816

117,042

3,140,938

131,044

1,206,211

2,758,619

1,059,349

2,050

679,500

200

804,019

270,070

2,968,634

1,025,310

443,727

366,100

63,304

46,200

24,800

8,510

555

37,000

1,273,531

5,000

466,665

100

183,800

200,000

153,603

3,000

15,500

6,050

14,220

-

2,847

2,353,499

20,450

3,451,365

236,700

9,034

150

-

120,000

1,500

777,026

78,683

85,051

1,476,002

581,198

13,058

3,546

18,900

955,685

856

92,995

230,100

1,926,737

650

41,310

212,343

399,920

50,000

68,295

14,000

273,490

208,566

1,330,750

696,925

20,100

10,025

500

1,211,359

32,520

401,369

641,450

10,000

516,108

19,365

29,999

1,020

5

7,821,718

640

302,760

615,050

1,000

4,800

900,100

639,502

415,721

102,565

19,002

169,400

114,200

307,033

1,790,705

25,100

1,000

87,664

50

2,700

2,300

600

2,500

1,403,730

3,700

600

245,325

423,542

29,000

60

110

268,000

2,606

5,000

550,102

KUWAIT

Company Name Lt Price % Chg Volume

VOLTAMP ENERGY SAOGVISION INSURANCE SAOC

UNITED POWER/ENERGY CO- PREF

UNITED POWER CO SAOGUNITED FINANCE CO

UBAR HOTELS & RESORTSTAKAFUL OMAN

TAAGEER FINANCESWEETS OF OMANSOHAR POWER CO

SOHAR POULTRYSMN POWER HOLDING SAOG

SHELL OMAN MARKETING - PREFSHELL OMAN MARKETING

SHARQIYAH DESALINATION CO SA

SEMBCORP SALALAH POWER & WAT

SALALAH PORT SERVICESSALALAH MILLS CO

SALALAH BEACH RESORT SAOGSAHARA HOSPITALITY

RENAISSANCE SERVICES SAOGRAYSUT CEMENT CO

PHOENIX POWER CO SAOCPACKAGING CO LTD

OOREDOOOMINVEST

OMAN UNITED INSURANCE COOMAN TELECOMMUNICATIONS

COOMAN REFRESHMENT CO

OMAN QATAR INSURANCE COOMAN PACKAGING

OMAN OIL MARKETING COM-PANY

OMAN NATIONAL ENGINEER-ING AN

OMAN INVESTMENT & FINANCEOMAN INTL MARKETING

OMAN FLOUR MILLSOMAN FISHERIES CO

OMAN EUROPE FOODS INDUS-TRIES

OMAN EDUCATION & TRAINING IN

OMAN CHROMITEOMAN CHLORINE

OMAN CERAMIC COMPANYOMAN CEMENT CO

OMAN CABLES INDUSTRYOMAN & EMIRATES INV(OM)50%

NATL ALUMINIUM PRODUCTSNATIONAL SECURITIES

NATIONAL REAL ESTATE DEVELOP

NATIONAL PHARMACEUTICALNATIONAL MINERAL WATER

NATIONAL LIFE & GENERAL INSUNATIONAL GAS CO

NATIONAL FINANCE CONATIONAL DETERGENT CO SAOG

NATIONAL BISCUIT INDUSTRIESNATIONAL BANK OF OMAN SAOG

MUSCAT THREAD MILLS COMUSCAT INSURANCE CO SAOG

MUSCAT GASES COMPANY SAOGMUSCAT FINANCE

MUSCAT CITY DESALINATION COMAJAN GLASS COMPANY

MAJAN COLLEGEHSBC BANK OMAN

HOTELS MANAGEMENT CO INTERNA

GULF STONEGULF MUSHROOM COMPANY

GULF INVESTMENTS SERVICESGULF INVEST. SERV. PREF-SHAR

GULF INTERNATIONAL CHEMI-CALS

GULF HOTELS (OMAN) CO LTDGLOBAL FIN INVESTMENT

GALFAR ENGINEERING&CONTRACT

GALFAR ENGINEERING -PREFERFINANCIAL SERVICES CO.

FINANCIAL CORP/THEDHOFAR TOURISMDHOFAR POULTRY

DHOFAR INTL DEVELOPMENTDHOFAR INSURANCE

DHOFAR FISHERIES & FOOD INDU

DHOFAR CATTLEFEED

0.26

0.15

1.00

3.44

0.10

0.13

0.13

0.10

0.55

0.12

0.21

0.60

1.05

1.49

2.55

0.22

0.60

0.85

1.38

2.38

0.43

0.42

0.12

2.21

0.50

0.35

0.31

0.77

1.75

0.11

0.28

1.10

0.15

0.10

0.52

0.77

0.08

1.00

0.20

3.64

0.40

0.42

0.38

0.92

0.11

0.36

0.04

5.00

0.12

0.10

0.34

0.32

0.13

0.70

3.75

0.19

0.08

0.80

0.26

0.09

0.13

0.18

0.45

0.12

1.25

0.12

0.31

0.09

0.11

0.19

9.50

0.09

0.10

0.39

0.18

0.10

0.49

0.18

0.28

0.14

1.28

0.17

0.26

0.03

0.26

0.37

0.13

0.09

0.16

0.53

0.28

0.03

0.75

0.09

0.11

0.00

7.14

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

-4.93

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

1.04

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

1.60

0.00

-1.83

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.62

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

-1.11

0.00

-

150,000

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

10,000

-

60,000

-

-

-

-

-

-

352,499

-

-

76,079

575

-

-

-

-

89,134

-

36

37,000

-

-

-

-

-

316,167

-

162,876

-

-

-

-

-

-

2,333

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

262,500

-

-

-

244,775

-

-

-

-

521,492

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

525,972

60,728

44,812

170,100

-

-

-

-

182,400

54,400

OMAN

Company Name Lt Price % Chg Volume

DHOFAR BEVERAGES COCONSTRUCTION MATERIALS IND

COMPUTER STATIONERY INDSBANKMUSCAT SAOG

BANK SOHARBANK NIZWA

BANK DHOFAR SAOGALOULA CO

AL-OMANIYA FINANCIAL SERVICE

AL-HASSAN ENGINEERING COAL-FAJAR AL-ALAMIA CO

AL-ANWAR CERAMIC TILES COAL SUWADI POWER

AL SHARQIYA INVEST HOLDINGAL MAHA PETROLEUM PROD-

UCTS MAL MAHA CERAMICS CO SAOC

AL MADINA TAKAFUL CO SAOCAL MADINA INVESTMENT CO

AL KAMIL POWER COAL JAZERAH SERVICES -PFD

AL JAZEERA STEEL PRODUCTS CO

AL JAZEERA SERVICESAL IZZ ISLAMIC BANK

AL BURAIMI HOTELAL BATINAH POWER

0.10

0.74

0.19

0.09

0.04

0.38

0.55

0.28

0.11

0.08

0.88

0.12

1.13

0.09

0.11

0.37

0.16

0.78

0.05

0.59

0.25

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

1.01

0.00

0.00

1.09

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

6.02

0.93

0.00

-1.27

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

41,710

-

-

159,500

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

6,000

-

59,947

96,530

-

68,751

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

OMAN

Company Name Lt Price % Chg Volume

WAHA CAPITAL PJSCUNITED INSURANCE COMPANY

UNITED ARAB BANK PJSCUNION NATIONAL BANK/ABU

DHABUNION INSURANCE CO

UNION CEMENT COUMM AL QAIWAIN GENERAL

INVESSUDAN TELECOMMUNICATIONS

GROSHARJAH ISLAMIC BANK

SHARJAH INSURANCE COMPANYSHARJAH GROUP

SHARJAH CEMENT & INDUS DEVEL

RAS AL-KHAIMAH NATIONAL INSU

RAS AL KHAIMAH WHITE CE-MENT

RAS AL KHAIMAH CERAMICSRAS AL KHAIMAH CEMENT CO

PSCRAS AL KHAIMA POULTRY

RAK PROPERTIESOOREDOO QPSC

OMAN & EMIRATES INV(EMIR)50%

NATIONAL TAKAFUL COMPANYNATIONAL MARINE DREDG-

ING CONATIONAL INVESTOR CO/THE

NATIONAL CORP TOURISM & HOTE

NATIONAL BANK OF UMM AL QAIW

NATIONAL BANK OF RAS AL-KHAI

NATIONAL BANK OF FUJAIRAHMETHAQ TAKAFUL INSURANCE

MANAZEL REAL ESTATE PJSCINVEST BANK

INTL HOLDINGS CO PJSCINSURANCE HOUSE

GULF PHARMACEUTICAL IND PSC

GULF MEDICAL PROJECTSGULF CEMENT CO

FUJAIRAH CEMENT INDUSTRIESFUJAIRAH BUILDING INDUS-

TRIESFOODCO HOLDING PJSC

FIRST ABU DHABI BANK PJSCFINANCE HOUSE

ESHRAQ PROPERTIES CO PJSCEMIRATES TELECOM GROUP CO

EMIRATES INSURANCE CO. (PSC)EMIRATES DRIVING COMPANY

DANA GASCOMMERCIAL BANK INTERNA-

TIONABANK OF SHARJAH

AXA GREEN CRESCENT INSUR-ANCE

ARKAN BUILDING MATERIALS CO

1.82

2.00

1.06

3.74

2.03

0.00

1.01

0.47

1.23

2.84

1.30

1.00

3.50

0.75

2.25

0.74

1.89

0.62

72.90

0.50

0.66

3.06

0.58

1.95

2.75

4.18

2.80

0.73

0.46

2.10

1.25

0.85

2.15

1.90

0.92

1.20

1.56

3.70

14.25

1.53

0.60

16.90

7.20

6.95

1.13

0.70

1.07

0.54

0.58

2.10

1.95

12.75

1.05

0.25

300.00

3.85

2.21

38.00

4.96

1.43

0.52

4.40

2.35

3.85

2.95

1.20

-1.62

0.00

0.00

-1.58

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

-2.17

0.00

0.00

-1.59

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.24

0.00

-1.35

0.00

14.13

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

-2.13

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.71

-9.47

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

1.80

-4.11

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.52

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

1.02

0.00

0.00

0.00

-0.42

0.00

0.00

6.19

28,547

-

-

105,000

-

-

-

1,634,844

31,659

-

-

-

-

-

30,000

-

-

8,525,259

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

240,474

-

416,988

2,238,142

500

-

-

-

-

70,000

-

-

-

7,135,522

6,200

3,415,378

1,218,408

-

-

3,941,909

100

100,000

-

-

-

3,377,593

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

1,500

14,299

-

-

665,838

-

-

78,279

UAE

Company Name Lt Price % Chg Volume

ZAIN BAHRAIN BSCCUNITED PAPER INDUSTRIES BSC

UNITED GULF HOLDING BSCTRAFCO GROUP BSC

TAKAFUL INTERNATIONAL COSEEF PROPERTIES

NATIONAL BANK OF BAHRAIN BSC

NASS CORP BSCKHALEEJI COMMERCIAL BANK

ITHMAAR HOLDING BSCINVESTCORP BANK -$US

INOVEST CO BSCGULF HOTEL GROUP B.S.C

GFH FINANCIAL GROUP BSCESTERAD INVESTMENT CO B.S.C.

ESKAN BANK REALTY INCOME TR

DELMON POULTRY COBMMI BSC

BBK BSCBAHRAIN TELECOM CO

BAHRAIN NATIONAL HOLDINGBAHRAIN KUWAIT INSURANCE

BAHRAIN ISLAMIC BANKBAHRAIN FLOUR MILLS CO

BAHRAIN DUTY FREE COMPLEXBAHRAIN COMMERCIAL

FACILITIEBAHRAIN CINEMA CO

ARAB BANKING CORP BSC-$USALUMINIUM BAHRAIN BSC

ALBARAKA BANKING GROUPAL-SALAM BANK

AHLI UNITED BANK B.S.C#N/A Invalid Security#N/A Invalid Security#N/A Invalid Security#N/A Invalid Security#N/A Invalid Security#N/A Invalid Security#N/A Invalid Security#N/A Invalid Security#N/A Invalid Security#N/A Invalid Security

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.23

0.61

0.10

0.09

0.11

9.40

0.29

0.52

0.38

0.10

0.10

0.00

0.71

0.44

0.25

0.39

0.00

0.14

0.35

0.73

0.76

`

0.38

0.64

0.30

0.10

0.67

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.23

0.61

0.10

0.09

0.11

9.40

0.29

0.52

0.38

0.10

0.10

0.00

0.71

0.44

0.25

0.39

0.00

0.14

0.35

0.73

0.76

`

0.38

0.64

0.30

0.10

0.67

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.83

0.00

0.00

0.00

-2.08

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

2.03

0.00

0.00

0.79

0.00

0.00

0.76

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

BAHRAIN

Company Name Lt Price % Chg Volume

BOUBYAN INTL INDUSTRIES HOLD

GULF INVESTMENT HOUSE KSCBOUBYAN BANK K.S.C

AHLI UNITED BANK B.S.COSOS HOLDING GROUP CO

AL-EID FOOD KSCQURAIN PETROCHEMICAL

INDUSTREKTTITAB HOLDING CO SAK

REAL ESTATE TRADE CENTERS CO

ACICO INDUSTRIES CO KSCCKIPCO ASSET MANAGEMENT CO

NATIONAL PETROLEUM SERV-ICES

ALIMTIAZ INVESTMENT GROUPRAS AL KHAIMAH WHITE CE-

MENTKUWAIT REINSURANCE CO KSC

KUWAIT & GULF LINK TRANS-PORT

HUMANSOFT HOLDING CO KSCAUTOMATED SYSTEMS CO KSCC

METAL & RECYCLING COGULF FRANCHISING HOLDING CO

AL-ENMA’A REAL ESTATE CONATIONAL MOBILE TELECOM-

MUNIUNICAP INVESTMENT AND

FINANCAL SALAM GROUP HOLDING CO

AL AMAN INVESTMENT COM-PANY

MASHAER HOLDING CO KSCMANAZEL HOLDING

TIJARA AND REAL ESTATE INVESJAZEERA AIRWAYS CO KSC

COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE CONATIONAL INTERNATIONAL CO

TAAMEER REAL ESTATE INVEST CGULF CEMENT CO

HEAVY ENGINEERING AND SHIP BNATIONAL REAL ESTATE CO

AL SAFAT ENERGY HOLDING COMP

KUWAIT NATIONAL CINEMA CODANAH ALSAFAT FOODSTUFF CO

INDEPENDENT PETROLEUM GROUP

KUWAIT REAL ESTATE CO KSCSALHIA REAL ESTATE CO KSC

GULF CABLE & ELECTRICAL INDKUWAIT FINANCE HOUSE

GULF NORTH AFRICA HOLDING CO

HILAL CEMENT COOSOUL INVESTMENT KSCC

GULF INSURANCE GROUP KSC

50.00

47.00

34.10

56.90

724.00

77.10

71.00

29.00

74.20

489.00

115.00

29.40

1,050.00

48.00

449.00

50.00

330.00

397.00

0.00

51.00

110.00

55.00

620.00

59.60

39.00

95.40

92.00

179.00

132.00

112.00

56.20

300.00

19.00

96.00

50.50

237.00

723.00

713.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

3.09

0.64

-1.45

-0.18

3.43

1.45

0.00

3.57

0.00

2.09

1.77

0.00

0.00

4.80

0.00

-0.20

0.00

0.25

0.00

4.08

0.00

0.00

-4.47

0.00

1.30

1.49

-0.11

2.29

0.00

-0.88

0.36

0.00

0.00

-4.00

-0.59

0.85

0.14

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

49,999

118,801

77,200

5,020

97,537

159,960

7,100

445,096

34,250

1,158,981

122,636

120,000

100

396,539

90,000

966,026

59,850

59,504

-

833,318

2,250

73,000

17,090

19

5,806,315

12,881

574,000

50,100

1,050

211,000

720,100

20,000

10

1,850

513,500

412,911

9,255

108,360

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

KUWAIT

Company Name Lt Price % Chg Volume

BUSINESS7Gulf Times

Friday, August 17, 2018

CURRENCIESDOLLAR QATAR RIYAL SAUDI RIYAL UAE DIRHAMS BAHRAINI

DINARKUWAITI

DINAR

APPLE INCMICROSOFT CORP

EXXON MOBIL CORPJOHNSON & JOHNSON

GENERAL ELECTRIC COJPMORGAN CHASE & CO

PROCTER & GAMBLE CO/THEWALMART INC

VERIZON COMMUNICATIONS INCPFIZER INC

VISA INC-CLASS A SHARESCHEVRON CORP

COCA-COLA CO/THEINTEL CORP

MERCK & CO. INC.CISCO SYSTEMS INC

HOME DEPOT INCINTL BUSINESS MACHINES CORP

WALT DISNEY CO/THEUNITEDHEALTH GROUP INC

3M COMCDONALD’S CORP

NIKE INC -CL BUNITED TECHNOLOGIES CORP

BOEING CO/THEGOLDMAN SACHS GROUP INC

AMERICAN EXPRESS CO

CATERPILLAR INCTRAVELERS COS INC/THE

213.32

108.40

77.80

131.86

12.29

115.16

83.47

99.22

54.11

41.24

141.22

117.93

46.29

47.61

68.37

45.50

194.70

145.19

113.11

262.26

202.75

161.99

80.39

132.54

345.33

232.76

102.84

0.00

135.54

129.98

1.46

0.69

1.12

1.09

0.57

1.28

1.42

9.97

1.64

0.19

0.93

-0.01

0.46

0.32

1.48

3.73

0.37

0.89

0.23

0.63

0.68

1.32

1.03

0.60

4.09

1.53

1.31

0.00

2.67

0.94

12,351,073

6,379,251

3,641,628

2,302,249

23,327,919

3,783,465

4,876,375

28,108,001

5,430,322

4,701,150

1,948,927

1,757,318

3,011,860

6,204,137

6,196,445

27,305,546

1,765,448

1,105,111

1,535,006

703,219

524,757

1,014,033

2,329,886

1,354,600

2,924,667

1,062,237

815,895

-

1,962,768

501,556

DJIA

Company Name Lt Price % Chg Volume

WPP PLCWORLDPAY GROUP PLC

WOLSELEY PLCWM MORRISON SUPERMARKETS

WHITBREAD PLCVODAFONE GROUP PLC

UNITED UTILITIES GROUP PLCUNILEVER PLC

TUI AG-DITRAVIS PERKINS PLC

TESCO PLCTAYLOR WIMPEY PLC

STANDARD LIFE PLCSTANDARD CHARTERED PLC

ST JAMES’S PLACE PLCSSE PLC

SMITH & NEPHEW PLCSKY PLC

SHIRE PLCSEVERN TRENT PLC

SCHRODERS PLCSAINSBURY (J) PLC

SAGE GROUP PLC/THEABI SAB GROUP HOLDING LTD

RSA INSURANCE GROUP PLCROYAL MAIL PLC

ROYAL DUTCH SHELL PLC-B SHSROYAL DUTCH SHELL PLC-A SHS

ROYAL BANK OF SCOTLAND GROUP

ROLLS-ROYCE HOLDINGS PLCRIO TINTO PLC

REXAM LTDRELX PLC

RECKITT BENCKISER GROUP PLCRANDGOLD RESOURCES LTD

PRUDENTIAL PLCPROVIDENT FINANCIAL PLC

PERSIMMON PLCPEARSON PLC

PADDY POWER BETFAIR PLCOLD MUTUAL PLC

NEXT PLCNATIONAL GRID PLC

MONDI PLCMERLIN ENTERTAINMENT

MEDICLINIC INTERNATIONAL PLC

MARKS & SPENCER GROUP PLCLONDON STOCK EXCHANGE

GROUPLLOYDS BANKING GROUP PLC

LEGAL & GENERAL GROUP PLCLAND SECURITIES GROUP PLC

KINGFISHER PLCJOHNSON MATTHEY PLC

ITV PLCINTU PROPERTIES PLC

INTL CONSOLIDATED AIRLINE-DIINTERTEK GROUP PLC

INTERCONTINENTAL HOTELS GROU

INMARSAT PLCINFORMA PLC

IMPERIAL BRANDS PLCHSBC HOLDINGS PLC

HARGREAVES LANSDOWN PLCHAMMERSON PLC

GLENCORE PLCGLAXOSMITHKLINE PLC

GKN PLCFRESNILLO PLC

EXPERIAN PLCEASYJET PLC

DIXONS CARPHONE PLCDIRECT LINE INSURANCE GROUP

DIAGEO PLCDCC PLCCRH PLC

COMPASS GROUP PLCCOCA-COLA HBC AG-DI

CENTRICA PLCCARNIVAL PLC

CAPITA PLCBURBERRY GROUP PLC

BUNZL PLCBT GROUP PLC

BRITISH LAND CO PLCBRITISH AMERICAN TOBACCO

PLCBP PLC

BHP BILLITON PLCBERKELEY GROUP HOLDINGS/

THEBARRATT DEVELOPMENTS PLC

BARCLAYS PLCBAE SYSTEMS PLC

BABCOCK INTL GROUP PLCAVIVA PLC

ASTRAZENECA PLCASSOCIATED BRITISH FOODS

PLC

1,281.50

0.00

0.00

262.90

3,965.00

177.00

748.40

4,411.00

1,479.50

1,127.00

256.20

170.25

0.00

651.10

1,127.50

1,264.00

1,368.50

1,530.00

4,443.00

1,998.50

3,052.00

338.20

664.40

0.00

630.80

461.70

2,513.50

2,476.00

240.60

1,015.00

3,689.50

0.00

1,704.50

6,773.00

5,032.00

1,734.00

660.00

2,469.00

916.00

6,920.00

0.00

5,524.00

824.50

2,089.00

368.00

470.60

301.40

4,398.00

60.10

254.90

923.00

274.50

3,600.00

166.35

160.00

689.80

5,284.00

4,729.00

549.00

774.00

2,983.50

702.90

2,153.00

488.20

304.85

1,610.00

0.00

919.60

1,904.50

1,573.00

168.55

335.70

2,788.00

6,900.00

2,542.00

1,675.00

2,631.00

146.40

4,599.00

139.65

2,259.00

2,325.00

225.75

636.20

4,158.00

548.60

1,632.00

3,717.00

537.40

182.18

625.60

720.00

482.50

5,936.00

2,307.00

2,322.00

0.00

843.60

1,543.00

2,050.00

926.00

0.00

2.93

0.00

0.00

0.46

0.92

1.13

-0.13

0.79

1.58

0.45

0.67

1.04

0.00

0.68

0.99

0.52

0.77

0.33

0.41

0.35

0.10

2.61

-0.24

0.00

0.45

1.56

1.05

1.04

0.42

1.00

1.10

0.00

1.16

-0.18

0.28

1.79

0.52

1.94

-0.11

-0.29

0.00

1.10

0.40

0.72

-0.76

0.62

2.13

0.16

-0.61

-1.12

0.82

-4.82

1.44

1.68

0.63

1.74

0.49

0.81

1.44

-1.40

1.03

-0.37

1.27

0.78

2.13

1.23

0.00

2.52

1.28

1.48

1.38

0.45

0.85

-0.07

2.33

2.13

0.53

0.72

1.50

2.08

1.85

1.04

1.87

1.37

1.71

0.66

1.19

1.95

1.74

1.32

0.10

1.32

-0.82

-0.10

-0.35

-0.17

0.00

0.88

0.05

-0.58

0.98

0.00

4,132,499

-

-

41,147,799

182,063

70,932,921

1,458,768

1,346,995

993,386

896,146

17,443,226

10,557,810

-

4,872,095

974,192

1,882,683

2,422,834

1,132,672

2,567,900

613,618

145,510

6,812,159

4,102,764

-

2,031,699

1,968,081

3,405,641

13,750,483

8,217,125

2,836,518

3,700,425

-

2,385,949

858,247

658,502

3,542,091

415,940

830,516

1,942,495

176,721

-

389,880

5,137,451

1,311,296

2,214,143

3,186,864

5,771,870

327,106

166,934,399

15,203,061

1,210,156

22,531,025

366,677

8,157,172

4,160,067

3,587,046

262,699

553,290

3,628,278

3,897,360

954,284

17,849,006

627,755

3,757,407

44,264,140

9,747,909

-

2,242,766

1,261,734

912,688

1,974,209

4,102,417

2,187,156

194,401

1,263,039

5,165,688

507,060

11,487,278

601,209

5,865,444

1,328,844

500,589

15,037,589

2,098,938

3,137,283

28,820,886

6,572,044

398,541

3,136,112

32,636,002

3,631,170

3,295,758

10,513,324

1,945,030

779,676

952,432

-

4,071,657

5,475,687

1,030,879

934,204

-

FTSE 100

Company Name Lt Price % Chg Volume

HITACHI LTDTAKEDA PHARMACEUTICAL

CO LTDJFE HOLDINGS INC

SUMITOMO CORPCANON INC

NINTENDO CO LTDEISAI CO LTD

ISUZU MOTORS LTDUNICHARM CORP

SHIN-ETSU CHEMICAL CO LTDSMC CORP

MITSUBISHI CORPASAHI GROUP HOLDINGS LTD

KEYENCE CORPNIDEC CORP

NOMURA HOLDINGS INCDAIICHI SANKYO CO LTD

SUBARU CORP

732.20

4,613.00

2,400.00

1,798.50

3,491.00

34,500.00

9,735.00

1,628.50

3,311.00

10,675.00

36,790.00

3,121.00

4,912.00

59,750.00

15,180.00

500.30

4,325.00

3,306.00

2,965.50

-0.79

1.61

-0.10

-0.19

-0.74

-1.00

-0.19

0.87

-1.25

-0.51

0.85

-1.79

-0.26

-0.42

-1.24

-0.02

0.05

0.09

-0.82

16,877,000

3,990,200

3,975,100

3,155,400

3,974,100

2,543,700

1,180,100

2,126,700

1,225,900

1,225,000

290,600

5,284,100

1,571,700

422,900

844,700

14,846,900

1,554,600

3,148,500

3,890,800

TOKYO

Company Name Lt Price % Chg Volume

NTT DOCOMO INCSUMITOMO REALTY & DEVELOP-

MENSUMITOMO METAL MINING CO

LTDORIX CORP

DAIWA SECURITIES GROUP INCSOFTBANK GROUP CORP

MIZUHO FINANCIAL GROUP INCCENTRAL JAPAN RAILWAY CO

NITORI HOLDINGS CO LTDT&D HOLDINGS INC

TOYOTA MOTOR CORPHOYA CORP

SUMITOMO MITSUI TRUST HOLDIN

JAPAN TOBACCO INCOSAKA GAS CO LTD

SUMITOMO ELECTRIC INDUS-TRIES

ONO PHARMACEUTICAL CO LTDAJINOMOTO CO INC

MITSUI FUDOSAN CO LTDDAIKIN INDUSTRIES LTD

TORAY INDUSTRIES INCBRIDGESTONE CORP

SONY CORPASTELLAS PHARMA INC

JXTG HOLDINGS INCNIPPON STEEL & SUMITOMO

METASUZUKI MOTOR CORP

NIPPON TELEGRAPH & TEL-EPHONE

SOMPO HOLDINGS INCDAIWA HOUSE INDUSTRY CO LTD

KOMATSU LTDWEST JAPAN RAILWAY CO

MURATA MANUFACTURING CO LTD

KANSAI ELECTRIC POWER CO INC

DENSO CORPDAI-ICHI LIFE HOLDINGS INC

MAZDA MOTOR CORPMITSUI & CO LTD

KAO CORPSEKISUI HOUSE LTD

ORIENTAL LAND CO LTDSECOM CO LTD

TOKIO MARINE HOLDINGS INCAEON CO LTDFANUC CORP

DAITO TRUST CONSTRUCT CO LTD

OTSUKA HOLDINGS CO LTDRESONA HOLDINGS INC

ASAHI KASEI CORPKIRIN HOLDINGS CO LTD

MITSUBISHI UFJ FINANCIAL GROMARUBENI CORP

MITSUBISHI CHEMICAL HOLD-INGS

FAST RETAILING CO LTDMS&AD INSURANCE GROUP

HOLDINKUBOTA CORP

SEVEN & I HOLDINGS CO LTDINPEX CORP

SUMITOMO MITSUI FINANCIAL GR

ANA HOLDINGS INCMITSUBISHI ELECTRIC CORP

HONDA MOTOR CO LTDTOKYO GAS CO LTD

TOKYO ELECTRON LTDPANASONIC CORP

FUJITSU LTDEAST JAPAN RAILWAY CO

ITOCHU CORPFUJIFILM HOLDINGS CORP

3,730.00

3,647.00

1,739.00

647.10

9,985.00

191.50

22,385.00

15,870.00

1,609.00

6,775.00

6,381.00

4,343.00

3,108.00

2,196.50

1,764.50

2,785.50

1,940.50

2,444.50

13,300.00

801.90

4,144.00

5,947.00

1,857.50

749.10

2,199.50

7,607.00

5,236.00

4,624.00

3,413.00

2,999.00

7,508.00

17,530.00

1,567.50

5,340.00

1,999.00

1,284.50

1,793.50

8,057.00

1,834.00

11,815.00

8,747.00

5,257.00

2,333.50

21,545.00

16,280.00

4,834.00

606.50

1,548.50

2,542.00

658.50

891.90

954.00

49,270.00

3,415.00

1,640.00

4,549.00

1,176.00

4,294.00

3,828.00

1,462.00

3,292.00

2,695.50

18,530.00

1,361.00

771.40

10,115.00

1,899.00

4,577.00

3,342.00

1,674.00

1,778.00

4,139.00

7,135.00

6,143.00

3,290.00

3,959.00

8,325.00

3,130.00

778.00

6,588.00

1,040.00

-0.45

-2.07

-1.25

1.73

-1.82

0.05

-1.99

-2.16

0.37

-0.59

1.05

1.26

1.83

0.41

-0.79

-0.30

0.75

-0.91

0.15

-0.01

-0.36

-0.88

-0.24

-4.67

0.16

1.77

-2.00

0.54

-0.20

-0.03

-1.79

-0.40

2.05

-0.54

-0.12

-0.23

-0.69

-0.33

0.00

-1.79

0.67

0.65

-0.60

1.01

-1.18

-1.02

0.36

-1.05

0.41

1.26

-1.73

0.84

2.14

0.59

-0.85

-0.26

0.17

0.70

-0.31

0.83

0.18

-1.25

0.16

-2.12

-0.09

-0.83

0.16

-0.50

-1.33

1.73

-0.36

-0.60

-5.35

0.07

-0.39

-0.53

-0.16

-0.73

-2.08

0.21

0.63

TOKYO

Company Name Lt Price % Chg

ALUMINUM CORP OF CHINA LTD-H

BANK OF EAST ASIA LTDBANK OF CHINA LTD-H

BANK OF COMMUNICATIONS CO-H

BELLE INTERNATIONAL HOLD-INGS

BOC HONG KONG HOLDINGS LTDCATHAY PACIFIC AIRWAYS

CK HUTCHISON HOLDINGS LTDCHINA COAL ENERGY CO-H

CHINA CONSTRUCTION BANK-HCHINA LIFE INSURANCE CO-H

CHINA MERCHANTS PORT HOLDING

CHINA MOBILE LTDCHINA OVERSEAS LAND &

INVESTCHINA PETROLEUM & CHEMI-

CAL-HCHINA RESOURCES BEER HOLD-

INGCHINA RESOURCES LAND LTD

CHINA RESOURCES POWER HOLDIN

CHINA SHENHUA ENERGY CO-HCHINA UNICOM HONG KONG LTD

CITIC LTD

3.04

28.65

3.52

5.47

0.00

37.75

11.94

89.15

3.07

6.75

18.50

15.34

72.50

22.80

7.19

31.50

26.35

14.36

16.56

9.14

11.04

94.10

11.98

7.25

1.99

1.03

15.50

206.80

41.15

0.00

-0.52

-0.28

-0.73

0.00

-0.40

0.67

0.28

0.99

-0.59

0.22

-0.78

1.54

0.22

-1.91

-1.56

0.76

0.14

0.36

-1.30

0.73

1.13

-2.28

-1.09

0.00

4.04

-0.64

-0.58

-0.48

48,435,240

2,688,532

275,769,630

32,886,466

-

11,264,479

1,674,968

5,320,142

6,348,000

306,680,710

26,548,220

3,450,344

33,195,831

11,807,903

131,308,726

14,011,923

13,237,527

7,946,462

17,380,938

78,079,120

9,657,412

4,232,316

67,566,038

1,498,833

2,295,151

18,046,484

3,167,056

1,588,305

2,313,706

HONG KONG

Company Name Lt Price % Chg Volume

CLP HOLDINGS LTDCNOOC LTD

COSCO SHIPPING PORTS LTDESPRIT HOLDINGS LTD

FIH MOBILE LTDHANG LUNG PROPERTIES LTD

HANG SENG BANK LTDHENDERSON LAND DEVELOP-

MENTHONG KONG & CHINA GAS

HONG KONG EXCHANGES & CLEAR

HSBC HOLDINGS PLCHUTCHISON WHAMPOA LTDIND & COMM BK OF CHINA-H

LI & FUNG LTD

15.86

218.80

70.15

0.00

5.60

2.79

39.65

10.58

5.74

68.45

56.70

12.70

118.70

90.00

325.80

22.45

-0.75

-0.73

-1.96

0.00

-0.53

-2.11

-0.88

-0.19

-1.03

-0.51

0.44

0.95

-0.67

1.47

-3.04

-1.10

16,983,668

5,745,034

34,207,015

-

379,989,343

13,708,126

4,332,882

10,512,555

90,340,865

48,872,684

6,010,624

4,396,870

2,369,438

2,230,916

69,246,930

4,028,470

HONG KONG

Company Name Lt Price % Chg Volume

ZEE ENTERTAINMENT ENTER-PRISE

YES BANK LTDWIPRO LTD

VEDANTA LTDULTRATECH CEMENT LTD

TECH MAHINDRA LTDTATA STEEL LTD

TATA POWER CO LTDTATA MOTORS LTD

TATA CONSULTANCY SVCS LTDSUN PHARMACEUTICAL INDUS

STATE BANK OF INDIARELIANCE INDUSTRIES LTD

PUNJAB NATIONAL BANKPOWER GRID CORP OF INDIA LTD

OIL & NATURAL GAS CORP LTDNTPC LTD

MARUTI SUZUKI INDIA LTDMAHINDRA & MAHINDRA LTD

LUPIN LTDLARSEN & TOUBRO LTD

KOTAK MAHINDRA BANK LTDITC LTD

INFOSYS LTDINDUSIND BANK LTDIDEA CELLULAR LTD

ICICI BANK LTDHOUSING DEVELOPMENT

FINANCEHINDUSTAN UNILEVER LTD

HINDALCO INDUSTRIES LTDHERO MOTOCORP LTD

HDFC BANK LIMITEDHCL TECHNOLOGIES LTD

GRASIM INDUSTRIES LTDGAIL INDIA LTD

DR. REDDY’S LABORATORIESCOAL INDIA LTD

CIPLA LTDCAIRN INDIA LTD

BOSCH LTDBHARTI AIRTEL LTD

BHARAT PETROLEUM CORP LTDBHARAT HEAVY ELECTRICALS

BANK OF BARODABAJAJ AUTO LTD

AXIS BANK LTDASIAN PAINTS LTD

AMBUJA CEMENTS LTD

500.45

378.45

279.45

208.80

4,213.50

668.65

567.55

67.15

251.30

2,008.50

619.70

292.70

1,200.80

81.55

187.70

164.45

158.55

9,200.55

951.25

849.75

1,231.65

1,245.40

307.45

1,429.55

1,984.20

50.60

334.30

1,891.20

1,737.40

216.10

3,282.65

2,075.70

997.25

999.45

393.80

2,353.45

282.70

648.35

0.00

18,788.70

372.00

378.30

72.60

142.70

2,667.50

623.45

1,394.80

224.50

370.30

1,559.05

-2.63

-1.06

-1.96

-2.93

-1.99

-0.62

-1.97

-2.33

1.00

0.25

2.97

-0.75

-0.81

2.07

-0.11

-1.08

1.05

0.74

0.08

1.55

-1.72

-3.68

-0.15

1.51

-0.67

-2.69

0.56

-2.59

-0.39

-2.42

0.50

-0.64

-0.25

1.30

3.69

3.29

0.02

0.87

0.00

-2.12

1.36

0.44

0.48

-2.46

0.80

0.87

-0.02

-0.82

-0.76

-0.29

SENSEX

Company Name Lt Price % Chg

WORLD INDICESIndices Lt Price Change

GCC INDICESIndices Lt Price Change

Dow Jones Indus. AvgS&P 500 Index

Nasdaq Composite IndexS&P/Tsx Composite Index

Mexico Bolsa IndexBrazil Bovespa Stock Idx

Ftse 100 IndexCac 40 Index

Dax IndexIbex 35 Tr

Nikkei 225Japan Topix

Hang Seng IndexAll Ordinaries Indx

Nzx All IndexBse Sensex 30 Index

Nse S&P Cnx Nifty IndexStraits Times Index

Karachi All Share IndexJakarta Composite Index

25,546.31

2,845.12

7,844.05

16,264.80

48,379.74

76,821.77

7,556.38

5,349.02

12,237.17

9,427.40

22,192.04

1,687.15

27,100.06

6,412.63

1,593.14

37,663.56

11,385.05

3,211.93

30,421.99

5,783.80

+383.90

+26.75

+69.93

+116.30

-176.95

-256.22

+58.51

+43.80

+74.16

+40.60

-12.18

-10.88

-223.53

-3.04

+2.00

-188.44

-50.05

-22.19

-301.20

-32.79

Doha Securities MarketSaudi Tadawul

Kuwait Stocks ExchangeBahrain Stock Exchage

Oman Stock MarketAbudhabi Stock MarketDubai Financial Market

9,447.88

7,867.16

#N/A N/A

1,347.47

4,390.45

4,906.87

2,803.32

-144.35

+1.48

#N/A N/A

+4.17

+1.01

+20.73

-14.66

“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.”

2,155,000

2,218,000

5,542,000

7,087,700

7,882,400

109,077,800

336,300

512,700

2,529,500

5,862,700

1,299,500

1,375,800

7,194,600

1,287,400

2,354,700

1,726,000

2,895,100

2,630,600

769,300

6,268,400

1,856,100

6,836,500

6,516,600

20,182,500

3,241,500

3,520,100

3,132,300

1,015,200

1,917,400

6,261,500

533,200

1,070,000

3,633,700

1,174,800

3,952,800

4,005,200

4,629,900

2,216,800

2,745,800

635,200

587,000

2,491,500

3,332,800

1,299,200

280,600

1,096,000

8,136,200

3,348,700

2,808,900

62,764,000

6,095,200

5,793,600

964,100

1,517,600

3,899,000

2,128,900

7,771,900

5,916,100

1,004,500

7,033,000

3,707,400

1,089,600

1,372,100

13,021,500

9,690,000

630,600

5,044,700

1,569,600

1,237,300

2,662,300

3,268,000

1,028,200

5,573,400

1,191,700

5,434,000

1,222,200

762,400

5,446,500

8,730,700

1,270,600

13,010,100

3,235,009

12,145,923

2,712,732

15,465,247

535,714

4,012,566

8,409,618

3,265,493

14,836,341

2,284,617

26,954,476

32,221,155

6,306,197

42,649,239

2,110,142

4,359,527

1,871,250

507,431

1,897,941

2,627,804

2,464,807

6,084,853

19,316,166

3,440,535

842,406

9,478,703

38,537,169

5,402,977

667,026

8,466,976

293,761

2,725,647

3,039,239

3,183,688

16,230,883

965,793

5,309,098

4,137,581

-

9,684

3,196,297

4,043,415

4,976,101

14,348,322

686,756

19,651,291

1,145,092

1,135,924

2,487,365

420,574

Volume

Volume

BUSINESS

Gulf Times Friday, August 17, 20188

A visitor passes a sign at the London Stock Exchange Group off ices in Paternoster Square. The FTSE 100 closed 0.8% up at 7,556.38 points yesterday.

Stocks regain composure on US-China trade talk reportsAFPLondon

European and US stocks re-bounded yesterday on news that Beijing and Washington will

hold trade talks, while the Turkish lira rose after Qatar off ered to invest $15bn in Turkey.

Frankfurt, London and Paris clawed back much of their losses of more than 1.5% the previous day on Turkey fears and Chinese growth concerns.

Meanwhile on Wall Street, the Dow shot 1.4% higher in late morning trad-ing.

China’s Vice Commerce Minister Wang Shouwen, the deputy repre-sentative on international trade nego-tiations, will meet senior US treasury offi cial David Malpass at Washington’s invitation, Beijing said in a statement.

Traders saw a glimmer of hope of an easing in the ongoing trade battle that has seen the two sides hit each other with reciprocal tariff s on goods worth $34bn.

Washington and Beijing plan to

launch a new round of tariff s on $16bn worth of goods from each country on August 23.

Earlier, Asian indices fell on con-cerns over Turkey’s crisis, but losses were capped by hopes of an end to the tit-for-tat trade war between China and the United States.

Emerging market currencies staged a modest recovery after a tumultu-ous week for the Turkish lira, which plumbed record lows against the dollar at the start of the week.

The lira’s plunge — ongoing for weeks — turned into a rout last Fri-day when US President Donald Trump tweeted that his administration was doubling aluminium and steel tariff s for Turkey.

Trump’s decision was made amid a bitter row over Ankara’s detention of an American pastor.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey is facing an “economic attack”. The lira has clawed back some ground in recent days as regulators cut the ability to speculate against the cur-rency.

It held onto gains yesterday as the

country’s fi nance minister told foreign investors that Turkey would emerge stronger from the crisis and has no need for an IMF bailout.

In Europe yesterday, London stocks were aided by strong UK retail sales data for July. The FTSE 100 closed 0.8% up at 7,556.38 points.

Frankfurt, meanwhile, gained 0.6% to 12,237.17 points, despite another slump in the share price of Bayer.

Shares in the German chemicals and pharmaceuticals giant fell 4.6% to €77.05, rocked by media reports of new legal risks stemming from its acquisi-tion of US seeds and pesticides maker Monsanto.

The stock had fallen even more dra-matically on Monday after a US jury ordered it to pay almost $290mn in damages to a dying California ground-skeeper who said Monsanto’s block-buster weedkiller Roundup — whose active ingredient is glyphosate — had caused his cancer.

In Paris, The CAC 40 closed 0.8% higher at 5,349.02 points.

The EURO STOXX 50 gained 0.7% to close at 3,381.09 points.

BUSINESS

Gulf Times Friday, August 17, 201810

Motorola Solutions’ global patent fi ght with Hytera heats upBloombergWashington

A sprawling patent and trade se-crets battle between Motorola Solutions Inc and Hytera Com-

munications Corp showcases how mul-tinational competitors employ global litigation strategies to hang on to mar-ket share.

The two companies’ intellectual property struggle includes a patent infringement complaint at the US In-ternational Trade Commission; patent and copyright infringement, trade se-crets and antitrust lawsuits in US dis-trict courts; and patent validity chal-lenges at China’s Patent Review Board.

Global intellectual property contests such as the Motorola-Hytera fi ght —and the recently settled Apple Inc and Sam-sung Electronics Co Ltd’s smartphone patent war — show how companies are willing to litigate around the world to protect technologies in cash cow prod-ucts. Rulings from courts experienced in complex, high-stakes cross-border pat-ent disputes can become benchmarks in other jurisdictions for companies look-ing to litigate globally.

“Especially with an anchor, high

cash-generation product, the last thing large companies want is to lose market share to a smaller, more nimble com-petitor,” Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Woo Jin Ho said. “They will do anything from a business competition or legal perspective to protect and preserve their long-term cash-generation engine.”

Motorola Solutions is looking to preserve its market share in the land mobile radio business and slow the en-croachment of its Chinese competitor Hytera onto its turf, Ho said.

Lawsuits between Motorola Solu-tions and Hytera in US, German, Chi-nese and Australian court are under-way. Sources close to Motorola say rulings are likely to start coming down in November, starting with the ITC, and stretch into next year. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were unauthorised to publicly speak about the matter.

The battle began when Motorola Solutions accused the radio system maker of luring away its engineers to steal proprietary digital mobile radio technology. Motorola, a top supplier of communications equipment whose 2017 revenue totalled $6.4bn, generates much of its sales by selling radio and data communication products used in

emergency and public safety networks. Hytera competes with Motorola in the mobile radio market.

The ITC will deliver a fi nal decision by Nov. 6 on Motorola’s 2017 complaint al-leging Hytera’s devices infringe its radio patents. An ITC judge ruled July 3 that Hytera violated four Motorola patents, and recommended banning imports of Hytera’s two-way radio equipment into the US Motorola Solutions declined to comment on its litigation strategy.

“We took these actions because we believe Hytera is blatantly and inten-tionally infringing Motorola Solutions’ intellectual property, creating an un-fair playing fi eld and threatening the industry’s ability to innovate,” Mark Hacker, the company’s executive vice president, general counsel & chief ad-ministrative offi cer at Motorola Solu-tions, told Bloomberg Law in an e-mail.

A Hytera spokesman told Bloomberg Law it is confi dent of its chances.

“We expect to prevail—at the ITC, in the other cases our competitor has fi led, and in our markets,” Hytera spokesman Johnny Jian said in an e-mail.

Motorola Solutions remains com-mitted to protecting its intellectual property in the US and overseas, Adam Alper, a partner at Kirkland & Ellis LLP,

which represents the company, told Bloomberg Law. He declined to com-ment on potential future legal actions Motorola may pursue against Hytera.

“The results that Motorola has been seeing in various pending actions thus far show that its intellectual property rights are being vindicated,” Alper said.

Motorola Solutions won a ruling last month in the Regional Court of Man-nheim, Germany that Hytera’s prod-ucts infringe its patent on noise reduc-tion technology for handheld and car radios. The Regional Court in Düssel-dorf, Germany held a hearing August 2 in another patent infringement law-suit Motorola Solutions fi led last year against Hytera and its German subsidi-ary, the sources close to Motorola So-lutions said. That case involves a dif-ferent Motorola patent on technology enabling simultaneous conversations on one radio frequency.

Motorola Solutions has fi led over six separate lawsuits against Hytera since March 2017 to increase Hytera’s legal costs, Hytera said in a statement on the initial ITC ruling.

“Our competitor is defaming Hytera and its products and seeking to interfere with our business prospects in the glo-bal market,” the company said. “This

scheme will not succeed.” Motorola So-lution’s fi rst volley in the Hytera dispute was a patent infringement and trade secrets misappropriation case, fi led in March 2017 in the US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.

The district court August 3 granted Motorola Solution’s motion to add a copyright infringement claim to the patent and trade secrets lawsuit in Il-linois. Motorola Solutions accused Hytera of unlawfully copied its source code into product software.

Motorola Solutions had alleged that three former engineers misappropri-ated more than 7,000 documents on its digital radios before joining Hytera, vi-olating their employment agreements.

Hytera responded by suing Motorola Solutions in an Ohio federal court in August last year. The US District Court for the Northern District of Ohio set a claim construction hearing for Sep-tember 7 in a Hytera infringement suit against Motorola Solutions, court fi l-ings show.

Hytera says some Motorola Solutions products infringe its patented technol-ogy that adjusts wireless device volume in relation to ambient noise. Motorola Solutions fi led an administrative patent challenge at the Patent Trial and Appeal

Board in July to invalidate Hytera’s pat-ent.

The board said in May it would hear three out of four validity challenges that Hytera fi led against Motorola So-lutions’ patents asserted against it in Illinois district court.

Hytera also brought an antitrust lawsuit against Motorola Solutions in December in the US District Court for the District of New Jersey. Motorola Solution’s request to transfer that case to the Northern Illinois district court is pending, court fi lings show.

The Chinese company also has sued Motorola Solutions for infringing two patents in Guangzhou IP court, the sources close to Motorola said. Mo-torola Solutions has challenged the va-lidity of those patents at China’s Patent Review Board, the sources said.

Hytera is challenging the validity of some of Motorola Solutions’ Chi-nese patents at China’s Patent Review Board, according to the sources. Two challenges were rejected and two oth-ers are pending, they said.

A pair of patent infringement cases fi led by Motorola Solutions against Hytera in the Federal Court of Austral-ia, New South Wales, will likely go to trial in 2019, the sources said.

Musk picks his coziest bank, Goldman Sachs, to help go privateBloombergSouthfield

Who else, but Goldman Sachs? As he attempts to lead Tesla Inc’s po-

tential exodus from the public market, Elon Musk has turned for help to the very bank that’s always had his back.

It should come as no surprise that when Musk tweeted late on Monday that he was “excited to work with” advisers on his plan to take Tesla private, the fi rst name he mentioned was Gold-man Sachs Group Inc. While Musk may be fed up with being CEO of a public company, he’s still keen to stay close to the es-tablishment by showing favour for a Wall Street giant.

If getting a role on what could be Tesla’s biggest deal yet was the goal, then Goldman Sachs made all the right moves. Banks often try to latch onto key cli-ents early in hopes of landing the mandate for larger deals later, and Goldman Sachs has been with Musk since at least 2010,

when it helped take Tesla public. It’s also given Musk hundreds of millions of dollars in personal loans.

Now, the fi rm is advising on a process that’s already drawn scrutiny. Musk’s tweet last week that he had “funding secured” to take the company private shocked the market and has drawn scrutiny from the Secu-rities and Exchange Commis-sion. At the time of Musk’s tweet about working with Goldman Sachs, the fi rm hadn’t signed an offi cial mandate for the role, people familiar with the matter said on Tuesday.

“I’m excited to work with Silver Lake and Goldman Sachs as fi nancial advisors, plus Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz and Munger, Tolles & Olson as legal advisors, on the proposal to take Tesla private,” Musk tweet-ed.

Goldman Sachs confi rmed its advisory role on Wednes-day, saying it would remove its ratings and price target for the stock.

The bank has held the cov-

eted role of lead underwriter on $2.2bn-worth of Tesla’s public share sales, including the IPO and fi ve follow-on off erings, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. On the only such deal it didn’t lead, a $2.3bn share off ering in 2016, the fi rm was still second only to rival Morgan Stanley.

Goldman Sachs also took the lead role on the 2012 IPO and two subsequent share sales for So-larCity Corp, the Musk-backed solar energy company that Tesla acquired in 2016 in a deal valued at about $2bn.

That means the bank has made more than $22mn in fees from Tesla share sales over the past eight years, according to Bloomberg calculations. Com-pensation on a take-private deal could be much higher — Jeff rey Nassof, a director at Freeman Consulting Services, estimated last week that banks advising Musk could take home $30mn to $50mn.

Goldman has also made mil-lions underwriting the com-pany’s debt off erings. It was

the lead underwriter of Tesla’s inaugural $1.8bn junk bond of-fering last year, though the fees it was paid to place $450mn of the off ering weren’t disclosed. It’s also led convertible bond of-ferings for the company, pocket-ing $12mn in fees for two deals in 2014.

Musk, a serial entrepreneur who’s co-founded several com-panies dating back to 1999, has also personally borrowed money from Goldman Sachs over the past seven years, according to fi lings reviewed by Bloomberg.

Starting in 2011, Goldman Sachs loaned Musk $35mn, Tesla’s 2012 stock prospectus shows. Musk used a portion of the loan to buy shares in the company. Goldman Sachs later extended that credit line by $50mn.

At one point the amount that Musk owed Goldman swelled to $275mn, a fi ling from 2013 shows. As of March last year he was no longer in debt to the bank, though he still owed about $344mn to Morgan Stanley, ac-cording to public documents

fi led with the Securities and Ex-change Commission.

The relationship between the billionaire and the bank hasn’t been without scrutiny. Former Goldman analyst Patrick Ar-chambault raised eyebrows in 2016 when he upgraded Tesla shares to a “buy” rating from “neutral” just hours before it was announced that his fi rm would co-manage with Mor-gan Stanley a sale of new Tesla stock.

At the time, a spokeswoman for Goldman Sachs said the bank followed all standards and poli-cies with respect to the separa-tion between research and sales.

Goldman Sachs’s current auto analyst David Tamberrino has been more conservative about Tesla’s stock. With shares trad-ing at about $335, his price target — before the bank went restrict-ed on the shares — was $210 a share with a “sell” rating.

Goldman also owns almost 1mn shares in Tesla, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The bank owned almost triple that in the fi rst quarter of 2016.

Goldman Sachs Group headquarters (second building from left), stands in New York. When Musk tweeted late on Monday that he was “excited to work with” advisers on his plan to take Tesla private, the first name he mentioned was Goldman Sachs Group.

Tesla Model 3 production’s just fi ne as Bernstein bumps priceBloombergMunich

It’s been a wild ride for Tesla Inc recently, but production of the Model 3 sedan — a

previous point of concern — is going swimmingly.

Output of the more mass-market vehicle, a key plank in chief executive Offi cer Elon Musk’s plan to become profi t-able, is on track and an 8,000 a week production rate is “well within reach,” despite extra spending demands, Evercore ISI analysts George Galliers and Arndt Ellinghorst wrote yester-day in a note. Their report came after a site visit at the compa-ny’s Fremont, California, plant this week.

In more of a mixed report on the automaker, Bernstein ana-lyst Toni Sacconaghi raised his target price to $325 from $265, saying the chances Tesla will go private are less than 50%.

Tesla produced more than 5,000 Model 3s in the last week of June, working around the clock to hit the mass-manufac-

turing milestone. The push also included assembling vehicles in a tent outside its factory, rais-ing questions on the carmaker’s ability to sustain that rate and keep up quality standards.

Read Bloomberg Business-week’s cover story on Musk’s Model 3 challenges

“We are incrementally posi-tive on Tesla having just re-turned from a 48-hour trip to Tesla’s Fremont facility,” the analysts wrote, after com-pleting three separate tours at the site. “Tesla seems well on the way to achieving a steady weekly production rate.”

The analysts saw nothing that would suggest Tesla isn’t able to produce 5,000 Model 3 cars per week currently and increase that by 1,000 per week “very shortly.”

Evercore forecast Model 3 production of 123,000 vehicles during the second half of the year, but the analysts said they may need to boost that by as much as 7% after the tours.

Tesla shares rose 1.1% to $342.50 at 8:30am in New York before regular trading.

UK retail sales grow faster in July, helped byWorld Cup and discounting

ReutersLondon

British shoppers spent more

than expected in July, after hot

weather and the World Cup con-

tinued to boost food sales and

other retailers off ered discounts,

pointing to a solid start to the

third quarter for the economy.

Retail sales volumes rose by

0.7%, and were 3.5% higher than

a year earlier, above economists’

average forecasts in a Reuters

poll for a 0.2% monthly rise and a

3.0% annual gain. This compares

with sales growth a year earlier

of just 1.1% though is below rates

seen in 2015 and 2016.

Sterling, which has fallen sharply

over the past couple of weeks

due to fears that Britain could

leave the European Union in

March next year without any

transitional deal, rallied a bit

against the US dollar after the

data.”Retail sales posted a ro-

bust increase in July, suggesting

that some recovery in consumer

spending is in the pipeline,”

Andrew Wishart of Capital Eco-

nomics said.

Looking at the three months to

July as a whole, which smoothes

out some monthly volatility, retail

sales grew by 2.1% versus the pre-

vious three months, the biggest

expansion since February 2015.

Excluding fuel purchases —

which were dented by higher oil

prices — sales growth over the

three months was the fastest

since March 2004.

The sales growth comes despite

tricky trading conditions for many

high-street retailers, which saw

department store chain House

of Fraser seek creditor protec-

tion last week. High inflation and

lacklustre pay increases have

weakened household spending

power for more than a year.

Pay growth shows limited signs

of strengthening as Britain

prepares to leave the European

Union in March next year.

Capital Economics’ Wishart said

he expected only a slight im-

provement in consumer spend-

ing during the third quarter of

2018 due to weakness in wages.

Britain’s economy recorded solid

but unspectacular growth in the

second quarter of 2018 after

unusually heavy snow weakened

demand in the first three months

of the year, and earlier this month

the Bank of England raised inter-

est rates for only the second time

in more than a decade.

June and July were unusually

warm, and previous surveys of

consumer spending have shown

that the soccer World Cup en-

couraged some Britons to spend

in pubs and bars rather than in

high street shops. “Many con-

sumers stayed away from some

high street stores in July, but

online sales were very strong,

supported by several retailers

launching promotions,” ONS

statistician Rhian Murphy said.

BUSINESS11Gulf Times

Friday, August 17, 2018

Gazprom Neft says Q2 net profit doubles to $1.5bnCORPORATE RESULTS

Russian oil producer Gazprom Neft said yesterday

it had almost doubled year-on-year net profit in

the second quarter to 96.8bn roubles ($1.5bn) on

higher oil prices and rising production from new

projects.

Gazprom Neft’s second-quarter earnings before

interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation rose to

193.1bn roubles, from 114.4bn roubles in the same

period last year.

Second-quarter sales totalled 617.1bn roubles com-

pared with 475.7bn roubles a year ago.

Gazprom Neft’s first half crude oil output declined

0.6% year-on-year because of a global oil deal be-

tween Opec and other oil producers to curb output,

the company said.

Russia in July said it planned to increase production

again after Opec and non-Opec countries agreed to

ease production curbs.

Gazprom Neft said second-quarter crude oil output

rose 3.6% quarter on quarter due to higher output

in Iraq, its increased share in the Arcticgas venture

and the longer duration of the second quarter.

Walmart

Walmart shares surged yesterday after it reported

the strongest US comparable sales in more than a

decade as e-commerce investments paid off in a

strengthening American economy.

The world’s biggest retailer said rising online sales,

and investments aimed at keeping prices low,

boosted store traff ic at its namesake US business,

the most critical unit for earnings.

Comparable US store sales rose 4.5% in the second

quarter, the best growth in more than 10 years and

a key component in a 3.8% rise in overall revenues

to $128.0bn compared with the year-ago period.

Despite the revenue gains, Walmart reported an

$861mn loss following pre-tax costs of $4.8bn on a

majority stake in its Brazil business. The company

also had lower profit margins compared with the

year-ago period, as it didn’t pass on the hit from

higher costs for shipping goods.

The company, competing hard for customers with

Amazon and other e-commerce companies, has

been adding features like grocery pickup at US

stores, now off ered at more than 1,800 locations or

nearly 40% of the overall US network.

Other investments have gone into upgrading

Walmart’s smartphone applications to speed shop-

ping of school supplies and other items, and pickup

towers that allow customers to order goods from

the app and retrieve them at automated in-store

contraptions.

E-commerce sales at Walmart’s US business rose

40% in the quarter, a solid figure for chief executive

Doug McMillon, whose heavy e-commerce invest-

ments have at times worried Wall Street analysts.

The company won regulatory approval in India for

a purchase of a majority stake in online company

Flipkart, and is working through regulatory approv-

al in Britain to combine its Asda and J Sainsbury.

The retailer sold 80% of Walmart Brazil to Advent

International, while keeping 20% of the business.

The deal was announced in June and closed on

August 1.

JD.com

China’s second-largest e-commerce firm, JD.com

Inc, said it is shifting management of its warehous-

ing assets to a separate unit, in a move it hopes

will revive profits after it swung back to a loss in

April-June.

JD.com, which counts Tencent Holdings Ltd,

Walmart Inc and Alphabet Inc’s Google as investors,

has been in and out of the red for the past year

and yesterday reported a second-quarter net loss

of 334.4mn yuan ($49mn). That was nearly double

forecasts for a 177mn yuan loss in a Thomson

Reuters I/B/E/S poll of 18 analysts and reflected

increased investments and slower sales.

In a call with analysts yesterday, executives said

that they expect the new unit, which will oversee

warehouse sales and warehouse management

services, to help off set hefty technology invest-

ments as the company battles Alibaba Group Hold-

ing Ltd for market share.

JD.com currently owns roughly 2.5mn square

metres of warehouse space, part of it acquired in

recent years on beneficial terms with local govern-

ments that are looking to boost job creation and

which will soon start to yield returns.

JD.com reported sales of 159bn yuan during 618,

up 33% from a year earlier but lower than analysts

expected due to crossovers with national holidays.

The company reported a 31.2% rise in revenue

to 122.3bn yuan for the quarter ended June 30,

marginally below an average estimate of 122.7bn

yuan from 22 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters

I/B/E/S.

Tencent Holdings

Shares in China’s Tencent Holdings lost more

ground yesterday after it logged its first quarterly

profit decline in nearly 13 years and said it did not

know when it would get Chinese approval to make

money off its most popular game.

The disappointing earnings results have highlight-

ed the impact of a freeze on new China approvals

for the gaming industry since March due to the

restructuring of related regulatory agencies in the

world’s biggest gaming market.

Reporting a 2% decline in second-quarter net profit

as well as its slowest revenue growth in three years,

Tencent said the biggest hurdle to a return to rapid

revenue growth was that it could not yet charge for

its PlayerUnknowns’ Battlegrounds (PUBG) video

game in China.

While PUBG can be played as a free game, Tencent

has yet to receive the nod to monetise it.

PUBG is a popular battle game with more than

400mn players worldwide developed by Tencent’s

South Korean partner and investee company,

Bluehole.

The company did secure a license to launch and

monetise the Monster Hunter game, its president,

Martin Lau, told an earnings call on Wednesday.

But it was pulled because its content was “not fully

compliant”, he said without elaborating.

Wienerberger

Austria’s Wienerberger, the world’s largest brick-

maker, said yesterday it planned further takeovers

and would step up an eff iciency drive to reach its

core profit target of more than €600mn by 2020.

The group, which has to deal with sluggish brick

sales in its key German and Austrian markets,

increased both second-quarter core earnings

and sales by 7%, largely due to continued strong

demand in eastern Europe.

Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and am-

ortisation (EBITDA) reached €154.8mn ($176.3mn)

on sales of €931.5mn.

Its British operations, which generate around

10% of annual group sales, benefited from strong

construction activity and sold more bricks at higher

prices, Wienerberger said.

Wienerberger, which also sells pipes and paving

stones, confirmed its full-year EBITDA target of

between €450 and €470mn and its 2020 EBITDA

target of more than 600mn.

The group, which generates 90% of its sales in

Europe, has a 2018 acquisition budget of €200mn.

It bought a brick producer in the Netherlands, a

pipe specialist in Norway and a paving stone plant

in Romania in recent months.

Wienerberger also said it would intensify its eff orts

to streamline operations and that eff iciency gains

would contribute much more to the targeted mid-

term profit growth than initially anticipated.

In addition to the €100mn it hopes to cash in from

selling non-core divisions, it aims to make a further

€50mn from the disposal of properties and machin-

ery it no longer needs, the group said.

Wirecard

Wirecard raised its guidance for 2018 profits

yesterday, sending its shares to a record high and

underscoring the payments company’s rise at the

expense of Germany’s struggling banks.

The company, which is poised to oust Germany’s

No 2 bank, Commerzbank from the blue chip DAX

index in a reshuff le next month, said it processed

€56.2bn ($64bn) in payments in the first half of the

year — a gain of 49% from a year earlier.

The Munich-based company lifted its full-year earn-

ings forecast and its shares surged more than 10%

to an all-time high of 178.40 euros.

The shares have now rallied 89% this year, marking

a turnaround after they were repeatedly targeted

by short sellers who published reports critical of

Wirecard’s business and sought to profit from share

price declines.

The company’s market capitalisation of $22.6bn

at Wednesday’s close is nearly double that of

Commerzbank and is closing in on Deutsche Bank

— both of which have lost more than a third in value

so far in 2018.

Wirecard said it now expects full-year earnings be-

fore interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisa-

tion (EBITDA) of 530 to 560mn euros — up from its

previous guidance of €525mn to €540mn.

The company processed payments on behalf of

38,000 large- and medium-sized merchants and

212,000 small traders around the world in the first

half.

It also raised its medium-term outlook, forecasting

transaction volumes of €215bn in 2020, up from

€210bn previously.

It now expects revenues to reach €3bn, up from

€2.8bn previously.

With a staff of less than 5,000 — one tenth that of

Commerzbank — Wirecard off ers ‘omnichannel’

payments solutions to merchants; risk manage-

ment; real and virtual payment cards; and even has

a German banking licence.

In one recent product launch, the company said its

Android smartphone payment app, boon, would

feature a digital Mastercard and enable German

users to transact via Google Pay.

Rabobank

Rabobank, the Dutch-based co-operative lender,

yesterday reported a 12% rise in first-half net profit

to €1.7bn ($1.94bn), helped by cost-cutting and

strong economic growth in the Netherlands.

Improving business conditions also allowed for a

€37mn release in earlier provisions for bad loans,

Rabobank said, while its overall loan portfolio grew

2% to €415.7bn, following years of decline.

Rabobank, a major agricultural lender, said it mainly

increased lending to customers in its international

Wholesale, Rural and Retail division, with 60%

invested in agricultural and food businesses.

The bank mainly expects to help farmers by giving

them more time to pay back loans, but does not

foresee an increase in defaults, as most companies

will remain solvent, the bank’s CEO said.

Rabobank strengthened its capital buff er in the first

six months of 2018, with the core capital adequacy

ratio improving to 15.8% at the end of June, from

15.5% in December.

Stockmann

Finnish retailer Stockmann reported better-than-

expected second-quarter results yesterday, thanks

to increased sales at its fashion chain Lindex, but

warned that its department stores would remain in

the red in the full year.

Known for its prestigious department stores,

Stockmann has struggled in recent years due to a

consumer shift to online shopping, prompting cost-

cuts and divestments.

Its second-quarter adjusted operating profit rose to

€24mn ($27mn) from €15mn a year ago, compared

to analysts’ average expectation of €21mn in a

Reuters poll.

Quarterly department store sales fell 4% from

a year ago while revenue at Lindex was up 1%.

Stockmann said the department store unit was not

expected to reach a positive operating result for the

full year.

Bank of Georgia

Bank of Georgia Group yesterday posted an 11.2%

rise in first-half profit, boosted by higher lending

amid stronger economic growth in the country.

The government’s ongoing reform plan to boost

growth and the central bank’s monetary policy will

continue to bolster the economy, the company said.

The Tbilisi-based bank, which off ers retail, corpo-

rate and investment banking, and wealth manage-

ment, said profit rose to 257.8mn laris ($100.9mn),

in the six months ended June 30, from 231.8mn laris

a year earlier.

The lender, which was formed when BGEO Group

demerged into two entities in May, said pre-tax

profit for its banking division rose 27.8% to 231.2mn

laris in the first half.

First-half revenue rose 17.8% to 489.3mn laris, while

net interest margin fell to 7% from 7.3% year-on-

year.

Retail Banking, which made up more than 70% of

the total in terms of loans, saw a 29.5% rise in net

loan book to 5.38bn laris as of June 30.

QBE Insurance

Australia’s QBE Insurance Group Ltd posted a

better-than-expected 4% rise in first-half profit,

helped by fewer natural disasters in its biggest

markets, sending its shares up almost 9% to their

highest since November.

The strong result draws a line under a tumultuous

period for the company that announced two profit

warnings and slumped to a record annual loss last

year as hurricanes swept the Atlantic and earth-

quakes rattled Mexico.

The global insurance provider reported a net

profit of $358mn for the six months ended June,

compared to $345mn a year ago and a Citi forecast

for $329mn.

Its combined operating ratio — claim payouts

against premium income — improved strongly, fall-

ing 240 basis points, against the 2017 financial year.

QBE expects the ratio to tighten further by end-

December.

The company announced an interim dividend of 22

Australian cents, in line with last year.

It marginally improved its combined operation

ratio guidance for the full year to between 95% and

97%, having previously said it could have been as

high as 97.5%. The higher the figure, the greater the

payouts versus premium income, and the bigger

the burden on the insurer.

Henkel

German consumer goods firm Henkel lowered its

forecast for earnings growth in 2018 yesterday

after falling emerging market currencies and higher

prices for raw materials dented its second-quarter

results.

Henkel’s shares, which had gradually recovered

since the firm reported delivery problems in North

America in March, were indicated down 3.3% in pre-

market trade at brokerage Lang & Schwarz.

The maker of Persil detergent and Loctite

adhesives said group sales rose 3.5% to €5.143bn

($5.85bn), stripping out acquisitions and a hit from

currencies, just above average analyst forecasts.

But earnings per share rose just 2% to €1.58, miss-

ing average analyst forecasts for €1.61, as it said

headwinds increased from currencies and raw

material prices.

Henkel confirmed its 2018 guidance for organic

sales growth between 2 and 4%, but said it now ex-

pects adjusted EPS to rise between 3 and 6%, down

from a previous 5 and 8%. German rival Beiersdorf

last week lifted its underlying sales growth forecast

to 5% for 2018 as a hot summer boosted demand

for its Nivea skincare range.

The hit from currencies lowered Henkel’s reported

sales by about €310mn, or 6.1%, chief executive

Hans van Bylen said, adding that without the cur-

rency impact, operational EPS was up 7.7%. Almost

two thirds of the currency impact came from

weaker currencies in emerging markets like Turkey,

Mexico and Russia, Henkel said, while it suff ered

a lesser impact from the US dollar in the second

quarter than in the first.

Henkel said its North America consumer goods

business was back to normal after it recovered

from delivery problems.

The adhesives unit, which accounts for about half

of sales and provides glue to makers of appli-

ances, electronics and packaging, saw organic

sales growth accelerate to 5.2%. Henkel said it now

expects the unit to record organic sales growth for

the year of 4 to 5%, up from 2 to 4%. Beauty care,

which includes Henkel’s Schwarzkopf shampoo

brand, reported a 0.4% rise and laundry and home

care rose 2.9%.

Rank Group

Britain’s Rank Group unveiled a turnaround plan

yesterday to boost revenue and cut costs after

its full-year pre-tax profit fell more than 40%, as

traff ic dropped at its casinos and bingo halls, and its

online business saw lower demand.

The company warned that trading for the current

year was a bit challenging as the six-week period to

August 12 was hit by unusually warm weather.

But Rank expects annual results to be in line with

the current market expectations.

Rank is putting more focus on its digital business

in the attempt to bolster profits and revenue and

named Jim Marsh, previously a partner in McKinsey

& Co’s transformation team, to the role of chief

transformation off icer.

Operating profit at Rank’s digital business, which

runs websites such as meccabingo.com and gros-

venorcasinos.com, fell 7.9% to £20.9mn ($26.6mn),

hurt by higher employment costs and taxes follow-

ing a change in taxation of free bets that started

October 2017.

The company said UK digital business growth

slowed down in the second half, with customer

visits dropping after the UK Gambling Commission

announced tighter regulation on money laundering

and stricter customer identification last year.

Rank has been trying to boost its online operations

for some time now to attract younger players and

off set the slowdown at its halls and casinos.

The company had issued a profit warning in April

amid tepid consumer spending with Britons tight-

ening their purse strings.

Low win margins and unusual weather hurt the

company’s Grosvenor casinos, the UK’s largest

multi-channel casino operator by venue, with their

revenue declining more than 6% for the year ended

June 30.

Total revenue fell 2.2% to £691mn.

Full-year operating profit before exceptional items

fell nearly 8% to £77mn, in line with the company’s

revised estimate of profit between £76mn and

£78mn.

Telstra

Australia’s dominant telecommunications company

Telstra yesterday warned of “enormous challenges”

ahead as it posted an 8.9% slump in annual profit.

Its net result in the year to June 30 fell to A$3.52bn

(US$2.54bn), while revenue was flat at A$26bn.

In a bid to transform the business to deal with the

new realities, Telstra, one of Australia’s largest

employers, has put in place a new strategy to be

achieved by 2022.

This includes a plan announced in June to axe

8,000 jobs — a quarter of its workforce — in a bid

to achieve an extra A$1bn in cost-cutting, on top of

Aus$1.5bn previously announced.

It will also split its mobile and infrastructure divi-

sions into separate businesses.

Telstra said it will pay a six-monthly dividend of 11

cents for a full-year payout of 22 cents.

Lenovo

Chinese PC maker Lenovo Group swung to a profit

and beat estimates in the first quarter yesterday,

helped by a sharp jump in revenue.

Net profit came in at $77mn for the three months

ended in June, compared with a loss of $72.3mn in

the same period a year earlier when it was hit by

higher costs amid a shortage of components.

That was ahead of an average estimate of $59.37mn

from six analysts polled by Thomson Reuters

I/B/E/S.

Revenue rose 19% from a year earlier to $11.91bn,

its second straight quarter of double-digit revenue

growth.

“The group remains confident in its core PC busi-

ness, and aims to grow at a premium to the market

in revenue without compromising on profitability,”

chairman Yang Yuanqing said in the statement.

BUSINESSFriday, August 17, 2018

GULF TIMES

Nuclear revival talk could upend historic Swedish energy accordBloombergStockholm

Sweden’s biggest ever cross-party energy

deal was designed to provide stability for

utilities for almost three decades, but the

2016 accord is now at risk of being ripped

up after next month’s general election.

The Sweden Democrats, which some

polls show could emerge as the biggest

party, would revoke nuclear-plant closures

central to the agreement if they came

to power. The Christian Democrats, one

of the accord’s co-signers, on Tuesday ech-

oed that view and pressed for key parts of

the deal to be renegotiated.

The agreement ended more than 30

years of bickering over nuclear power,

extended support for renewable energy

and stated that there should be zero emis-

sions impacting the climate by 2045. It

eff ectively boosted the lives of the nation’s

six newest reactors until at least 2040, but

didn’t address how the capacity of four

older Vattenfall AB and EON SE units will

be replaced.

“It is an empty agreement that lacks con-

crete details,” said Runar Brannlund, head

of economics research at Umea University

in northern Sweden. “It doesn’t deal with

how to have enough capacity when the

wind does not blow and the sun does not

shine. But sooner or later this will become

a real issue that the parties will handle,

and then we will see how they act.”

Whoever emerges as the winner next

month will have to act fast. Grid manager

Svenska Kraftnat warned that the nation

from this winter will depend on imports

to meet peak demand. It could get even

worse if Vattenfall’s Ringhals reactors on

the west coast are shut in two years time

as planned.

There are several options to replace the

lost capacity, including adding more

plants to a national reserve, batteries

or increased demand flexibility. But un-

less something is done, Sweden will be

dependent on imports and could face

soaring power prices, according to the

network manager.

Nordic power prices already rose to

records this summer, something Skandi-

naviska Enskilda Banken AB and Nordea

Bank AB say will stoke inflation.

The Christian Democrats, which could

be on its way out of the parliament after

struggling in the polls, on Tuesday mooted

the possibility of new nuclear plants to

meet growing power demand.

A first evaluation of the deal by the five

parties involved is scheduled for this au-

tumn. Current ruler Social Democrats and

coalition partner the Green Party remain

confident in the deal’s longevity and ability

to handle the capacity deficit within the

existing agreement.

“The strength lies in that it is a bi-partisan

agreement,” Energy Minister Ibrahim

Baylan said by e-mail. “It is the first time

five parties from both sides has managed

to agree on the long-term energy policy.”

The Sweden Democrats, who was not

invited to join talks ahead of the agree-

ment, does not see the point of closing

reactors and instead import power from

nuclear reactors and plants burning fossil

fuels abroad. They would start talks with

Vattenfall to extend operations at the

Ringhals units, energy spokesman Mattias

Backstrom Johansson said by phone.

“Security of supply is more important

for Sweden than Vattenfall’s economical

targets,” he said. “In the past the system

has been stable enough for politicians to

play around with energy policy without

causing any harm, but now we are ap-

proaching the first winter where Sweden

will not be able to supply domestic

demand.”

Other parties have signalled they will do

what they can to devoid the anti-immi-

gration Sweden Democrats of any real

influence on how the country is run, even

if they end up with the most votes in the

election. Despite the broad deal, a lot of

topics were not covered and those need to

be addressed after the election, said Lars

Hjalmered, a lawmaker for the Moderate

Party and one of the co-signers. One op-

tion for maintaining enough winter capac-

ity would be more favourable conditions

for bio-fuelled combined power-and-heat

plants currently under threat from rising

taxes, he said.

The Liberal Party, the only party in the

alliance that didn’t support the deal, says

the best option would be to renegotiate the

accord after the election.

“The energy agreement has already failed

and the cracks are staring to show,” said

energy spokeswoman Maria Weimer in an

interview.

US housing starts miss expectations; weekly jobless claims fallHousing starts increase 0.9% in July; single-family starts gain 0.9%; building permits rise 1.5%; weekly jobless claims fall 2,000 to 212,000

ReutersWashington

US homebuilding rebounded less than expected from a nine-month low in July, suggesting the housing

market was likely to tread water for the rest of this year against the backdrop of rising mortgage rates.

But the fundamentals for the housing market remain strong.

The number of Americans fi ling claims for unemployment benefi ts fell for a sec-ond straight week last week, other data showed yesterday, pointing to sustained strength in the labour market.

Housing starts rose 0.9% to a season-ally adjusted annual rate of 1.168mn units in July, the Commerce Department said.

Starts dropped to a 1.158mn-unit rate in June, which was the lowest level since September 2017.

Groundbreaking activity increased in the Midwest and South, but dropped in the Northeast, and hit a more than 1-1/2-year low in the West.

Last month’s increase in starts left the bulk of June’s 12.9% plunge intact.

Building permits increased 1.5% to a rate of 1.311mn units, snapping three straight months of decreases.

The housing market has underper-formed a robust economy, with econo-mists blaming the slowdown on rising mortgage rates, which have combined with higher house prices to make home purchasing unaff ordable for some fi rst-time buyers.

The 30-year fi xed mortgage rate has risen about 60 basis points this year to an average of 4.59%, according to data from mortgage fi nance agency Freddie Mac.

While that is still low by historical standards, the rise has outpaced annual wage growth, which has been stuck below 3%.

At the same time, house prices have increased more than 6.0% on an annual basis, largely driven by a dearth of prop-erties available for sale.

Residential investment contracted in the fi rst half of the year and economists do not expect housing to contribute to growth in the fi nal six months of 2018.

The economy grew at a 4.1% annual-ised rate in the second quarter, the fastest in nearly four years and almost double the 2.2% pace logged in the January-March period.

Economists polled by Reuters had forecast housing starts rising to a pace of 1.260mn units last month and permits

increasing to a rate of 1.310mn units. US fi nancial markets were little moved by the data.

Single-family homebuilding, which accounts for the largest share of the hous-ing market, rose 0.9% to a rate of 862,000 units in July.

Single-family homebuilding has lost momentum since hitting a pace of 948,000 units last November, which was the strongest in more than 10 years.

A survey on Wednesday showed confi -dence among single-family homebuild-ers dipped in August amid “growing aff ordability concerns, stemming from rising construction costs, shortages of skilled labour and a dearth of buildable lots.”

Permits to build single-family homes jumped 1.9% in July to a pace of 869,000 units.

Single-family building permits in the South, where more than half of home-building occurs, vaulted to an 11-year high in July.

Starts for the volatile multi-family housing segment gained 0.7% to a rate of 306,000 units in July.

Permits for the construction of multi-family homes climbed 0.7% to a pace of 442,000 units.

With the moderate rise in homebuild-ing last month, housing inventory is likely to remain tight.

Housing completions fell for a third straight month, hitting an eight-month low rate of 1.188mn in July.

Realtors estimate that housing starts and completion rates need to be in a range of 1.5mn to 1.6mn units per month to plug the inventory gap.

The stock of housing under construc-tion was little changed at 1.122mn units.

In a separate report yesterday, the La-bour Department said initial claims for state unemployment benefi ts slipped 2,000 to a seasonally adjusted 212,000 for the week ended August 11.

The claims data is being closely watched for signs of layoff s as a result of the Trump administration’s protectionist trade policy, which has led to an escalat-ing trade war with China and tit-for-tat import tariff s with other trading partners, including the European Union, Canada and Mexico.

While there have been reports of some companies either laying off workers or planning to as a result of the import du-ties, that is not yet evident in the claims data.

Economists say the robust economy is helping the labour market weather the trade storm.

Companies are also reporting diffi cul-ties fi nding qualifi ed workers, with the labour market viewed as being near or at full employment.

Contractors install gutters on a house under construction in Louisville, Kentucky. Housing starts rose 0.9% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.168mn units in July, the Commerce Department said yesterday.

Ratings agency Fitch sees growing risk of damaging no-deal BrexitReutersLondon

Ratings agency Fitch said yesterday that it saw a growing risk of a bit-

ter and economically damag-ing Brexit that could lead to a further downgrade of Britain’s sovereign credit rating.

“We no longer believe it is appropriate to identify a spe-cifi c base case,” Fitch said in an update on its views on how Brexit might aff ect Britain’s economy and public fi nances.

“An acrimonious and dis-ruptive ‘no deal’ Brexit is a ma-terial and growing possibility,” it said.

Previously Fitch had as-sumed Britain would leave the EU in March next year with a transition deal in place and the outline of a future trade deal with the bloc.

However Prime Minister Theresa May is struggling to get her own Conservative Party to support her proposed Brexit deal, while the European Un-ion has raised objections to key parts of her plan, suggesting it will seek more concessions that could deepen the divide within the Conservatives.

“An intensifi cation of politi-cal divisions within the UK and slow progress in negotiations

with the EU means there is such a wide range of potential Brexit outcomes that no individual scenario has a high probability,” Fitch said.

Bank of England Governor Mark Carney said this month that the possibility of a no-deal Brexit was “uncomfortably high” and British trade minis-ter Liam Fox put the chance at 60%, helping send sterling to a 14-month low against the US dollar.

An adverse Brexit scenario that slowed growth sharply could push up Britain’s budget defi cit towards 2.5% of gross domestic product, meaning the debt-to-GDP ratio would de-cline by less than expected over 2019 and 2020, it said.

“A severe enough shock could reverse the downward trajectory in the ratio since 2015.

Worsening public fi nances leading to a rising government debt ratio could also lead to a downgrade of the UK,” Fitch said.

The ratings agency currently rates British government debt at AA with a negative outlook which means a further lowering of the rating is possible.

Fitch cut its top-notch AAA rating on Britain in 2013, cit-ing the weaker public fi nances outlook.

Dutch job squeeze brings perks for workers as companies scrambleBloombergAmsterdam

In Amsterdam’s historic centre where of-

fice space is scarce, employees at fintech

company Ohpen enjoy playing pool in a

spacious canteen and personal training

sessions in an Olympic boxing ring in the

basement gym.

That’s because the main challenge for

Ohpen, which develops banking software,

isn’t securing orders or raising venture

capital, but attracting and retaining work-

ers. Perks have been one response to a

situation that’s just getting tougher, says

founder and chief executive Chris Zadeh,

watching one of his 160 employees spar

with a boxing instructor.

“Our colleagues receive calls and e-mails

from recruiters all day long,” Zadeh said

in an interview. “This isn’t limited to our

IT people anymore, like in the past. A

recruiter we once hired to find a market-

ing director for us, at the same time

approached our finance guy for another

client. We now do the hiring internally.”

The hunt for human capital has become a

top issue from Groningen in the north to

Eindhoven in the south. It’s forced major

building projects to be put on hold, seen

banks give up on spurring digitisation with

domestic talent and could crimp growth in

what’s been one of the euro region’s best-

performing economies recently.

The Netherlands isn’t alone. Neighbour-

ing Germany and some smaller euro-area

countries, where solid economic growth

has pushed unemployment well below

the region’s average, are also feeling the

squeeze.

Scarce labour supply and stretched ca-

pacities have the European Central Bank’s

attention. Policy makers are counting on

wage growth to fuel inflation as they scale

back unprecedented monetary stimulus.

Dutch national statistics bureau CBS

already labelled the Dutch labour market

tight last year. Joblessness fell again in

July, to just 3.8%, a level only bettered by

Germany, based on figures from Eurostat.

More than one in five manufacturers say

a shortage of workers is their biggest

obstacle to production. That compares with

less than 3% before the recovery took hold

in 2014, when insuff icient demand sapped

output.

A construction project for 600 new homes

urgently needed to ease Amsterdam’s hous-

ing shortage was halted for eight months

because of a lack of workers and material.

ING Groep NV, one of the country’s biggest

employers in the private sector, hired IT

staff in Romania, Poland and Spain because

it couldn’t find enough in the Netherlands.

Despite the squeeze, wages have been

slow to pick up — until now. Rabobank

Groep predicts pay gains of 2.5% this year,

far in excess of inflation. “Employees are

getting the benefits of economic growth

now,” says Leontine Treur, senior econo-

mist at the Dutch bank.

In a further sign of workers’ increased

bargaining power, Treur points out that the

number of strikes last year was the highest

since 1999. Off ering higher salaries is an old

strategy at Ohpen, where most employees

are software developers. Zadeh estimates

wages have risen roughly 30% in recent

years: “This helps, but in the end, Ohpen is

not going to win the pay rise competition

with the Googles and Amazons.”

Instead, he’s off ering his workers freedom

— to choose their off ice hours, work at

one of the company’s off ices in Barcelona

or London, and get in shape with a per-

sonal trainer while on the job. After one

year, he raises the stakes, quite literally:

He hands them a small share in the com-

pany, in the hope of tying them down.

Norway central bank keeps rates on holdReutersOslo

Norway’s central bank kept its main policy interest rate unchanged at a record low 0.50% yesterday, as expected, and reiterated plans for a September increase, in line with its earlier forecast.“The upturn in the Norwegian economy appears to be continuing broadly in line with the picture presented in June,” the bank said. “Underlying inflation is below the inflation target, but the driving forces indicate that it will rise further out.”A policy tightening, Norges Bank’s first in seven years, would come despite inflation being significantly below target, as higher oil prices, a rebound in the housing market and accelerating growth drive the need for higher rates.“Rates will rise in September unless something very

unexpected were to happen,” DNB Markets economist Jeanette Stroem Fjaere wrote on Twitter. “If anything the bank’s short term estimates indicate that the probability for a hike in September is even higher.”Norway’s currency, the crown (NOK), weakened slightly after the bank’s announcement, trading at 9.6010 against the euro at 0850 GMT from 9.5860 earlier.Brokerage Nordea Markets said the currency’s weakness could trigger even more rate increases. “If NOK remains at current levels going into the September meeting, it would warrant a significant upward revision of the rate path, implying a December hike, all else equal,” it said.“However, Norges Bank has argued for moving carefully in the monetary policy so although a December hike seems farfetched, risks are tilted that way,” Nordea added.