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Tuesday, February 28, 2017 Jumada II 1, 1438 AH BUSINESS GULF TIMES Bond market is calling March rate hike bluff Aramco set to invest $7bn in RAPID YELLEN VIEW | Page 14 MALAYSIA SPEND | Page 3 To advertise here Call: Azerbaijan eyes Qatar investment inflows to agriculture, tourism By Peter Alagos Business Reporter A zerbaijan is keen to develop co- operation ties with Qatar in a range of sectors, particularly in agriculture and tourism, the president of Azerbaijan Export & Investment Promotion Foundation (Azpromo) has said. Rufat Mammadov said an Azerbai- jan trade delegation composed of 25 companies has accompanied Presi- dent Ilham Aliyev, who is in Qatar to enhance strategic partnership be- tween the two countries. Speaking to reporters on the side- lines of a networking meeting with officials of the Qatar Chamber yes- terday, Mammadov said the trade delegation met with the Qatar Invest- ment Authority (QIA) and presented investment opportunities in several areas. “We had meetings with Qatar In- vestment Authority and we invited them to consider the investment projects in different fields of busi- nesses in Azerbaijan. We have given presentations of our projects where we would like to attract their atten- tion.” He said the QIA expressed interest to invest in Azerbaijan in such sectors as petrochemicals, real estate, con- struction, agriculture, tourism, and food industry. “It is early to talk of specific inter- ests but the fact that they already met us and they will study the project pro- posals and feasibility studies that we have presented to them, shows that they are interested in Azerbaijan,” Mammadov pointed out. At Qatar Chamber, Mammdov said Azerbaijan companies held individual meetings with their potential coun- terparts and partners in Qatar “in dif- ferent fields of activities.” “The focus on the meeting with Qatar Chamber is to expand our di- rect contacts to the Qatari business community, which is very important. Without direct contacts, you cannot do business,” he said. Mammadov told Gulf Times “there is an interest” from Qatar Airways to increase the frequency of direct flights between Qatar and Azerbai- jan from 11 to 14 per week. “There are also discussions on the possibility to organise a direct flight to Qatar oper- ated by our national carrier, Azerbai- jan Airlines.” In a welcome speech, Qatar Cham- ber vice chairman Mohamed bin To- war al-Kuwari said, “Nowadays, Qa- tar is a steadily developing country that pays great attention to the diver- sification of the economy and holds legislative reforms with the aim of business development, which created good opportunities for foreign invest- ments and attracted investors from all over the world. “Furthermore, the mega projects which are being implemented here for infrastructure development and the preparations of the 2022 FIFA World Cup open wide opportunities for Qatari companies to exchange ex- perience and partnerships with their foreign counterparts. Qatar Chamber strongly supports the cooperation be- tween Qatar and Azerbaijani compa- nies in this regard.” Page 16 Reliable partnership key to resolving claims, says Doha Insurance CEO By Pratap John Chief Business Reporter W ith Qatar giving equal opportunity for underwriters to bid and compete in the energy sector, reliable partnership is central to resolving insurance claims in the in- dustry, said Doha Insurance Group CEO Bassam Hussein. “Fortunately in Qatar, we haven’t had massive claims yet on the energy sector. If you look at the region, in the UAE, they just had a very big claim. So, claims do occur. And the most important thing is to have a reliable partner (as reinsurer). You just can’t throw your assets into the arms of anybody in the international market,” Hussein told Gulf Times yesterday. On Doha Insurance’s partnership with Axis Insurance, a global insurer and reinsurer, he said, “We value our relationship with Axis. We believe they can add a lot to our portfolio…and we are very comfortable with that. Without their help, we could not have penetrated many accounts. We have a winning partnership, which we want to in- vest in for the benefit of everybody.” In association with Axis among other major entities, Doha Insurance organised an “Energy insurance forum” at the Four Seasons yesterday, which was attended by senior risk managers and insurance professionals from major energy and petrochemical companies in Qatar. Hussein said the forum provided an opportu- nity for the local industry to “network and inter- act” with major global insurers and reinsurers. “The dialogue is very important, especially because Qatar Petroleum has given the sector the opportunity to serve it and be involved in the insurance of various energy entities,” the Doha Insurance CEO said. Asked whether Doha Insur- ance would target accounts in the energy sector outside of Qatar, he said, “Once we cement our position here, we will probably look at it.” Hussein said energy premium totalled nearly QR200mn in Qatar now. It was higher earlier, be- fore competition brought the levels down. “The risk, however, is well-maintained,” he pointed out. Asked how oil price drop impacted the insur- ance/reinsurance industry Axis Insurance CEO (International Division) Mark Gregory said, “We are not seeing corners being cut on the risk side of the spectrum. That said, the drop in oil price has various impacts…one could be that the as- sets can get muffled. As prices drop, some of the oil companies start to muffle some of their assets. So they take them out of service. We are insuring a smaller asset base. The financial liabilities get reduced.” He stressed that “insurance contract is an an- nual venture.” “So, while we want to retain relationship with a client, obviously, we still review our risks on an annual basis. The most important thing for us is to select the right risks and maintain close rela- tionship with our clients.” He said Axis Insurance had entered into a part- nership with Doha Insurance some two years ago. “And the overwhelming feedback we have got from our Qatari clients is that they are very much interested in information exchange, more than anything else. We are working with Doha Insur- ance to provide that kind of information…that’s why we are here,” Gregory said. He said, “The focus has been on valuation, but also on claims. These are very complex nego- tiations – we are bringing to life the issue around successful claims and negotiations. Insurance is still a relationship industry.” STAYING COMPETITIVE: Page 16 GIS outlines QR1.1bn investment for 5 years Qatar trade surplus jumps 62% in January to QR10.98bn By Santhosh V Perumal Business Reporter Oil producers’ deal to cut output, effective from the beginning of this year, and the resultant price gains were seen favourable to Qatar, whose trade surplus jumped more than 62% month-on-month in January to QR10.98bn, which was up 2% year- on-year. Japan, South Korea, India, China and the UAE were among the largest export markets for Qatar; while imports mainly came from China, the US, the UAE, Germany and Japan in January 2017, said the figures released by the Ministry of Development Planning and Statistics. Higher exports (especially non-crude, crude and petroleum gases) and lower imports (mainly motor cars) had resulted in Qatar’s month-on- month gain in trade surplus; while on a yearly basis, imports grew faster than exports. A robust expansion in shipments to Japan, the UAE and South Korea led Qatar’s total exports (valued free-on- board) surge 16.2% month-on-month to QR20.31bn, which was up 5.3% on a yearly basis. The country’s total exports of domestic products increased 11.8% month-on-month to QR18.94bn in January 2017, up 1.9% on a yearly basis. Qatar’s exports of non-crude rose faster month-on-month at 57.4% to QR1.23bn, crude by 48.2% to QR2.38bn and petroleum gases and other gaseous hydrocarbons by 13.7% to QR13.27bn; whereas those of other commodities shrank 28.4% to QR2.07bn. Against January 2016 levels, Qatar’s exports of crude and other commodities plummeted 29.8% and 13.9%; while those of non-crude and petroleum gases shot up 30.9% and 11.9% respectively. Petroleum gases constituted 70.06% of total exports of domestic products in January 2017 compared to 68.89% a year-ago period; crude 12.57% (9.45%), non-crude 6.49% (4.6%) and other commodities 10.93% (17%). On exports destinations, Japan accounted for 22% of total exports from Qatar in January 2017; followed by South Korea 17%, India 12%, China 11% and the UAE 8%. Qatar’s exports to Singapore grew 32.34% month-to-month to QR4.42bn, the UAE by 25.2% to QR1.54bn, South Korea by 13.92% to QR3.52bn and India by 6.61% to QR2.42bn; whereas those to China fell 5.29% to QR2.15bn. Against January 2016 levels, Qatar’s exports to China, the UAE, Japan and South Korea had expanded 43.33%, 36.28%, 31.16% and 19.73% respectively; while those to India shrank 9.7%. The country’s re-exports were valued at QR1.37bn in January 2017, a 156% month-on-month surge and 94.7% increase year-on-year. Qatar’s total imports (valued at cost insurance and freight) declined 12.9% month-on-month to QR9.33bn in January 2017, which however showed 9.1% growth on a yearly basis. China accounted for 14% of Qatar’s imports in January 2017, followed by the US (12%), the UAE (10%), and Germany and Japan (6% each). On a monthly basis, Qatar’s imports from the US and the UAE shrank 6.74% and 6.13% to QR1.08bn and QR0.9bn respectively; whereas shipments from China expanded 53.83% to QR1.27bn, Germany by 18.31% to QR0.6bn and Japan by 5.5% to QR0.56bn. Against January 2016 levels, shipments from Germany, Japan and the US plummeted 46.77%, 23.63% and 16.68%; while those towards the UAE and China increased 14% and 4.8% respectively. Motor cars, electrical apparatus for line telephony and structures (iron or steel) comprised the main components in Qatar’s import basket in January 2017. The imports of motor cars shrank 27.8% month-on-month to QR0.65bn and other commodities by 12.3% to QR8.21bn; while those of structures had risen 7.2% to QR0.15bn and electrical apparatus by 3.8% to QR0.32bn. QFCA, USQBC look to boost Qatar-US business ties The Qatar Financial Centre Authority (QFCA) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the US-Qatar Business Council (USQBC) to expand collaboration between the two organisations and promote business between the two countries. The agreement lays the groundwork for the development of strategic initiatives aimed at benefiting both QFC-licensed firms and USQBC members. It will also expose American financial and professional services firms to the QFC’s platform for doing business in Qatar and the Middle East as well as North Africa and South Asia (Menasa) region. “This agreement is the latest step by QFC to support the growth of our licensed firms and facilitate the expansion and diversification of the Qatari private sector. Cross-sector collabo- ration of this sort has been, and will continue to be, central to the success of QFC and the companies we serve,” QFCA chief executive Yousuf Mohamed al-Jaida said. It additionally provides a powerful avenue for firms operating at the QFC to pursue new business and engage with key partners in the US. The USQBC counts prominent Qatari and Fortune 500 companies among its members, who benefit from USQBC’s programming, ad- vice and counsel in seeking bilateral business opportunities. “Creating a world-class business environ- ment for companies operating or interested in operating in Qatar is a goal shared by both the USQBC and QFC. With the signing of this agreement, our like-minded organisa- tions commit to deepening collaboration and seizing new opportunities for the Qatari and American private sectors,” according to Mohamed Barakat, USQBC’s managing director. Mammadov and al-Kuwari at a networking meeting held yesterday. PICTURE: Shaji Kayamkulam Barakat (left) and al-Jaida: Mutually beneficial cooperation. Hussein (second right) with Gregory (third left) and other senior insurance professionals at the Energy Insurance Forum at the Four Seasons yesterday. PICTURE: Thajuddin

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Page 1: MALAYSIA SPEND YELLEN VIEW Aramco set to invest $7bn

Tuesday, February 28, 2017Jumada II 1, 1438 AH

BUSINESSGULF TIMES

Bond market is calling March rate hike bluff

Aramco set to invest $7bn in RAPID

YELLEN VIEW | Page 14MALAYSIA SPEND | Page 3

To advertise here

Call:

Azerbaijan eyes Qatar investment infl ows to agriculture, tourismBy Peter AlagosBusiness Reporter

Azerbaijan is keen to develop co-operation ties with Qatar in a range of sectors, particularly in

agriculture and tourism, the president of Azerbaijan Export & Investment Promotion Foundation (Azpromo) has said.

Rufat Mammadov said an Azerbai-jan trade delegation composed of 25 companies has accompanied Presi-dent Ilham Aliyev, who is in Qatar to enhance strategic partnership be-tween the two countries.

Speaking to reporters on the side-lines of a networking meeting with offi cials of the Qatar Chamber yes-terday, Mammadov said the trade delegation met with the Qatar Invest-ment Authority (QIA) and presented investment opportunities in several areas.

“We had meetings with Qatar In-vestment Authority and we invited them to consider the investment projects in diff erent fi elds of busi-nesses in Azerbaijan. We have given presentations of our projects where we would like to attract their atten-tion.”

He said the QIA expressed interest to invest in Azerbaijan in such sectors as petrochemicals, real estate, con-struction, agriculture, tourism, and food industry.

“It is early to talk of specifi c inter-ests but the fact that they already met us and they will study the project pro-posals and feasibility studies that we

have presented to them, shows that they are interested in Azerbaijan,” Mammadov pointed out.

At Qatar Chamber, Mammdov said Azerbaijan companies held individual meetings with their potential coun-terparts and partners in Qatar “in dif-ferent fi elds of activities.”

“The focus on the meeting with Qatar Chamber is to expand our di-rect contacts to the Qatari business community, which is very important. Without direct contacts, you cannot do business,” he said.

Mammadov told Gulf Times “there

is an interest” from Qatar Airways to increase the frequency of direct fl ights between Qatar and Azerbai-jan from 11 to 14 per week. “There are also discussions on the possibility to organise a direct fl ight to Qatar oper-ated by our national carrier, Azerbai-jan Airlines.”

In a welcome speech, Qatar Cham-ber vice chairman Mohamed bin To-war al-Kuwari said, “Nowadays, Qa-tar is a steadily developing country that pays great attention to the diver-sifi cation of the economy and holds legislative reforms with the aim of

business development, which created good opportunities for foreign invest-ments and attracted investors from all over the world.

“Furthermore, the mega projects which are being implemented here for infrastructure development and the preparations of the 2022 FIFA World Cup open wide opportunities for Qatari companies to exchange ex-perience and partnerships with their foreign counterparts. Qatar Chamber strongly supports the cooperation be-tween Qatar and Azerbaijani compa-nies in this regard.” Page 16

Reliable partnership key to resolving claims, says Doha Insurance CEOBy Pratap JohnChief Business Reporter

With Qatar giving equal opportunity for underwriters to bid and compete in the energy sector, reliable partnership is

central to resolving insurance claims in the in-dustry, said Doha Insurance Group CEO Bassam Hussein.

“Fortunately in Qatar, we haven’t had massive claims yet on the energy sector. If you look at the region, in the UAE, they just had a very big claim. So, claims do occur. And the most important thing is to have a reliable partner (as reinsurer). You just can’t throw your assets into the arms of anybody in the international market,” Hussein told Gulf Times yesterday.

On Doha Insurance’s partnership with Axis Insurance, a global insurer and reinsurer, he said, “We value our relationship with Axis. We believe they can add a lot to our portfolio…and we are very comfortable with that. Without their help, we could not have penetrated many accounts. We have a winning partnership, which we want to in-vest in for the benefi t of everybody.”

In association with Axis among other major entities, Doha Insurance organised an “Energy insurance forum” at the Four Seasons yesterday, which was attended by senior risk managers and insurance professionals from major energy and petrochemical companies in Qatar.

Hussein said the forum provided an opportu-nity for the local industry to “network and inter-act” with major global insurers and reinsurers.

“The dialogue is very important, especially because Qatar Petroleum has given the sector the opportunity to serve it and be involved in the insurance of various energy entities,” the Doha

Insurance CEO said. Asked whether Doha Insur-ance would target accounts in the energy sector outside of Qatar, he said, “Once we cement our position here, we will probably look at it.”

Hussein said energy premium totalled nearly QR200mn in Qatar now. It was higher earlier, be-fore competition brought the levels down. “The risk, however, is well-maintained,” he pointed out.

Asked how oil price drop impacted the insur-ance/reinsurance industry Axis Insurance CEO (International Division) Mark Gregory said, “We are not seeing corners being cut on the risk side of the spectrum. That said, the drop in oil price has various impacts…one could be that the as-sets can get muffl ed. As prices drop, some of the oil companies start to muffl e some of their assets. So they take them out of service. We are insuring a smaller asset base. The fi nancial liabilities get reduced.”

He stressed that “insurance contract is an an-nual venture.”

“So, while we want to retain relationship with a client, obviously, we still review our risks on an annual basis. The most important thing for us is to select the right risks and maintain close rela-tionship with our clients.”

He said Axis Insurance had entered into a part-nership with Doha Insurance some two years ago.

“And the overwhelming feedback we have got from our Qatari clients is that they are very much interested in information exchange, more than anything else. We are working with Doha Insur-ance to provide that kind of information…that’s why we are here,” Gregory said.

He said, “The focus has been on valuation, but also on claims. These are very complex nego-tiations – we are bringing to life the issue around successful claims and negotiations. Insurance is still a relationship industry.”

STAYING COMPETITIVE: Page 16

GIS outlines QR1.1bn investment for 5 years

Qatar trade surplus jumps 62% in January to QR10.98bn

By Santhosh V PerumalBusiness Reporter

Oil producers’ deal to cut output, eff ective from the beginning of this year, and the resultant price gains were seen favourable to Qatar, whose trade surplus jumped more than 62% month-on-month in January to QR10.98bn, which was up 2% year-on-year.Japan, South Korea, India, China and the UAE were among the largest export markets for Qatar; while imports mainly came from China, the US, the UAE, Germany and Japan in January 2017, said the figures released by the Ministry of Development Planning and Statistics.Higher exports (especially non-crude, crude and petroleum gases) and lower imports (mainly motor cars) had resulted in Qatar’s month-on-month gain in trade surplus; while on a yearly basis, imports grew faster than exports.A robust expansion in shipments to Japan, the UAE and South Korea led Qatar’s total exports (valued free-on-board) surge 16.2% month-on-month to QR20.31bn, which was up 5.3% on a yearly basis.The country’s total exports of domestic products increased 11.8% month-on-month to QR18.94bn in January 2017, up 1.9% on a yearly basis.Qatar’s exports of non-crude rose faster month-on-month at 57.4% to QR1.23bn, crude by 48.2% to QR2.38bn and petroleum gases and other gaseous hydrocarbons by 13.7% to QR13.27bn; whereas those of other commodities shrank 28.4% to QR2.07bn.Against January 2016 levels, Qatar’s exports of crude and other commodities plummeted 29.8% and 13.9%; while those of non-crude and petroleum gases shot up 30.9% and 11.9% respectively.Petroleum gases constituted 70.06% of total exports of domestic products in January 2017 compared to 68.89% a year-ago period; crude 12.57% (9.45%), non-crude 6.49% (4.6%) and

other commodities 10.93% (17%).On exports destinations, Japan accounted for 22% of total exports from Qatar in January 2017; followed by South Korea 17%, India 12%, China 11% and the UAE 8%.Qatar’s exports to Singapore grew 32.34% month-to-month to QR4.42bn, the UAE by 25.2% to QR1.54bn, South Korea by 13.92% to QR3.52bn and India by 6.61% to QR2.42bn; whereas those to China fell 5.29% to QR2.15bn.Against January 2016 levels, Qatar’s exports to China, the UAE, Japan and South Korea had expanded 43.33%, 36.28%, 31.16% and 19.73% respectively; while those to India shrank 9.7%.The country’s re-exports were valued at QR1.37bn in January 2017, a 156% month-on-month surge and 94.7% increase year-on-year.Qatar’s total imports (valued at cost insurance and freight) declined 12.9% month-on-month to QR9.33bn in January 2017, which however showed 9.1% growth on a yearly basis.China accounted for 14% of Qatar’s imports in January 2017, followed by the US (12%), the UAE (10%), and Germany and Japan (6% each).On a monthly basis, Qatar’s imports from the US and the UAE shrank 6.74% and 6.13% to QR1.08bn and QR0.9bn respectively; whereas shipments from China expanded 53.83% to QR1.27bn, Germany by 18.31% to QR0.6bn and Japan by 5.5% to QR0.56bn.Against January 2016 levels, shipments from Germany, Japan and the US plummeted 46.77%, 23.63% and 16.68%; while those towards the UAE and China increased 14% and 4.8% respectively.Motor cars, electrical apparatus for line telephony and structures (iron or steel) comprised the main components in Qatar’s import basket in January 2017.The imports of motor cars shrank 27.8% month-on-month to QR0.65bn and other commodities by 12.3% to QR8.21bn; while those of structures had risen 7.2% to QR0.15bn and electrical apparatus by 3.8% to QR0.32bn.

QFCA, USQBC look to boost Qatar-US business tiesThe Qatar Financial Centre Authority (QFCA)

has signed a memorandum of understanding

(MoU) with the US-Qatar Business Council

(USQBC) to expand collaboration between

the two organisations and promote business

between the two countries.

The agreement lays the groundwork for the

development of strategic initiatives aimed

at benefiting both QFC-licensed firms and

USQBC members. It will also expose American

financial and professional services firms to

the QFC’s platform for doing business in Qatar

and the Middle East as well as North Africa

and South Asia (Menasa) region.

“This agreement is the latest step by QFC to

support the growth of our licensed firms and

facilitate the expansion and diversification of

the Qatari private sector. Cross-sector collabo-

ration of this sort has been, and will continue

to be, central to the success of QFC and the

companies we serve,” QFCA chief executive

Yousuf Mohamed al-Jaida said.

It additionally provides a powerful avenue

for firms operating at the QFC to pursue new

business and engage with key partners in the

US. The USQBC counts prominent Qatari and

Fortune 500 companies among its members,

who benefit from USQBC’s programming, ad-

vice and counsel in seeking bilateral business

opportunities.

“Creating a world-class business environ-

ment for companies operating or interested

in operating in Qatar is a goal shared by

both the USQBC and QFC. With the signing

of this agreement, our like-minded organisa-

tions commit to deepening collaboration

and seizing new opportunities for the Qatari

and American private sectors,” according

to Mohamed Barakat, USQBC’s managing

director.

Mammadov and al-Kuwari at a networking meeting held yesterday. PICTURE: Shaji Kayamkulam

Barakat (left) and al-Jaida: Mutually beneficial cooperation.

Hussein (second right) with Gregory (third left) and other senior insurance professionals at the Energy Insurance Forum at the Four Seasons yesterday. PICTURE: Thajuddin

Page 2: MALAYSIA SPEND YELLEN VIEW Aramco set to invest $7bn
Page 3: MALAYSIA SPEND YELLEN VIEW Aramco set to invest $7bn

BUSINESS3Gulf Times

Tuesday, February 28, 2017

Aramco to invest $7bn in Petronas RAPID refi nery

ReutersKuala Lumpur

Malaysia’s Prime Minister Najib Razak announced yesterday that Saudi Arabia’s state oil

company Saudi Aramco will invest $7bn into an oil refi nery and petrochemical project in Malaysia’s southern state of Johor.

Najib said the decision was made be-fore noon yesterday after discussions between top executives from Saudi Ara-mco and Malaysia’s state-owned energy company Petroliam Nasional (Petronas), the sponsor of the $27bn Refi nery and Petrochemical Integrated Development (RAPID) project.

Najib’s statement marks a dramatic reversal in RAPID’s fortunes after indus-try sources familiar with the matter said in January that Aramco planned to drop its participation in a partnership with Petronas in the project.

At the time, Petronas said it would move ahead in spite of Aramco dropping out. Najib did not give any details on the change of heart.

“This is a signifi cant investment and more details will be announced tomor-row (Tuesday),” Najib said at a brief news conference after hosting a state lunch-eon for Saudi Arabia’s King Salman and his entourage.

“I just want to confi rm that the agree-ment has been reached and King Salman is satisfi ed that the deal will be signed tomorrow,” Najib said.

Petronas and Saudi Aramco executives are scheduled to sign the agreement to-day.

An industry source familiar with the matter says Aramco will buy a stake in RAPID’s refi nery, cracker and petro-chemical operations.

Aramco will also supply at least 50% of the crude that will be processed at RAPID, with an option to increase the supply, the source said.

The Aramco funding will help move RAPID to fruition and the desire of Saudi and Malaysian leaders to maintain close links between the countries likely helped cement a deal, said Subramanya Betta-dapura, an oil and gas analyst with con-sultants Frost & Sullivan based in Kuala Lumpur.

“This investment confi rmation would help bring the RAPID project to the commissioning stage,” said

Subramanya.”It’s the goodwill of the Saudi king himself to invest and to maintain good ties with Malaysia, boost bilateral ties.”

The RAPID project, located at Pengerang in Johor, is expected to begin operations in the fi rst quarter of 2019.

RAPID will contain a 300,000-bpd oil refi nery and a petrochemical com-plex with a production capacity of 7.7mn metric tonnes.

The complex will sit alongside an ex-isting oil storage site at Pengerang.

Last year, Petronas sought propos-als for a $7.2bn loan for the project, with

separate guarantees from the company and Aramco, Thomson Reuters IFR re-ported in June.

Besides the Petronas-Saudi Aramco deal to be signed today, Malaysia and Saudi Arabia signed four other agree-ments dealing with bilateral trade, hu-man resources, scientifi c and educa-tional cooperation and a news-sharing agreement between the state news wires of both countries.

Malaysia is the fi rst stop in a month-long tour of Asia by the Saudis seeking to build ties and draw more investments to the oil-rich gulf nation.

Qatar shares fl at despite buy lift from foreign institutionsBy Santhosh V PerumalBusiness Reporter

The Qatar Stock Exchange yesterday wit-nessed substantial buying interests from foreign institutions and individual inves-

tors; yet its key index could add only mere two points and saw erosion in capitalisation.

Increased net selling by local retail investors and Gulf institutions as well as strong net prof-it-booking by domestic institutions rather lim-ited the gain in the 20-stock Qatar Index to mere 0.02% to 10,938.8 points.

The transport, consumer goods and industrials counters witnessed higher than average demand in the market, whose year-to-date gains margin-ally improved to 4.81%.

Islamic stocks were seen outperforming the main index as well as the other indices in the bourse, where Gulf individual investors were seen net sellers.

Trade turnover and volumes expanded consid-erably in the market, where banking, industrials, telecom and realty sectors together accounted for more than 80% of the total volumes.

Market capitalisation was, however, down more than QR1bn, or 0.18%, to QR588.59bn as micro and large cap equities fell 0.92% and 0.16% respectively; while small and midcaps were up 0.07% each.

The Total Return Index was up 0.07% to 17,841.29 points and the Al Rayan Islamic Index by 0.47% to 4,200.68 points, while the All Share Index was down 0.03% to 3,023.68 points.

The transport sector saw its index expand 0.42%, followed by consumer goods and in-dustrials (0.39% each) and real estate (0.09%); whereas telecom declined 1.92%, insurance 0.71% and banks and fi nancial services fell 0.03%.

Major gainers included Qatar Islamic Bank, QIIB, Alijarah Holding, Nakilat, Aamal Company, Mesaieed Petrochemical Holding, Vodafone Qa-tar, Ezdan, Qatari Investors Group, Doha Bank and Islamic Holding Group.

Nevertheless, QNB, Industries Qatar, Ooredoo, Qatar General Insurance and Reinsurance, Barwa, Mazaya Qatar, Commercial Bank, al khaliji, Mas-raf Al Rayan, Salam International Investment and Widam Food were among the losers.

Non-Qatari institutions’ net buying increased substantially to QR104.49mn compared to QR17.36mn the previous day.

Non-Qatari individual investors’ net buying also strengthened considerably to QR57.51mn against QR2.34mn on Sunday.

However, domestic institutions turned net sellers to the tune of QR62.42mn compared with

net buyers of QR6.83mn on February 26.Local retail investors’ net profi t-booking rose

perceptibly to QR59.28mn against QR26.68mn the previous day.

GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) institutions’ net selling shot up to QR38.16mn compared to QR0.6mn on Sunday.

GCC retail investors turned net profi t-takers to the extent of QR2.13mn against net buyers of QR0.75mn on February 26.

Total trade volume more than doubled to 15.3mn shares and value almost doubled to QR591.65mn on 61% increase in deals to 5,323.

The insurance sector’s trade volume grew more than seven-fold to 2.08mn equities and value more than quadrupled to QR100.02mn but on a 31% fall in transactions to 140.

The industrials sector’s trade volume more than quadrupled to 3.33mn stocks and value more than doubled to QR120.09mn on more-than-doubled deals to 1,706.

The transport sector’s trade volume more than tripled to 0.44 shares and value soared 71% to QR14.77mn on more-than-doubled transactions to 286.

The banks and fi nancial services sector’s trade volume more than doubled to 4.73mn equities and value also more than doubled to QR231.57mn on a 78% jump in deals to 1,641.

There was a 72% surge in the telecom sector’s trade volume to 2.11mn stocks to more than dou-ble value to QR39.06mn on a 12% rise in transac-tions to 163.

The consumer goods sector’s trade volume expanded 42% to 0.84mm shares, while value shrank 25% to QR35.14mn and deals by 2% to 620.

However, the real estate reported a 17% decline in trade volume to 1.77mn equities and 19% in value to QR51mn but on 14% higher transactions to 767.

Gulf markets fall on profi t-taking

Profit-taking dragged stock markets in the Middle

East down yesterday, with Egypt lagging after

some quarterly earnings failed to inspire.

Saudi Arabia’s index lost 1.1% to 6,969 points,

heading back down towards technical support at

the mid-February low of 6,942 points.

Dubai’s index edged down 0.3% in very thin

trade as the largest real estate developer, Emaar

Properties, fell 0.9%.

In Abu Dhabi, the index fell 0.6% with blue chips

Aldar Properties closing 1.6% lower and Abu

Dhabi Commercial Bank dropping 2.7%.

In Cairo, the index fell 2.0% as Global Telecom

Holding declined 3.8%.

Elsewhere in the Gulf, Kuwait’s index edged down

0.4% to 6,781 points; Oman’s index fell 0.2% to

5,821 points, while Bahrain’s index was flat at 1,350

points.

‘Tunisia to accelerate reforms drive as IMF freezes loan’ReutersTunis

Tunisia plans to sell stakes in three state-owned banks this year and cut

up to 10,000 public sector jobs as part of reforms demanded by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which has frozen the second tranche of a loan, the fi nance minister said.

Six years after its 2011 pro-democracy uprising, Tunisia is struggling to make economic progress.

Last June, the IMF released the fi rst tranche of a loan worth $320mn. Finance Minister Lam-ia Zribi told Reuters in an inter-view a second payment had not been made.

“The IMF froze a second tranche worth $350mn sched-uled last December because of lack of progress in reforms, in-cluding public sector wage bill, the public fi nances and state banks,” the minister said.

Zribi said an IMF delegation had been expected in Tunisia next month to discuss reforms and the third tranche of the loan, but the team will not come if they did not see reform progress.

Any offi cial suspension of IMF instalments of the loan could push other international part-

ners to retreat from lending to the North African state.

Zribi said the government was ready to launch a new push on the reforms package in the pub-lic sector, the banking sector, state companies and taxes.

The minister said the govern-ment would immediately be-gin plans for a voluntary layoff programme for state employees by encouraging early retire-ment, aiming to cut at least 10,000 public sector jobs in 2017 through the programme.

Since 2011, Tunisia has been backed by foreign partners and multilateral lenders keen to see the new democracy succeed.

But economic reforms have lagged behind political changes.

“The wage bill in Tunisia rose to 14.4% so far and is among the highest level in the world. We will cut it to 14% by the end of 2017 and about 12.5% in 2020,” Zribi said, referring to the public wage bill as a proportion of GDP.

The reform of three state banks, Societe Tunisienne de Bank (STB), Bank National Ag-ricol (BNA) and Bank Habitat (BH) are among urgent steps de-manded by the IMF.

In 2015 the Tunisian govern-ment injected 800mn Tunisian dinars ($350mn) to recapitalise STB, BNA and BH, but the banks still struggle with large defi cits.

Lukoil Mideast head sees oil at $55-$65 a barrel on cuts

BloombergDubai

Oil will stabilise around $55 to $65 a barrel as Opec fulfils its agreement to cut output, with stockpiles and shale production keeping prices from rising much more, the Middle East head of Lukoil said.Russia’s second-largest oil producer hasn’t had to reduce production in Iraq as a result of the curbs pledged by Opec, Gati al-Jebouri said yesterday in a Bloomberg television interview. Lukoil’s output in Iraq is about 400,000 bpd, he said. Opec’s cutbacks have brought a period of stability to the market, he said.“We have a lid because of shale oil and we have a bottom because of the already proven decision and willingness of Opec to maintain prices at a reasonable level,” al-Jebouri said.The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, working in

concert with 11 other producers such as Russia, reached agreement last year to reduce output to clear a persistent oil glut and revive prices. Brent crude oil, a global benchmark, has rebounded about 20% since Opec decided at the end of November to restrict supplies for six months starting January 1. Lukoil is seeking opportunities for growth in the Middle East as Iran opens more of its oil fields to international partners and other countries need technology to develop deposits, al-Jebouri said. Lukoil is in talks with National Iranian Oil Co, the country’s state producer, about the Ab Teymour and Mansouri oil fields in western Iran, he said.The company is also interested to pump oil from off shore fields in Abu Dhabi and to produce heavy crude in Oman and Kuwait. Abu Dhabi, holder of most of the oil in the UAE, is preparing to seek partners for the off shore fields by 2018, he said.

GCC healthcare spend at $69bn by 2020 to offer R&D boostTotal healthcare spending in the Gulf Coopera-

tion Council (GCC) is expected to hit $69bn

by 2020, off ering “significant” potential

for research and development (R&D), thus

requiring enhanced research funding from

sovereigns and strengthened linkage between

the private sector and governments, accord-

ing to Strategy&.

Although the GCC governments and private

companies are making significant investments

in the sector to improve the range of medical

off erings and services available, Strategy&

said the region’s R&D in the healthcare market

is currently below international levels due to

myriad reasons.

Not only is there limited availability of

research funding and grants but also the

number of GCC healthcare research publica-

tions in international peer-reviewed journals

and healthcare patents of GCC origin remain

below global standards, it said in a report.

There are “insuff icient” number of healthcare

researchers due to the limited number of post-

graduate medical education institutions and

consequently not enough researchers being

produced or receiving training on the ground,

the report said, also citing “insuff icient”

research infrastructure in terms of research

centres and labs. Strategy& also found weak

university-to-industry linkages and limited

cross-border research collaboration.

On the other hand, the report found that R&D

spending in the global healthcare sector is

expected to reach $165bn by 2018. Surpassing

computing and electronics, R&D is set to be-

come the largest spending industry globally.

“The GCC healthcare has significant potential

for investment in R&D. The demand for new

hospitals, clinics and medical services is grow-

ing, and the GCC governments are expected

to spend and invest significantly more in the

sector by 2020,” according to Nikhil Idnani

(pictured), Principal with Strategy&.

This, according to him, should be accompa-

nied by governments enhancing research

funding and a strengthening of linkages

between universities, the private sector and

governments.

“If these steps are taken into consideration,

the GCC definitely has the potential to provide

its patients with world-class care, and its

caregivers and healthcare businesses with the

ideal opportunities to develop,” he said.

The report highlighted the increasing number

of healthcare research institutions being

established in the GCC, such as the Al Jalila

Foundation Research Center in the UAE,

King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research

Center in Saudi Arabia, and Sidra Hospital and

Research Center in Qatar.

Last month, Kuwait-based economic think-

tank Global had said the GCC off ers immense

opportunities, especially under public private

partnership model, in the healthcare sector,

which is slated to grow at a compound annual

growth rate of 12.5% up to 2020.

An Aramco employee sits in the area of its stand at the Middle East Petrotech 2016 in Manama. An industry source familiar with the matter says Aramco will buy a stake in RAPID’s refinery, cracker and petrochemical operations. It will also supply at least 50% of the crude that will be processed at RAPID, with an option to increase the supply, the source said.

Page 4: MALAYSIA SPEND YELLEN VIEW Aramco set to invest $7bn

BUSINESS

Gulf Times Tuesday, February 28, 20174

Hong Kong pins Aramco IPO hopes on China’s deep pocketsReutersHong Kong

Hong Kong’s stock exchange will bank on its role as a gate-way to mainland China’s

deep-pocketed investors to take on other leading venues and win the cov-eted $100bn listing of Saudi Arabia’s giant state oil company, Aramco, it said yesterday.

Charles Li, the CEO of Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEX), said access to Chinese capital and China’s role as the world’s largest importer of oil made Hong Kong a viable contender in the frantic race between listing venues.

Chinese banks are also expected to play a part.

Industrial and Commercial Bank of China International and China Interna-tional Capital Corp (CICC) are among the Chinese banks pitching for an advi-sory role.

“For an IPO of that scale, it makes perfect sense to potentially be acces-sible by the very large capital base and investment wealth onshore in China,” Li told reporters during an earnings brief-ing, adding it also made sense for Ara-mco to have a listing in Asia.

He said the Hong Kong stock ex-change has had discussions with Ara-mco and is working “very hard” to snag what is expected to be the world’s big-gest ever IPO.

He gave no details on any of the con-cessions Hong Kong is expected to make for the deal.

Li’s comments come as Saudi Ara-bia’s King Salman on Sunday kicked-off a month-long Asia tour to promote investment and court investors for the IPO.

The monarch is visiting Malaysia, In-donesia, Japan and China.

Saudi authorities plan to list up to 5% of the world’s largest oil producer on the Saudi stock exchange in Riyadh, the Tadawul, and also one or more in-ternational markets, potentially raising as much as $100bn.

One source familiar with the pitching

process confi rmed Asia was being con-sidered by Aramco as a listing venue.

With a focus on China’s wealth and its strategic importance to Saudi Ara-bia – the kingdom is among the biggest suppliers of crude to China – the HKEX is seen as having an edge over potential Asian rival bourses in the race to bag the giant IPO.

The Tokyo Stock Exchange, which has made eff orts to woo Aramco, ac-cording to two sources, has less liquidi-ty than Hong Kong and has seen foreign companies steadily delist over the past decade with only a handful of foreign listings remaining.

The Singapore Exchange is also keen to get a piece of the Aramco IPO pie, sources have said, but would again face numerous challenges given its smaller size.

The Hong Kong bourse, the world’s No 1 IPO market in 2015 and 2016, fa-mously lost the record $25bn IPO of Chinese Alibaba Group Holding to New York because it could not off er the e-commerce giant dual-class shares.

Again here, some listing rules in Hong Kong would have to be circum-vented if HKEX is to clinch Aramco’s IPO, according to one person involved in pitching Hong Kong to the oil giant.

Currently, the rules do not allow companies to list less than 15% of their total number of issued shares, while Saudi is also not currently an accepted jurisdiction of incorporation for Hong Kong listed entities.

A secondary listing could also be tricky since HKEX does not currently recognise Saudi’s Tadawul as a legiti-mate primary listing venue.

Regulatory sources said the exchange does have discretion over how the rules are applied and is able to grant waivers in special circumstances as it did in the case of some Chinese bank listings.

Russia’s Rusal was also able to create

a Jersey-incorporated entity in order to raise $2.2bn through its Hong Kong IPO in 2010, they added.

“Even so, I think the Hong Kong Se-curities and Futures Commission (SFC) will have issues with the lack of disclo-sure around Aramco,” said one of the sources involved in pitching a Hong Kong listing. “This could set the HKEX up for another clash with the SFC.”

HKEX’s Li did not respond to a ques-tion on the regulatory challenges the IPO could pose for the exchange.

The SFC declined to comment.Aramco did not immediately respond

to a Reuters query for comment.

A floor trader monitors share prices during afternoon trading at the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. The bourse will bank on its role as a gateway to mainland China’s deep-pocketed investors to take on other leading venues and win the coveted $100bn listing of Saudi Arabia’s giant state oil company, Aramco, it said yesterday.

China developers delaying new home sales to counter price capsReuters Hong Kong

Some Chinese developers are playing a game of cat-and-mouse with local governments by delaying the launch

of new home sales in the hope of riding out tightening measures in the property market that have dampened prices in some major cities.

They hope that when authorities start to relax some restrictions, buyers will clamour to buy new homes and they can release more supply at higher prices.

Offi cial data last week showed new home prices fell in January in 11 of 15 major cities from December levels.

Prices in Beijing, Hangzhou and Chengdu were fl at and Guangzhou was the only major city that posted a rise. More broadly, aver-age home prices in the 70 cities covered by the data rose just 0.2% from the month before, a slowdown in price growth for the

fourth straight month. Industry offi cials said the slowdown was largely the result of price caps imposed by diff erent cities, rath-er than a sign of weakening demand.

In fact, demand remains healthy, they said, pointing to a rise in prices for previ-ously owned homes. “We just wait and we won’t sell now,” said a Shanghai-based de-veloper, referring to a development in the fi nancial city.

The offi cial requested anonymity as the issue is sensitive.

Only big developers had the fi nancial fl exibility to delay projects, the offi cials said.

“We’re in no rush (to sell) but realistically we can’t wait too long; one year is not pos-sible,” this developer said. “It’s a game with the government.

“For developers who have inventory pressure and want to build good relation-ships with the government in order to have better land access in the future, they may compromise.

But some are willing to wait to seek high-er profi ts.”

A Shenzhen-based developer will delay the sale of higher-margin prime develop-ments, such as sought-after apartments over metro stations, if the local government prolongs price caps, a senior executive of the company said. He declined to be identi-fi ed because the matter is sensitive.

Most new home supply in major cities dropped in January.

In the four top-tier cities of Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Guangzhou, sup-ply fell between 42% and 79%, according to data provider CRIC.

Cities across China imposed restrictions on property markets last year after house prices shot higher, sparking concern an as-set-price bubble was forming.

The measures included home and land purchase restrictions.

At the end of last year, the offi cial Xin-hua news agency reported that China will strictly limit credit fl owing into speculative

purchases of property in 2017. Local au-thorities also imposed price limits on sales, for example by capping a developer’s selling price at a certain percentage increase over a neighbouring development.

The restrictions are forcing more buyers into the secondary market to purchase pre-owned homes.

Nine major cities recorded rises of be-tween 0.2% and 1.6% in January from the month before for pre-owned home sales.

In the six cities where sales prices of pre-owned homes fell, three saw smaller cor-rections than for new homes.

“There is some purchase demand shifting to the secondary market,” said Andy Lee, vice president of realtor Centaline China. “But developers can’t hold off new launches forever because they need the sales per-formance and capital.

I think they will have to sell after the sec-ond or third quarter,” Lee said.

That in turn will take demand away from the secondary market, he said.

Panasonic eyes storage boost asresidential solar incentives waneBloombergTokyo

Japan’s scaling back of a programme encouraging resi-dential solar has Panasonic Corp hopeful the market for home energy storage systems is about to receive a

boost.In 2019, a programme designed to buy back solar power

flowing from rooftop panels at above-market rates will start becoming less enticing, potentially leaving home-owners who signed up with excess power on their hands. Osaka-based Panasonic is anticipating that installations of energy storage systems combined with solar panels are set to rise as a result.

Panasonic has been selling residential energy storage systems that include a battery and an inverter since 2012. In April, it will begin offering a new model that’s a third the size of the current version while also being able to be hung on an outer wall and installed using fewer parts.

“We are counting on more people preferring to consume electricity produced from their home solar panels on site, rather than selling it to power companies” once their in-centives expire, said Ryo Matsumoto, who’s in charge of business planning and development at Panasonic’s Eco Solutions unit. “We are seeing 2019 as a turning point.”

The new model with an inverter and a 5.6 kilowatt-hour storage battery will sell for ¥1.69mn ($15,000), according to Panasonic, an electronics company that makes solar panels and lithium-ion batteries.

Tesla Inc, the electric-car maker and renewable energy company led by Elon Musk, is offering a 14 kilowatt-hour Powerwall storage system for ¥873,000, according to the company’s website. Tesla began mass production of bat-teries for energy storage with Panasonic at its Gigafactory in Nevada earlier this year.

In November 2009, the Japanese government began a programme to buy excess power from rooftop solar at above-market rates in order to promote photovoltaic pow-er. Utilities bought solar power from residential rooftops at ¥48 a kilowatt-hour for 10 years.

Following the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster, the government introduced a wider incentive programme for clean energy. Currently, rates for residential solar are as low as ¥31, while solar rates for larger projects are at ¥24.

The incentives expanded Japan’s residential solar, with cumulative capacity increased from 2.7 gigawatts in 2009 to about 11 gigawatts in 2016, according to data from Bloomberg New Energy Finance.

The expiration of incentives beginning in 2019 is expected to provide business opportunities, said Takashi Hokiyama, a spokesman for the Japan Photovoltaic Energy Association.

“Japanese solar companies are not just making panels but also other products” that can be used with solar, he said. Japanese solar panel makers such as Kyocera Corp and Sharp Corp are also off ering energy storage systems.

Still, the number of units being sold is small. About 10% of customers who install Panasonic’s solar panels add storage systems, according to the company.

Steel tycoon bids to offer commercial India flights on Modi push

BloombergMumbai

JSW Group, the Indian conglom-

erate led by billionaire Savitri

Jindal, applied under a subsidy

programme spearheaded by

Prime Minister Narendra Modi

to improve flight connectivity

for small towns and villages.

The group made a bid in an

ongoing auction process which

will allow companies asking for

minimum government subsidies

to operate scheduled commer-

cial flights to the country’s un-

derutilised airstrips. The aim is to

improve connectivity between

the group’s plants, chief financial

off icer Seshagiri Rao said in a

phone interview yesterday. The

firm isn’t bidding under listed

entities such as JSW Steel Ltd,

India’s largest privately owned

producer of the material.

Modi has promised tax breaks

and waivers of landing and park-

ing charges for some underused

airfields in the world’s fastest

growing aviation market, which

is also among the costliest due

to taxes and airport charges.

The prime minister is trying to

connect India’s 450 airports

and airstrips, mostly in smaller

towns, by vowing to fund some

of the airlines’ losses if they fly to

such airports.

Shares of JSW Steel extended

gains to as much as 1.6% after

the news. They were up 0.6%

at Rs188.15 as of 11:25am in

Mumbai, while the Sensex index

was little changed.

JSW Group, whose busi-

nesses range from metals to

power generation, also plans

to venture into electric cars

by 2020 on expectations the

government will promote such

vehicles and falling battery

prices will make them more af-

fordable, chairman Sajjan Jindal

said in January.

Cuts, what cuts? Asia gets more crude oil from Opec, RussiaBy Clyde RussellLaunceston, Australia

If you were looking for evidence of reduced

crude oil supply from Opec and its main ally

in cutting output to boost prices, Russia, then

stay away from Asia’s top importers.

January import data from China, India and

Japan do little to show the impact of reduced

crude supply, but do suggest that prices have

risen in response to move by the producer

group and its allies to remove some 1.8mn bar-

rels per day (bpd) from global oil markets.

Top importer China’s January data provides

a case in point. Imports rose 27.5% from the

year-earlier month to 34.03mn tonnes, equiva-

lent to 8.01mn bpd.

That’s an impressive increase, believed

mainly to be on the back on ongoing additions

to strategic reserves and rising demand from

smaller, private refiners that are now allowed

to import crude.

Saudi Arabia – the main driver behind

Opec’s decision in November to cut output

– increased exports to China by 18.9% to the

equivalent of 1.18mn bpd in January from the

year earlier month. This was also up a massive

40% from the 841,000 bpd China imported

from the kingdom in December.

The increase speaks more of a determined

attempt by Saudi Arabia to keep key custom-

ers in Asia well supplied, and cut supplies to

other buyers in other, less vital parts of the

world.

However, there is another factor to consider:

Chinese customs data does tell us where each

barrel of oil comes from, but it doesn’t tell us

when that barrel was shipped.

It’s possible that the surge of imports from

Saudi Arabia in January was partially related

to barrels moving from floating or other stor-

age to delivery, as traders responded to the

expected tightening of the market and move

of the oil futures curve from contango towards

backwardation.

Nonetheless, even if some of the barrels

arriving are from trade-related storage plays,

it’s still clear that China isn’t feeling its supplies

being constrained by the countries committed

to cutting output.

Imports from Russia rose 36.5% in January

from the same month in 2016 to the equivalent

of 1.08mn bpd, while those from Angola surged

63.5% to 1.16mn bpd.

Other Opec producers also saw their share

of Chinese imports grow by more than overall

January imports, with Iraq up 43.2% and Ven-

ezuela by 80.1%.

The losers among major suppliers were

Iran, with China’s imports dropping by 1.3% in

January, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE),

whose exports to China declined by 15.5%.

Turning to India, its imports from Saudi

Arabia amounted to 925,700 bpd in January,

up 36.1% from December and down 1.4% from

the same month in 2016.

India also imported more in January than it

did in December from Opec members Iran (up

1.5%), Iraq (up 2.1%) and Angola (up 60.2%).

However, imports from the UAE were down

8% and from Kuwait by 41.4%, although that

country isn’t a major supplier to India.

In Japan, Asia’s third-biggest oil importer,

purchases from top supplier Saudi Arabia fell

to 1.3mn bpd in January from December’s

1.43mn, but were still 11.8% higher than the

same month last year.

Imports from Japan’s number two supplier,

the UAE, fell from 884,057 bpd in December

to 752,973 bpd in January, while imports from

Russia rose to 214,498 bpd from December’s

194,285. It’s also worth noting that Japan’s

total January imports were 3.315mn bpd, some

349,000 bpd lower than December’s 3.664mn

bpd. Overall, imports from Saudi Arabia in

January by Asia’s three biggest oil purchasers

rose to 3.41mn bpd from 2.947mn in December,

a 15.2% jump.

The picture that emerges is Asia is largely

unaff ected by Opec and its allies’ cuts to

output – at least for now. The main impact is

being felt through higher prices, with Chinese

customs data showing that the cost of a barrel

of Saudi oil went up to the equivalent of $53.77

in January from $45.20 in December.

This was a far sharper increase that the

overall cost of China’s oil, which rose to $52.20

a barrel in January from December’s $46.30.

It’s pricing that may well end being the ma-

jor driver of change in Asia’s oil markets, with

buyers being tempted away from cargoes from

the Opec and allied producers toward those

outside of the deal to limit output, such as the

United States.

China imported 1.88mn of crude from the

United States in January, the equivalent of one

Very Large Crude Carrier (VLCC). For the whole

of last year, it imported the equivalent of two

VLCCs from the United States.

If US oil can compete price-wise with

cargoes from the Middle East, it may tempt

Chinese refiners to buy more, especially if the

Opec output cuts do drain stored oil and start

to crimp available prompt cargoes.

For Opec and Russia, the question may

eventually become deciding whether they

can continue to keep Asia well supplied and

maintain their relative market shares, while still

inflicting enough pain elsewhere to keep oil

prices on a rising trend.

Clyde Russell is a Reuters columnist.

The opinions expressed here are his own.

Page 5: MALAYSIA SPEND YELLEN VIEW Aramco set to invest $7bn

BUSINESS5Gulf Times

Tuesday, February 28, 2017

AFP Barcelona

China’s Huawei, LG and oth-er phone fi rms unveiled new smartphones on Sunday as they

tried to capitalise on Samsung’s with-drawal of its fl agship device after faulty batteries led several of the handsets to catch fi re.

Samsung, the world’s largest mobile phone maker, had no device of its own to show at the week-long Mobile World Congress, the phone industry’s largest annual trade fair, in Barcelona in north-eastern Spain, its usual showcase.

The company is taking its time to put out a new handset after it was forced to recall millions of its Galaxy Note 7 phones and discontinue the model in October.

The delay in putting out a new phone comes as its parent fi rm, South Ko-rean conglomerate Samsung Group, is caught up in a corruption scandal that saw its chief arrested last week.

Apple, the world’s second largest smartphone maker, as usual steered clear of the event, leaving smaller phone makers with a rare opportunity to grab the spotlight at the fair.

China’s Huawei, which has taken aim in recent years at both Samsung and Ap-ple in the high end of the market, pre-sented a new fl agship model, the P10 and the larger P10 Plus on Sunday, the eve of the offi cial start of the fair yesterday.

The devices feature dual Leica rear camera lenses, a longer-lasting battery and fi ngerprint sensor system.

But the upgrades would not be enough for the company to close the gap with its main rivals, Samsung and Apple, said Thomas Husson, consumer devices analyst at Forrester Research.

“Huawei is a brand that lacks a strong personality, especially in the United States and in Western Europe,” he said.

The company managed to gain some ground on Samsung and Apple last year, increasing its share of the smartphone sector to 8.9% in 2016 from 7.3% a year earlier, according to the Gartner con-sultancy group.

Samsung saw its market share shrink over the same period by two full per-centage points to 20.5% and Apple con-

tracted to 14.4% from 15.9%. Richard Yu, chief executive of Huawei’s con-sumer business group, reaffi rmed that the company’s goal is to become the world’s number one smartphone seller “maybe in fi ve years”.

“We are focused on the goal of be-coming the market leader, we hope to get there,” he told AFP on the sidelines of the presentation of the new phones.

South Korea’s LG unveiled a new fl ag-ship model that is designed for split-screen use so that can show two apps at

once. It also has dual rear cameras.Chinese telecoms giant ZTE unveiled

what it said is the world’s fi rst smart-phone compatible with the lightening-fast 5G mobile internet service that networks expect to have up and running by 2020. Two former big name phone brands – Nokia and BlackBerry – also unveiled new devices on the eve of the congress as they attempt to make a comeback.

Nokia presented three new Android smartphones and showcased a re-

vamped version of its iconic 3310 model more than a decade after it was phased out.

BlackBerry debuted a new high-end device, the KEYone, that brings back the brand’s signature physical keyboard and has a larger screen than previous models.

Like Nokia, its new phones will be made under licence by a Chinese manu-facturer.

While Samsung did not present a new smartphone, it did present two new

tablets with improved screens, battery life and speakers.

The congress comes as smartphone sales in developed markets, mainly Western Europe and North America, are poised to peak this year, according to research fi rm CCS Insight. “Unless we see a major new disruption similar to the one prompted by the iPhone’s arriv-al in 2007, we expect smartphone sales in Western Europe and North America to slowly decline after 2017,” said CCS analyst Jasdeep Badyal.

Phone makers taking aim at Samsung with new handsets

Visitors walk past Huawei’s booth during Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain. The Chinese firm, which has taken aim in recent years at both Samsung and Apple in the high end of the market, presented a new flagship model, the P10 and the larger P10 Plus on Sunday, the eve of the off icial start of the fair yesterday.

Asia trade talks resume after US exit dashes hopes for TPP deal

AFPTokyo

Negotiators from 16 Asia-Pacifi c countries yester-day held their fi rst round

of free-trade talks since hopes faded of reaching a separate re-gional deal after the US pulled out.

The fi ve-day Regional Com-prehensive Economic Partner-ship (RCEP) talks in the western Japanese city of Kobe are be-ing attended by senior offi cials from the 16 countries involved, a Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) offi cial said.

The United States is not part of RCEP, which has been pushed by China. Apart from Beijing, the planned pact would group the 10 members of the Associa-tion of Southeast Asian Nations plus India, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand.

Within days of taking offi ce, President Donald Trump pulled out of the separate Trans-Pa-cifi c Partnership (TPP), an am-bitious free-trade agreement championed by his predecessor Barack Obama but which Trump claimed was harmful to the US.

The move fulfi lled a key cam-paign promise but left allies in Asia on the back foot. The TPP had been seen as an economic guarantee of US commitment to the region in the face of the growing infl uence of China, which was not a member. RCEP is seen as a more modest deal that calls for lower and more limited regulatory standards.

During the meeting partici-pants are aiming to “push ne-gotiations forward broadly in the fi elds of goods, services, in-vestment, intellectual property, rules of origin, competition and electronic commerce,” the METI offi cial said. “It is important to strike a quality deal in RCEP at a time when protectionism is emerging around the world.”

BloombergSingapore

Singapore stock traders may fi nally get their lunch break back.

Singapore Exchange Ltd, which runs the city’s equity market, is consider-ing reinstating the midday intermission, according to people familiar with the mat-ter. SGX in March 2011 scrapped the break, which lasted from 12:30 pm to 2 pm every

day, in an eff ort to boost trading.The bourse is expected to have a

public consultation on the issue in the coming weeks, the people said, asking not to be identifi ed as the information is private. SGX will also propose a test that would widen the price increment at which shares are quoted to bring day traders back, according to the people. The proposals come after traders and SGX offi cials had several meetings since Loh Boon Chye became chief executive

offi cer in July 2015, the people said.When SGX cut the midday break,

then-CEO Magnus Bocker said in Janu-ary 2011 the move would make Singapore “one of the most accessible markets in Asia and in the world.” Having continu-ous trading from 9 am to 5 pm could also boost volume by as much as 10%, Bock-er said. Many Asian stock markets have a midday break, including Hong Kong, mainland China and Malaysia.

The daily average value of shares

traded on SGX this year has risen 6.4%, to $809mn, compared with the average for 2016, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. While up from last year, it’s down from $1.12bn a day in 2013, the year of a penny-stock crash that has been blamed for shaking confi dence in the city’s markets. An average of $1.18bn shares changed hands each day in 2010, before the intermission was abolished, the data show. SGX said in an e-mailed response to queries that it

doesn’t comment on speculation.The exchange’s tick-size proposal

would reward brokers for making mar-kets in less liquid stocks by widening the spread they earn when buying and selling shares, the people said. That could encourage trading in small-cap companies, they said.

If the plan goes ahead, it would be at least the third time in a decade that SGX has tweaked stock spreads. In 2011, it cut tick sizes to off er what it called

“one of Asia’s most cost-competitive trading environments.” It made a simi-lar move in 2007. The US in October started a two-year test that raised ticks for small-company stocks amid com-plaints from exchanges that liquidity has dried up. Japan Exchange Group in December 2014 said it was backtrack-ing on tick cuts for some of the biggest companies less than six months after it was implemented because it failed to get the boost it sought.

Singapore to consider giving traders lunch break back

ReutersTokyo/Hong Kong

Japan’s SoftBank Group Corp is close to making an investment in US offi ce-sharing startup WeWork expected to

be worth over $3bn, CNBC reported yes-terday, as it expands its reach beyond tech and telecoms.

Led by founder Masayashi Son, Soft-Bank has made a string of surprising ac-quisitions and investments over the past months, most recently an all-cash deal to buy asset manager Fortress Investment Group.

The deals come as SoftBank moves to-wards cutting-edge tech investments as telecoms services markets mature, an-nouncing last year the creation of a tech investment fund with Saudi Arabia that could grow to $100bn and make the group one of the world’s largest private equity investors.

SoftBank is looking at a $2bn primary tranche of funding in New York-based WeWork, followed by a secondary round worth more than $1bn, CNBC reported, citing an anonymous source.

The company could increase the size of the secondary investment to nearly $2bn for a total investment of almost $4bn, CNBC added.

If the deal closed, WeWork would be valued at more than $20bn.

SoftBank and WeWork declined to com-ment.

SoftBank had been in discussions for some time regarding an investment, two people at one of WeWork’s investors said, without elaborating.

WeWork, which provides shared work-

spaces to start-ups in the Americas, Eu-rope, Hong Kong and Shanghai, plans to expand to Beijing in May, co-founder Miguel McKelvey told reporters in Hong Kong last week.

It will continue to raise capital for ex-pansion ahead of an expected public list-ing, McKelvey said, without indicating a time-frame. Chinese private equity giant Hony Capital, its backer Legend Hold-ings Corp and property developer China

Oceanwide Holdings, among others, last year ploughed $700mn into WeWork.

The deal valued WeWork at $16.7bn, Hony said – less than that reported by CNBC but still making it among the world’s most valuable startups.

SoftBank shares fell as much as 2.3% in morning trade, compared with a 1.4 fall for the benchmark Nikkei average.

SoftBank, a diverse company that holds stakes in US carrier Sprint, Chinese e-

commerce giant Alibaba and other fi rms, last year bought chip designer ARM Hold-ings, Britain’s most valuable technology company, for $32bn.

Son also promised a $50bn investment and 50,000 new jobs in the United States after meeting US President Donald Trump in early December.

Some of SoftBank’s moves have caused concern among analysts, as it is wrestling with a heavy debt pile.

SoftBank to invest $3bn in US startup

Masayoshi Son, president and chief executive off icer of Softbank, delivers his keynote speech at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, yesterday. The firm has made a string of surprising acquisitions and investments over the past months, most recently an all-cash deal to buy asset manager Fortress Investment Group.

SoftBank expects ARM to deliver 1tn IoT chips in next 20 years

ReutersBarcelona

SoftBank’s semiconductor

subsidiary ARM will deliver about

a trillion chips designed for the

so-called Internet of things (IoT)

over the next 20 years, the chair-

man and CEO of the Japanese

company said yesterday.

Speaking at the Mobile World

Congress, the industry’s largest

annual trade show, SoftBank’s

Masayoshi Son said the number

of “brain cells” in chips would

surpass the number of human

brain neurons in 2018, opening up

a huge opportunity for smart and

connected objects.

“This is why I spent $32bn to

acquire ARM,” Son said, explaining

his 30-year-vision of a world where

the artificial computer brain will

have 10,000 intelligence quotient

(IQ) capabilities compared with

100 for the average human.

The Internet of things is a term

used to describe a network of

devices other than computers and

smartphones that are connected

to the Internet and can collect and

exchange data, such as for control-

ling heating at home.

Jennifer Belissent, an analyst at

Forrester Research who attended

Son’s keynote speech said the

numbers he mentioned were very

dramatic. “The greater connectiv-

ity and new artificial IQ capabili-

ties off er so much potential. It sets

the scene for a Marvel movie.

Now, the key question is how to

make that new technology avail-

able to everyone,” she said.

“It’s not the number of new

devices that is relevant but what

you make out of it in terms of

analytical capabilities.”

Faced with a secular decline in

average revenue per user (ARPU)

and a smartphone market only

expected to grow by 5% in the

coming years, Son stressed the

need for mobile operators to

invest in new technology.

Son and Saudi Arabia’s sover-

eign wealth fund have created a

technology investment fund that

could grow as large as $100bn

and become a kingpin in the high-

tech industry.

The Japanese businessman

also predicted that by 2040 there

would be an army of 10bn smart

robots making human lives easier.

But these advances won’t

come without risks and address-

ing cybersecurity issues will have

to be part of the equation, he said.

“There are about 500 ARM

chips in a car today and none

of them are secure,” said Son,

predicting that 64% of cyber

attacks will be through hacking

connected objects.

Page 6: MALAYSIA SPEND YELLEN VIEW Aramco set to invest $7bn

BUSINESS

Gulf Times Tuesday, February 28, 20176

LSE scuppers Deutsche Boerse merger hopesReutersLondon/Frankfurt

The London Stock Exchange has all but ended a planned merger with Deutsche Boerse to create

Europe’s biggest stock exchange by rul-ing out a European antitrust demand, saying it has strong prospects alone.

In a bid to create a European trading powerhouse that would better com-pete against US rivals making inroads on their home turf, the two exchanges struck a €29bn ($30.1bn) deal just over a year ago.

If the merger fails, it will be the lat-est in a series of doomed eff orts at dealmaking by stock exchanges and the likely breakdown of the latest attempt disappointed investors, with shares in Deutsche Boerse tumbling more than 4% in early trading and London Stock Exchange shares down 3%.

In a highly unusual step, the Lon-don Stock Exchange (LSE) on Sunday preempted a European Commission antitrust decision, saying it was unlike-ly to give clearance for the merger after the London bourse had refused to sell an electronic trading platform in Italy.

A deal would now only be possible if the Commission, which declined to comment, were to change its demands – an outcome that is unlikely given its approach in other mergers.

There had already been four attempts, two public and two informal, to combine the London and Frankfurt bourses dur-ing the past decade, while the European Union (EU) blocked a $17bn tie-up be-tween what was then NYSE Euronext and Deutsche Boerse in 2012.

However, while hopes had been high that the plan to create what the head of Deutsche Boerse dubbed a fi nancial bridge between continental Europe and Britain, this had been called into ques-tion by Brexit, with German politicians demanding Frankfurt not London be the headquarters of the group because Britain would be leaving the trading bloc.

The question over where the head-quarters should be, which would have arisen had EU authorities given the deal a green light, worried LSE executives, two people familiar with the matter said. Britain’s departure from the EU

may isolate London as Europe’s fi nan-cial centre and that had turned the ta-bles in favour of Frankfurt.

But a source close to LSE described the sale of fi xed-income trading plat-form MTS as a key problem because such a move was fi rmly opposed by Rome.

“MTS has the largest chunk of Ital-ian government bonds which made the Italian authorities wary of a change of ownership.”

Deutsche Boerse said that decision not to sell MTS had been made by the LSE, adding that it expected a decision

by the Commission by the end of the month.

The LSE had said in a statement late on Sunday that the Commission had asked it to sell its 60% stake in MTS to satisfy antitrust concerns over the merger of Europe’s two largest market operators.

Calling the request “disproportion-ate,” the British exchange said it be-lieved that it would struggle to sell MTS and that such a sale would be detrimen-tal to its business.

“Based on the commission’s current position, LSE believes that the Com-

mission is unlikely to provide clearance for the merger,” it said.

The exchanges had already agreed to sell part of LSE’s clearing business, LCH SA, in order to satisfy antitrust re-quirements.

LSE said the Commission had also raised concerns this month about the impact on the European market land-scape of access to bond and repo trading feeds were the two exchanges to merge.

LSE said it had off ered certain pro-posals to address this but that the com-mission had requested they sell all of MTS instead.

MTS is a small part of LSE’s business but it said it was a major platform for trading European government bonds, particularly in Italy, and that it was “systemically important”.

LSE said that such a sale would need regulatory approval from several gov-ernments in Europe, and it would be detrimental to its wider Italian busi-ness.

“Taking all relevant factors into ac-count, and acting in the best interests of shareholders, the LSE Board today con-cluded that it could not commit to the divestment of MTS,” the exchange said.

The London Stock Exchange. The LSE has all but ended a planned merger with Deutsche Boerse to create Europe’s biggest stock exchange by ruling out a European antitrust demand, saying it has strong prospects alone.

China pledges to speed up approval of stock listingsAFPBeijing

China’s top securities regulator has pledged to speed up ap-provals of initial public off er-

ings (IPOs), as the government seeks to attract capital and boost domestic growth.

Buoyed by the capital market’s re-covery from a 2015 rout, the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) on Sunday indicated it would loosen its grip on the nation’s stock markets.

The CSRC decides which compa-

nies off er shares and when, as well as setting guidelines for the number of shares and their price – all of which are determined by the market in other countries.

Regulators responded to the equities rout in the summer of 2015 by freezing new IPOs in an eff ort to stabilise stock prices, but CSRC chairman Liu Shiyu vowed to end this practice and introduce “new progress and breakthroughs”.

More than 600 companies seeking to list in the market have struggled with long wait times, followed by seemingly arbitrary approvals.

Liu said faster approvals, particu-larly for companies in poverty-stricken

counties, will attract new capital and boost investor confi dence.

“Liu seems to be the fi rst CSRC chief to publicly denounce the practice of shutting down the IPO market when-ever there is a crisis,” Dong Dengxin, a fi nance professor at Wuhan University of Science and Technology, told the of-fi cial Xinhua news agency.

While the regulator signalled a will-ingness to allow the market to play a larger role in share sales, it has also cracked down on illegal activities by “barbarians”.

Mainland Chinese stock exchanges have an unusually high proportion of non-professional investors and have

been compared to “casinos”, with in-sider trading and dramatic swings in share prices seemingly unconnected to underlying business prospects.

“There is only a half-step distance between being a fi nancial mogul and a fi nancial crocodile,” Liu said.

Li Chao, the CSRC’s deputy head, said closer supervision – in the form of compliance risk management and standardised banking businesses – will help prevent a repeat of the stock mar-ket turbulence of 2015.

Following a slump that saw the Shanghai stock index tumble nearly 40% in a little more than two months – after peaking in mid-June that year

– several investment executives were investigated on suspicion of insider trading.

Last month, former star hedge-fund manager Xu Xiang was jailed for fi ve and a half years.

His was the fi rst insider trading case to be brought to Chinese court and in-volved more than 40bn yuan ($5.8bn), fi nancial magazine Caixin reported.

The CSRC’s planned reforms come as the government tries to staunch a fl ood of capital heading overseas as investors look for better returns, with interest rates expected to rise, putting pressure on the yuan and threatening the economy.

Asia stock markets start week with fresh lossesAFPHong Kong

Asian markets kicked the week off with losses yes-terday, with Tokyo hit

by a stronger yen, as the global Trump rally shows signs of fra-gility before a key speech by the new president to Congress.

A record 11th successive all-time high close for New York’s Dow was not enough to inspire investors who are growing wor-ried that the recent buying – fuelled by expectations Donald Trump will introduce economy-boosting measures – may have gone too far.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin’s warning that growth might not hit the 4% Trump promised, as well as uncertainty around the new president’s plans to slash taxes and spend big on infrastructure, sent the dollar tumbling on Friday.

And it struggled again yes-terday, sitting at around 112 yen

– levels not seen since the end of November and more than 5% down from highs touched at the start of the year.

The greenback was also lower against the euro but climbed against the pound after Britain’s Sunday Times reported Prime Minister Theresa May was pre-paring for Scotland’s leaders to call for another independence referendum following last year’s Brexit vote.

The majority of Scots voted to remain in the European Union.

The sharp advance in the yen hit Japan’s exporters, send-ing the Nikkei 0.9% down at 19,107.47, while Hong Kong lost 0.2 % at 23,925.05, Sydney sank 0.3% and Seoul was 0.4% lower.

Singapore gave up 0.4 %.Shanghai shed 0.8%.China’s top securities regula-

tor on Sunday pledged to speed up approvals of initial public of-ferings as the government seeks to attract capital and encourage domestic growth.

“This week it’s really about

President Trump, his address to a joint sitting of Congress and his tax plan,” Greg McKenna, chief market strategist at CFD and FX provider AxiTrader, said in a note. “I get a sense traders want to believe in him – hence the stocks rally – but gold up and rates down suggest there is some fraying at the edges of market ebullience.”

Markets are hoping the speech today will provide more details about Trump’s tax pledge, which he said this month would be “phenomenal”.

“Investors are now worried Trump’s ‘phenomenal’ tax plan won’t be something that beats market expectations,” Shinichi Yamamoto, a senior strategist at Okasan Securities, told Bloomb-erg News.

Also in traders’ sights this week are the release of revised fourth-quarter US growth data, the Federal Reserve’s Beige Book report on the economy, a string of Japanese data and factory ac-tivity fi gures from China.

India shares drop; rupee appreciates

IANSMumbai

Broadly negative global cues, outflow of foreign funds and heavy selling

pressure witnessed in banking, automobile and capital goods stocks, subdued investors’ sen-timents and pulled the Indian equities markets lower yester-day.

Besides, investors were cau-tious ahead of macro-economic data points, such as the second advance estimates of national income, 2016-17, along with the quarterly estimates of GDP for the third quarter of 2016-17, slated to be released today.

In addition, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry will release the Index of ECI (eight core industries) figures for Jan-uary, 2017 today.

The wider 51-scrip Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) edged down by 42.80 points or 0.48% to 8,896.70 points.

The barometer 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the BSE, which opened at 28,910.50 points, closed at 28,812.88 points – down 80.09 points or 0.28%, from the previous close at 28,892.97 points.

The Sensex touched a high of 28,961.83 points and a low of 28,791.19 points during the intra-day trade.

The BSE market breadth was tilted in favour of the bears – with 1,520 declines and 1,259 advances.

In contrast, the BSE mid-cap rose by 0.01% and small-cap index was up by 0.16%.

On February 23, the bench-mark indices closed on a flat-to-positive note as inflow of foreign funds and rupee ap-preciation buoyed investors’ sentiments.

The NSE Nifty rose by 12.60 points or 0.14% to close at 8,939.50 points, and the BSE Sensex was up 28.26 points or 0.10% at 28,892.97 points.

“Markets ended lower yes-terday after six sessions of gains. The Nifty closed lower by 0.5%,” Deepak Jasani, head of retail research at HDFC Se-curities, told IANS.

According to other market observers, Reliance continued to be a performer, while other major counters in the markets witnessed heavy selling pres-sure.

“Telecom stocks saw sell-ing pressure as they geared up to take on Reliance Jio,” Vijay Singhania, founder and direc-tor of brokerage firm Trade Smart Online, told IANS.

“Banks had witnessed a spectacular run over the last one month and witnessed some profit booking.”

Singhania added that the rupee hit a three-month high yesterday as other Asian coun-tries also strengthened against the US dollar.

The Indian rupee appreciat-ed by 13 paise to 66.70 against a US dollar from its previ-ous week’s close of 66.83 to a greenback.

EM shares soften before Trump speechReutersLondon

Emerging market stocks fell yesterday although currencies mostly strengthened against a

lacklustre dollar as investors await-ed policy direction from the White House on a range of issues.

MSCI’s emerging market index fell 0.3% after tumbling nearly 1% on Friday, with bourses across much of Asia, South Africa, Russia and Greece chalking up losses.

Chinese mainland blue chips fell 0.8%, their biggest one-day loss for two months as Beijing’s security reg-ulator ramped up its crack down on speculators.

Hong Kong shares slipped to 12-day lows.

But currencies started the week on a brighter note.

Russia’s rouble recorded its biggest gain for two weeks, rising 1.3% and matching a jump in oil prices.

Turkey’s lira rose 0.5%, reversing some of Friday’s losses.

But China’s yuan and South Af-rica’s rand both weakened against the dollar.

“The dollar is trying to move higher and emerging markets currencies are very sensitive to 10-year US Treas-

ury yields – if you have a sharp rise in 10-year yields you see quite a sell-off in emerging markets,” ABN Amro foreign exchange strategist Georgette Boele said.

Much of investors’ focus was today, when US President Donald Trump is scheduled to speak to a joint ses-sion of Congress and unveil some el-ements of his plans to cut taxes and boost infrastructure spending.

JP Morgan analysts told clients they expected Trump’s speech to “probably contain more negative EM language” though no dramatic anti-trade actions but that they were generally waiting for announcements on US trade policy to determine how these would aff ect emerging markets.

“This year, emerging market assets have been outperforming, putting managers in a bind: Do we keep wait-ing for the eventual anti-emerging market US trade measures, or were all these threats just a negotiations tactic that will eventually lead to growth-positive compromises?” they said in a note.

In Israel, policymakers are expect-ed to leave short-term interest rates unchanged at 0.1% for a 24th straight month amid benign infl ation partly due to a strong shekel, with the cen-tral bank having intervened to contain the currency.

Page 7: MALAYSIA SPEND YELLEN VIEW Aramco set to invest $7bn

Zad Holding CoWidam Food CoVodafone Qatar

United Development CoSalam International Investme

Qatar & Oman Investment CoQatar Navigation

Qatar National Cement CoQatar National Bank

Qatar Islamic InsuranceQatar Industrial Manufactur

Qatar International IslamicQatari Investors Group

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

Qatar Fuel QscQatar First Bank

Qatar Electricity & Water CoQatar Cinema & Film Distrib

Qatar Insurance CoOoredoo Qsc

National LeasingMazaya Qatar Real Estate Dev

Mesaieed Petrochemical HoldiAl Meera Consumer Goods Co

Medicare GroupMannai Corporation Qsc

Masraf Al RayanAl Khalij Commercial Bank

Industries QatarIslamic Holding Group

Gulf Warehousing CompanyGulf International Services

Ezdan Holding GroupDoha Insurance Co

Doha Bank QscDlala Holding

Commercial Bank QscBarwa Real Estate Co

Al Khaleej Takaful GroupAamal Co

84.00

65.90

9.27

21.70

10.97

10.33

87.50

94.50

155.50

68.00

48.90

71.00

66.60

103.90

23.48

39.90

9.89

160.20

9.64

230.00

29.70

73.90

109.30

16.00

14.53

15.77

183.00

79.40

87.50

41.35

15.25

119.50

62.00

56.80

29.10

15.90

18.48

39.00

20.25

31.55

40.20

20.00

15.55

0.00

-2.80

0.32

0.00

-7.97

-2.46

-0.57

-0.32

-0.70

0.00

-0.20

1.72

1.83

2.47

1.12

-5.00

0.92

0.38

0.73

-0.39

10.00

-0.14

-2.32

4.23

-0.14

1.61

0.05

0.51

1.74

-0.24

-2.68

-0.42

3.33

0.53

-2.02

0.19

2.10

0.65

-0.54

-0.16

-0.12

0.00

2.71

-

4,564

1,914,758

65,146

509,098

10,572

66,755

39,660

365,143

481,717

170,770

1,123,830

583,788

86,457

370,736

1,577,021

22,770

50,509

434,165

18,430

1,050

23,759

193,621

982,814

153,031

427,430

7,167

239,507

6,718

288,484

3,837

222,565

116,195

4,032

148,309

612,791

105

1,044,348

65,514

192,959

940,227

-

1,715,684

QATAR

Company Name Lt Price % Chg Volume

United Wire Factories CompanEtihad Etisalat Co

Dar Al Arkan Real Estate DevSaudi Hollandi Bank

Rabigh Refining And PetrocheBanque Saudi Fransi

Saudi Enaya Cooperative InsuMediterranean & Gulf Insuran

Saudi British BankMohammad Al Mojil Group Co

Red Sea International CoTakween Advanced Industries

Sabb TakafulSaudi Arabian Fertilizer Co

National GypsumSaudi Ceramic Co

National Gas & IndustrializaSaudi Pharmaceutical Industr

ThimarNational Industrialization C

Saudi Transport And InvestmeSaudi Electricity Co

Saudi Arabia Refineries CoArriyadh Development Company

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

Saudi Vitrified Clay Pipe CoJarir Marketing Co

Arab National BankYanbu National Petrochemical

Arabian CementMiddle East Specialized Cabl

Al Khaleej Training And EducAl Sagr Co-Operative Insuran

Trade Union Cooperative InsuArabia Insurance Cooperative

Saudi Chemical CompanyFawaz Abdulaziz Alhokair & C

Bupa Arabia For CooperativeWafa Insurance

Jabal Omar Development CoSaudi Basic Industries Corp

Saudi Kayan Petrochemical CoEtihad Atheeb Telecommunicat

Co For Cooperative InsuranceNational Petrochemical Co

Gulf Union Cooperative InsurGulf General Cooperative Ins

Basic Chemical IndustriesSaudi Steel Pipe Co

Buruj Cooperative InsuranceMouwasat Medical Services Co

Southern Province Cement CoMaadaniyah

Yamama Cement CoJazan Development Co

Zamil Industrial InvestmentAlujain Corporation (Alco)

Tabuk Agricultural DevelopmeUnited Co-Operative Assuranc

Qassim Cement/TheSaudi Advanced Industries

Kingdom Holding CoSaudi Arabian Amiantit Co

Al Jouf Agriculture DevelopmSaudi Industrial Development

Bishah AgricultureRiyad Bank

The National Agriculture DevHalwani Bros Co

Arabian Pipes CoEastern Province Cement Co

Al Gassim Investment HoldingFiling & Packing Materials M

Saudi Cable CoTihama Advertising & Public

Saudi Investment Bank/TheAstra Industrial Group

Saudi Public Transport CoTaiba Holding Co

Saudi Industrial Export CoSaudi Real Estate Co

Saudia Dairy & Foodstuff CoNational Shipping Co Of/The

Methanol Chemicals CoAce Arabia Cooperative Insur

Mobile Telecommunications CoSaudi Arabian Coop Ins Co

Axa Cooperative InsuranceAlsorayai Group

Weqaya For Takaful InsuranceBank Albilad

Al-Hassan G.I. Shaker CoWataniya Insurance Co

Abdullah Al Othaim MarketsHail Cement

24.03

21.37

5.92

0.00

13.08

24.40

15.99

24.17

21.07

12.55

26.22

12.70

27.76

70.25

13.70

29.57

35.91

36.60

36.51

17.71

55.20

23.96

35.64

21.31

13.50

29.16

37.31

57.71

128.67

20.40

55.94

38.62

8.26

18.57

41.09

18.71

12.30

34.28

29.99

127.00

17.65

66.16

96.83

8.34

3.40

116.80

20.28

12.13

18.09

24.13

17.99

30.20

138.99

69.84

22.95

19.42

12.82

30.15

20.94

11.57

14.19

58.74

13.50

11.29

7.07

33.49

12.11

69.75

10.74

22.51

56.40

16.61

30.41

0.00

34.01

5.75

22.90

14.00

16.00

15.70

40.50

34.09

21.35

126.82

36.25

7.39

47.19

8.88

20.50

18.52

11.33

19.39

18.51

15.16

28.29

101.00

11.60

-2.16

-2.06

-1.50

0.00

-0.53

-0.81

-5.83

-3.63

-4.23

0.00

-2.85

-3.42

-5.48

-1.94

-1.37

-2.12

-2.42

-2.40

-4.50

-4.63

-1.71

0.13

-4.25

-2.02

0.00

-5.11

-1.22

-3.58

-1.11

0.00

-0.46

-0.97

-4.07

-2.52

-3.20

-2.35

-6.96

-1.24

-4.28

-2.01

-6.32

0.26

-1.00

-0.71

-2.86

-0.38

-3.20

-5.23

-3.73

-2.39

-1.96

-3.94

-0.14

-0.94

-3.97

-0.82

-2.95

0.50

-0.71

-3.90

-7.74

-0.86

-3.02

-0.88

-5.73

-0.92

-1.38

0.00

-0.92

-2.43

-4.00

-2.24

-1.23

0.00

-3.52

0.00

-5.92

-0.57

-3.38

-2.12

-0.98

-3.92

-4.69

1.22

-0.68

-3.52

-5.81

-1.88

-3.76

-4.49

-4.15

0.00

-2.17

-3.44

-4.65

-0.96

-1.69

83,724

540,705

44,870,881

-

6,208,658

245,205

440,491

657,582

433,109

-

72,574

1,979,824

292,578

128,677

548,595

52,379

129,991

118,251

876,981

2,551,873

141,548

2,679,983

396,541

239,559

-

301,451

111,255

56,602

50,427

123,688

298,060

388,663

2,373,052

154,959

1,407,596

246,721

1,184,140

169,231

334,751

86,706

987,778

321,096

3,103,324

2,828,746

639,913

98,115

88,496

1,010,776

361,819

199,769

54,669

904,566

41,330

26,072

276,612

78,735

2,609,990

49,376

800,307

2,071,810

859,882

25,067

742,382

156,436

1,529,218

106,133

4,456,050

-

773,549

517,432

25,528

64,190

69,688

-

283,868

-

836,028

31,347

83,196

1,801,798

37,629

1,231,628

799,065

74,026

618,028

3,199,578

162,331

4,065,960

647,043

584,888

757,310

-

194,497

382,048

318,369

33,576

433,794

SAUDI ARABIA

Company Name Lt Price % Chg Volume

Saudi Re For Cooperative ReiSolidarity Saudi Takaful Co

Amana Cooperative InsuranceAlabdullatif Industrial Inv

Saudi Printing & Packaging CSanad Cooperative Insurance

Saudi Paper Manufacturing CoAlinma Bank

Almarai CoFalcom Saudi Equity Etf

United International TranspoHsbc Amanah Saudi 20 Etf

Saudi International PetrocheFalcom Petrochemical Etf

Saudi United Cooperative InsBank Al-Jazira

Al Rajhi BankSamba Financial Group

United Electronics CoAllied Cooperative Insurance

Malath Cooperative & ReinsurAlinma Tokio Marine

Arabian Shield CooperativeSavola

Wafrah For Industry And DeveFitaihi Holding Group

Tourism Enterprise Co/ ShamsSahara Petrochemical Co

Herfy Food Services Co

7.98

9.04

18.98

14.74

16.93

15.23

9.97

14.58

68.50

27.60

27.35

27.70

17.69

26.70

26.01

13.43

64.53

21.42

26.87

15.64

8.33

18.18

61.65

37.54

23.57

12.93

32.34

15.50

80.86

-3.86

-4.74

-2.27

-3.22

-5.89

0.00

-3.30

-0.55

0.00

-0.36

-3.76

0.00

-1.39

0.00

-2.80

-2.04

-0.45

-0.37

-2.82

-2.98

-4.36

-3.30

-3.93

-0.95

-6.51

-3.65

-2.62

-0.96

-2.17

3,099,744

1,438,990

674,674

245,488

635,187

-

1,859,416

29,758,584

96,287

198,858

1,251,172

25

453,715

7

171,473

1,124,993

1,565,977

454,601

107,709

633,395

710,660

540,427

613,211

96,845

867,864

651,559

147,857

1,438,371

55,315

SAUDI ARABIA

Company Name Lt Price % Chg Volume

Securities Group CoSultan Center Food Products

Kuwait Foundry Co SakKuwait Financial Centre Sak

Ajial Real Estate EntmtGulf Glass Manuf Co -Kscc

Kuwait Finance & InvestmentNational Industries Co Ksc

Kuwait Real Estate Holding CSecurities House/The

Boubyan Petrochemicals CoAl Ahli Bank Of Kuwait

Ahli United Bank (Almutahed)National Bank Of Kuwait

Commercial Bank Of KuwaitKuwait International Bank

Gulf BankAl-Massaleh Real Estate Co

Al Arabiya Real Estate CoKuwait Remal Real Estate Co

Alkout Industrial Projects CA’ayan Real Estate Co Sak

Investors Holding Group Co.KAl-Mazaya Holding Co

Al-Madar Finance & Invt CoGulf Petroleum Investment

Mabanee Co SakcCity Group

Inovest Co BscKuwait Gypsum Manufacturing

Al-Deera Holding CoAlshamel International Hold

Mena Real Estate CoNational Slaughter House

Amar Finance & Leasing CoUnited Projects For Aviation

National Consumer Holding CoAmwal International Investme

Jeeran HoldingsEquipment Holding Co K.S.C.C

Nafais HoldingSafwan Trading & Contracting

Arkan Al Kuwait Real EstateGfh Financial Group Bsc

Energy House Holding Co KscpKuwait Slaughter House Co

Kuwait Co For Process PlantAl Maidan Dental Clinic Co K

National Ranges CompanyAl-Themar Real International

Al-Ahleia Insurance Co SakpWethaq Takaful Insurance Co

Salbookh Trading Co KscpAqar Real Estate Investments

Hayat CommunicationsKuwait Packing Materials Mfg

Soor Fuel Marketing Co KscAlargan International RealBurgan Co For Well Drilling

Kuwait Resorts Co KsccOula Fuel Marketing Co

Palms Agro Production CoIkarus Petroleum Industries

Mubarrad Transport CoAl Mowasat Health Care Co

Shuaiba Industrial CoHits Telecom Holding

First Takaful Insurance CoKuwaiti Syrian Holding Co

National Cleaning CompanyEyas For High & Technical EdUnited Real Estate Company

AgilityKuwait & Middle East Fin Inv

Fujairah Cement IndustriesLivestock Transport & Tradng

International Resorts CoNational Industries Grp Hold

Marine Services Co KscWarba Insurance Co

Kuwait United Poultry CoFirst Dubai Real Estate Deve

Al Arabi Group Holding CoKuwait Hotels Sak

Mobile Telecommunications CoAl Safat Real Estate Co

Tamdeen Real Estate Co KscAl Mudon Intl Real Estate Co

Kuwait Cement Co KscSharjah Cement & Indus Devel

Kuwait Portland Cement CoEducational Holding Group

Bahrain Kuwait InsuranceAsiya Capital Investments Co

Kuwait Investment CoBurgan Bank

Kuwait Projects Co HoldingsAl Madina For Finance And In

Kuwait Insurance CoAl Masaken Intl Real Estate

Intl Financial AdvisorsFirst Investment Co Kscc

Al Mal Investment CompanyBayan Investment Co Kscc

Egypt Kuwait Holding Co SaeCoast Investment Development

Privatization Holding CompanKuwait Medical Services Co

Injazzat Real State CompanyKuwait Cable Vision Sak

Sanam Real Estate Co KsccIthmaar Holding Bsc

Aviation Lease And Finance CArzan Financial Group For Fi

Ajwan Gulf Real Estate CoKuwait Business Town Real Es

Future Kid Entertainment AndSpecialities Group Holding C

Abyaar Real Eastate DevelopmDar Al Thuraya Real Estate C

Al-Dar National Real EstateKgl Logistics Company Kscc

Combined Group ContractingZima Holding Co Ksc

Qurain Holding Co

99.00

75.00

330.00

95.00

182.00

325.00

49.00

216.00

45.50

53.00

580.00

305.00

445.00

730.00

450.00

246.00

246.00

48.00

45.50

72.00

700.00

72.00

30.00

130.00

0.00

51.00

850.00

600.00

108.00

95.00

39.00

0.00

33.00

54.00

51.00

830.00

50.00

36.50

73.00

62.00

210.00

410.00

85.00

238.00

43.00

190.00

198.00

0.00

32.50

90.00

500.00

59.00

75.00

80.00

88.00

0.00

130.00

198.00

90.00

88.00

130.00

100.00

33.00

73.00

300.00

455.00

53.00

66.00

48.50

55.00

0.00

98.00

600.00

34.00

88.00

222.00

36.00

150.00

58.00

108.00

180.00

66.00

84.00

246.00

485.00

0.00

460.00

48.50

495.00

88.00

1,080.00

204.00

0.00

37.00

99.00

320.00

510.00

53.00

310.00

79.00

45.00

55.00

25.50

48.50

186.00

51.00

55.00

0.00

84.00

27.50

57.00

62.00

255.00

43.00

75.00

57.00

124.00

88.00

34.00

0.00

0.00

72.00

500.00

64.00

0.00

0.00

-2.60

0.00

-4.04

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

-3.64

0.00

0.00

1.14

-1.35

-5.26

-0.81

-0.81

0.00

-1.09

1.41

0.00

-5.26

0.00

-1.52

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

-2.50

0.00

-5.71

0.00

0.00

2.47

0.00

7.35

0.00

0.00

5.00

0.00

0.00

0.85

-2.27

0.00

0.00

0.00

-2.99

-4.26

0.00

-4.84

0.00

0.00

6.02

0.00

1.56

0.00

0.00

1.15

1.56

0.00

0.00

-2.67

0.00

-5.21

-3.64

0.00

-1.02

-1.79

0.00

-2.00

-3.23

-5.56

1.15

-1.77

-6.49

0.00

0.00

1.89

0.00

-5.71

2.44

0.00

1.04

0.00

0.00

-4.90

0.00

1.15

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

-2.94

1.59

0.00

-3.64

0.00

5.33

-3.23

1.85

0.00

-3.00

0.00

2.00

0.00

0.00

1.20

-8.33

0.00

-3.13

0.00

1.18

0.00

3.64

0.00

-2.22

0.00

0.00

0.00

-4.00

0.00

-1.54

0.00

50

144,975

78,030

50,000

500

1,980

500

38,400

25,000

1,823,487

17,594

116,395

352,094

575,916

11,110

1,411,424

11,100

2,014

3,775,445

4,861,785

7,822

811,505

8,411,453

2,757,500

-

1,281,110

51,921

-

1,646,229

6,645

69,950

-

5,760,310

500

29,000

5,900

3,001

4,748,784

390,250

620,725

5,281,500

200

250,000

103,430

522,402

100

30,000

-

2,487,600

200,000

5,000

1,189,500

75,500

225,902

398,000

-

50,175

30,650

104,000

66,404

19,501

2,000

5,366,944

367,782

15,447

11,000

1,001,300

493,491

1,079,842

650,002

-

127,115

1,456,887

270,000

207,981

17,500

2,059,600

1,284,000

50,300

21,075

35,652

2,561,900

75,010

12,000

280,011

-

11,100

9,948,663

27,299

80,000

12,000

6,437

-

40,000

62,994

851,849

55,100

574,500

41,989

1,000

1,501,141

1,670,500

2,091,801

1,184,500

5,000

1,589,128

742,248

-

20,000

34,932

10,299

6,085,416

39,180

25,000

100,010

5,676,171

105

1,513,210

7,159,878

-

-

1,762,759

13,605

375,400

-

KUWAIT

Company Name Lt Price % Chg Volume

Voltamp Energy SaogUnited Power/Energy Co- Pref

United Power Co SaogUnited Finance Co

Ubar Hotels & ResortsTakaful Oman

Taageer FinanceSweets Of OmanSohar Power Co

Sohar PoultrySmn Power Holding Saog

Shell Oman Marketing - PrefShell Oman Marketing

Sharqiyah Desalination Co SaSembcorp Salalah Power & Wat

Salalah Port ServicesSalalah Mills Co

Salalah Beach Resort SaogSahara Hospitality

Renaissance Services SaogRaysut Cement Co

Port Service CorporationPhoenix Power Co Saoc

Packaging Co LtdOoredoo

OminvestOman United Insurance Co

Oman Textile Holding Co SaogOman Telecommunications Co

Oman Refreshment CoOman Packaging

Oman Orix Leasing Co.Oman Oil Marketing Company

Oman National Engineering AnOman Investment & Finance

Oman Intl MarketingOman Hotels & Tourism CoOman Foods International

Oman Flour MillsOman Fisheries CoOman Fiber Optics

Oman Europe Foods IndustriesOman Education & Training In

Oman ChromiteOman Chlorine

Oman Ceramic ComOman Cement Co

Oman Cables IndustryOman Agricultural Dev

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

National SecuritiesNational Real Estate Develop

National PharmaceuticalNational Mineral Water

National Hospitality InstituNational Gas Co

National Finance CoNational Detergent Co Saog

National Biscuit IndustriesNational Bank Of Oman Saog

Muscat Thread Mills CoMuscat National Holding

Muscat Gases Company SaogMuscat Finance

Majan Glass CompanyMajan College

Hsbc Bank OmanHotels Management Co Interna

Gulf StoneGulf Plastic Industries Co

Gulf Mushroom CompanyGulf Investments Services

Gulf Invest. Serv. Pref-SharGulf International Chemicals

Gulf Hotels (Oman) Co LtdGlobal Fin Investment

Galfar Engineering&ContractGalfar Engineering -Prefer

Financial Services Co.Financial Corp/The

Dhofar UniversityDhofar Tourism

Dhofar PoultryDhofar Intl Development

Dhofar InsuranceDhofar Fisheries & Food Indu

Dhofar Cattlefeed

0.52

1.00

3.40

0.16

0.13

0.17

0.14

1.34

0.22

0.21

0.70

1.05

2.00

4.50

0.25

0.63

1.48

1.38

2.50

0.25

1.48

0.31

0.15

2.21

0.57

0.53

0.40

0.60

1.40

2.16

0.30

0.14

1.85

0.16

0.22

0.52

0.40

0.00

0.82

0.16

4.57

1.00

0.13

3.64

0.49

0.42

0.49

1.61

0.00

0.15

0.18

0.10

5.00

0.11

0.05

0.00

0.53

0.16

0.70

3.75

0.25

0.09

1.77

0.58

0.14

0.19

0.51

0.13

1.25

0.12

0.00

0.34

0.12

0.11

0.29

10.50

0.17

0.09

0.39

0.17

0.10

1.49

0.49

0.18

0.36

0.21

1.28

0.22

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

-1.28

0.69

0.00

-0.35

0.00

0.00

9.96

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

-0.46

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

2.63

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.82

0.00

0.00

-1.96

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

-0.81

0.00

0.00

0.00

-0.72

0.00

0.00

0.78

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

-1.67

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

-2.11

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

1,580

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

4,940

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

10,764

-

17,660

1,005,352

-

166,715

43,400

-

1,000

35,551

-

-

-

-

-

197,300

-

-

-

5,000

1,650,060

-

-

-

-

258

-

307,300

-

-

338,118

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

348,062

-

-

400

40,000

-

-

200,000

-

-

-

-

228,200

-

-

-

-

403,039

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

OMAN

Company Name Lt Price % Chg Volume

Dhofar Beverages CoConstruction Materials Ind

Computer Stationery IndsBankmuscat Saog

Bank SoharBank Nizwa

Bank Dhofar SaogAreej Vegetable Oils Saoc

Aloula CoAl-Omaniya Financial Service

Al-Hassan Engineering CoAl-Fajar Al-Alamia Co

Al-Anwar Ceramic Tiles CoAl Suwadi Power

Al Shurooq Inv SerAl Sharqiya Invest Holding

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

Al Madina Investment CoAl Kamil Power Co

Al Jazerah Services -PfdAl Jazeera Steel Products Co

Al Jazeera ServicesAl Izz Islamic Bank

Al Buraimi HotelAl Batinah PowerAl Batinah Hotels

Al Batinah Dev & InvAl Anwar Holdings Saog

Ahli BankAcwa Power Barka Saog

Abrasives Manufacturing Co SA’saff a Foods Saog

0Man Oil Marketing Co-Pref

0.26

0.03

0.26

0.48

0.16

0.09

0.26

4.05

0.53

0.29

0.06

0.75

0.16

0.20

1.04

0.13

1.57

0.48

0.10

0.07

0.31

0.55

0.25

0.19

0.07

0.88

0.20

1.13

0.10

0.19

0.20

0.72

0.05

0.80

0.25

0.00

0.00

0.00

-1.24

0.00

0.00

-0.78

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

-0.61

0.00

0.00

-0.76

0.00

0.00

0.00

-1.41

0.00

0.00

-0.79

-1.03

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

-2.00

-0.52

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

-

5,000

-

1,815,133

-

4,078,374

265,922

-

-

-

5,000

-

122,730

58,241

-

35,975

3,500

-

1,611,140

993,907

-

-

47,050

69,000

50,660

-

56,821

-

519,125

419,927

200,000

-

-

-

-

OMAN

Company Name Lt Price % Chg Volume

Waha Capital PjscUnited Insurance Company

United Arab Bank PjscUnion National Bank/Abu Dhab

Union Insurance CoUnion Cement Co

Umm Al Qaiwain Cement IndustSharjah Islamic Bank

Sharjah Insurance CompanySharjah Group

Sharjah Cement & Indus DevelRas Al-Khaimah National Insu

Ras Al Khaimah White CementRas Al Khaimah Ceramics

Ras Al Khaimah Cement Co PscRas Al Khaima Poultry

Rak PropertiesOoredoo Qsc

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

National Takaful CompanyNational Marine Dredging Co

National Investor Co/TheNational Corp Tourism & Hote

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

National Bank Of FujairahNational Bank Of Abu Dhabi

Methaq Takaful InsuranceManazel Real Estate Pjsc

Invest BankIntl Fish Farming Co Pjsc

Insurance HouseGulf Pharmaceutical Ind Psc

Gulf Medical ProjectsGulf Cement Co

Fujairah Cement IndustriesFujairah Building Industries

Foodco Holding PjscFirst Gulf BankFinance House

Eshraq Properties Co PjscEmirates Telecom Group Co

Emirates Insurance Co. (Psc)Emirates Driving Company

Dana GasCommercial Bank Internationa

Bank Of SharjahAxa Green Crescent Insurance

Arkan Building Materials CoAlkhaleej InvestmentAldar Properties Pjsc

Al Wathba National InsuranceAl Khazna Insurance Co

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

Al Buhaira National InsurancAl Ain Ahlia Ins. Co.

Agthia Group PjscAbu Dhabi Ship Building Co

Abu Dhabi Natl Co For BuildiAbu Dhabi National Takaful C

Abu Dhabi National InsuranceAbu Dhabi National Hotels

Abu Dhabi National Energy CoAbu Dhabi Islamic Bank

2.24

2.00

1.67

4.44

1.86

1.18

1.15

1.60

3.85

1.50

1.02

4.10

1.29

2.31

0.90

2.80

0.77

115.00

1.05

6.26

0.55

5.00

0.52

2.80

3.00

4.90

3.50

10.70

0.91

0.62

2.07

1.95

0.83

2.15

3.19

1.05

0.99

1.56

6.55

13.80

1.74

1.20

18.35

5.98

8.50

0.44

1.98

1.38

0.80

0.81

1.15

2.40

12.75

0.47

300.00

3.95

2.35

55.00

6.47

2.82

0.60

4.50

2.79

3.00

0.47

3.88

0.45

0.00

-9.73

-1.11

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

7.50

-4.55

0.00

0.00

2.67

15.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

-2.00

0.00

1.42

0.00

0.00

0.00

-1.02

12.16

1.90

0.00

0.00

-10.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

4.35

-1.34

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.73

0.00

1.25

0.00

-1.64

0.00

11.90

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

11.11

0.00

-10.00

0.00

0.00

-0.51

546,513

-

1,000

75,580

-

-

-

1,363,475

-

-

-

-

21,000

33,709

1,400,000

-

2,570,835

200

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

150,000

-

1,279,707

1,324,253

3,804,252

-

1,171,321

40,000

50,000

-

-

70,000

-

-

1,925,190

-

99,957,808

496,928

-

-

4,548,999

-

100,000

-

3,241,282

-

4,877,319

-

4,842,411

-

-

-

-

4,428

-

179,346

-

208,349

-

933,533

680,965

UAE

Company Name Lt Price % Chg Volume

Zain Bahrain BsccUnited Paper Industries Bsc

United Gulf Investment CorpUnited Gulf BankTrafco Group Bsc

Takaful International CoTaib Bank -$Us

Seef PropertiesSecurities & Investment Co

National Hotels CoNational Bank Of Bahrain Bsc

Nass Corp BscKhaleeji Commercial Bank

Ithmaar Holding BscInvestcorp Bank -$Us

Inovest Co BscGulf Monetary Group

Gulf Hotel Group B.S.CGfh Financial Group Bsc

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

Bmmi BscBmb Investment Bank

Bbk BscBankmuscat Saog

Banader Hotels CoBahrain Tourism CoBahrain Telecom Co

Bahrain Ship Repair & EnginBahrain National Holding

Bahrain Kuwait InsuranceBahrain Islamic Bank

Bahrain Flour Mills CoBahrain Family Leisure Co

Bahrain Duty Free ComplexBahrain Commercial Facilitie

Bahrain Cinema CoBahrain Car Park Co

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

Aluminium Bahrain BscAlbaraka Banking Group

Al-Salam BankAl-Ahlia Insurance Co

Ahli United Bank B.S.C

0.10

0.00

0.00

0.39

0.23

0.00

0.00

0.25

0.00

0.00

0.76

0.13

0.11

0.20

8.50

0.28

0.00

0.62

0.78

0.15

0.32

0.82

0.00

0.38

0.00

0.00

`

0.28

0.00

0.42

0.00

0.14

0.00

0.00

0.85

0.72

1.30

0.00

0.41

0.37

0.29

0.50

0.11

0.00

0.79

0.00

0.00

0.00

7.18

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

-9.59

0.00

2.56

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

1.41

0.00

-2.59

0.00

-1.26

455,209

-

-

38,013

16,322

-

-

15,000

-

-

7,614

12,000

286,988

890,410

5,000

1,203,896

-

70,000

168,000

22,442

13,944

10,000

-

201,000

-

-

-

20,000

-

24,442

-

50,000

-

-

20,000

50,000

5,000

-

5,634

38,000

105,000

56,952

250,000

-

1,769,944

BAHRAIN

Company Name Lt Price % Chg Volume

Boubyan Intl Industries HoldGulf Investment House Ksc

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

Osos Holding Group CoAl-Eid Food Ksc

Qurain Petrochemical IndustrAdvanced Technology Co

Ekttitab Holding Co SakKout Food Group Ksc

Real Estate Trade Centers CoAcico Industries Co Kscc

Kipco Asset Management CoNational Petroleum ServicesAlimtiaz Investment Co Kscc

Ras Al Khaimah White CementKuwait Reinsurance Co Ksc

Kuwait & Gulf Link TransportHuman Soft Holding Co Ksc

Automated Systems Co KsccMetal & Recycling Co

Gulf Franchising Holding CoAl-Enma’a Real Estate Co

National Mobile TelecommuniAl Bareeq Holding Co Kscc

Housing Finance Co SakAl Salam Group Holding Co

United Foodstuff IndustriesAl Aman Investment Company

Mashaer Holdings Co KscManazel Holding

Mushrif Trading & ContractinTijara And Real Estate Inves

Kuwait Building MaterialsJazeera Airways Co Ksc

Commercial Real Estate CoFuture Communications Co

National International CoTaameer Real Estate Invest C

Gulf Cement CoHeavy Engineering And Ship B

Refrigeration Industries & SNational Real Estate Co

Al Safat Energy Holding CompKuwait National Cinema CoDanah Alsafat Foodstuff Co

Independent Petroleum GroupKuwait Real Estate Co Ksc

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

Kuwait Finance HouseGulf North Africa Holding Co

Hilal Cement CoOsoul Investment Kscc

Gulf Insurance Group KscKuwait Food Co (Americana)

Umm Al Qaiwain Cement IndustAayan Leasing & Investment

Alrai Media Group Co KscNational Investments CoCommercial Facilities Co

Taiba Kuwaiti Holding Co KscAfaq Educational Services Co

Kuwait Pillars For FinancialYiaco Medical Co. K.S.C.C

24.00

47.00

430.00

242.00

192.00

0.00

320.00

0.00

43.50

0.00

43.00

320.00

87.00

970.00

166.00

100.00

186.00

68.00

3,040.00

320.00

89.00

59.00

46.50

1,220.00

0.00

0.00

60.00

0.00

54.00

0.00

49.50

0.00

62.00

170.00

600.00

86.00

0.00

76.00

34.00

90.00

210.00

300.00

110.00

56.00

1,480.00

94.00

420.00

75.00

390.00

560.00

0.00

620.00

46.00

170.00

71.00

600.00

2,620.00

0.00

48.00

178.00

134.00

176.00

0.00

156.00

0.00

300.00

-4.00

-4.08

0.00

-2.42

1.05

0.00

-1.54

0.00

-4.40

0.00

0.00

1.59

-1.14

5.43

-5.68

-1.96

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

-3.28

-2.11

1.67

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

5.32

0.00

-1.59

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

-2.86

1.12

-4.55

0.00

0.00

3.70

4.23

5.62

0.00

-2.60

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

-1.08

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

-5.88

0.00

-2.90

1.15

0.00

0.00

0.00

7.14

756,141

4,049,452

12,450,514

814,340

300

-

652,528

-

1,331,585

-

4,266,482

170,475

224,497

131,373

16,023,424

372,212

6,025

532,100

7,038

59,695

10,100

487,728

185,000

32,999

-

-

623,645

-

188,078

-

9,428,199

-

926,110

5,060

1,100

573,405

-

912,600

573,248

361,141

48,000

1,040,798

1,528,865

4,415,711

50

8,946,862

11,036

2,046,300

1,000

305,421

-

1,106,760

1,028,601

1,500

10,000

30,000

8,236

-

15,271,884

60,484

1,213,820

58,000

-

1,906

-

25

KUWAIT

Company Name Lt Price % Chg Volume

LATEST MARKET CLOSING FIGURES

BUSINESS7Gulf Times

Tuesday, February 28, 2017

Page 8: MALAYSIA SPEND YELLEN VIEW Aramco set to invest $7bn

CURRENCIESDOLLAR QATAR RIYAL SAUDI RIYAL UAE DIRHAMS BAHRAINI

DINARKUWAITI

DINAR

Europe markets drift awaiting details of Trump’s tax planAFP London

A Trump-inspired stock rally was looking fragile yesterday as in-vestors sought evidence that

the US president can deliver on his tax plans before taking fresh positions.

After a record 11th successive all-time high close for New York’s Dow on Friday, investors were growing worried that the recent buying - fuelled by ex-pectations that Donald Trump will in-troduce economy-boosting measures - may have gone too far.

“The Donald keeps investors at bay,” said Jasper Lawler, senior market ana-lyst at London Capital Group.

Wall Street was slightly softer ap-proaching midday in New York, having briefl y tested positive territory.

Key European markets London and Frankfurt fi nished a touch higher, re-lieved that the strong correction in US markets that some analysts are expect-ing was seemingly put off to another day.

London’s FTSE 100 was up 0.1% to close at 7,253.00; Frankfurt’s DAX 30 rose 0.2% at 11,822.67, while Paris’s

CAC 40 closed fl at at 4,845.18.Investors are “awaiting elaboration,

if not confi rmation, of major US tax changes from Trump to justify a near three-month rally since his election,” said Mike van Dulken, head of research at Accendo Markets.

An upcoming Trump speech be-fore Congress “will be watched very closely for some real insight into his plans for taxes and possibly fiscal stimulus which would help to sustain the rally for now”, said Craig Erlam, senior market analyst at Oanda. “I wonder if we’re getting to a point at which he’s at risk of not being able to meet the now high expectations,” Erlam said.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuch-in’s warning that growth might not hit the 4% Trump promised, as well as un-certainty around the new president’s plans to slash taxes and spend big on infrastructure, sent the dollar tum-bling at the end of last week.

Yesterday, it recovered ground against the yen and the pound, but not versus the euro.

Shares in market operators the Lon-don Stock Exchange and Deutsche Bo-erse both fell after the LSE said it would

not meet an EU antitrust demand to get clearance for a merger between both companies.

This means the deal appears to be “dead in the water”, a source close to the matter told AFP.

The announcement by LSE, which also operates the Milan stock ex-change, is the latest twist in its long-standing attempt to merge with the German stock exchange operator.

The LSE said it had examined the European Commission’s request to divest its majority stake in Italian trad-ing unit MTS, concluding it could not comply with such a request.

Despite the focus on the LSE, “this week it’s really about President Trump, his address to a joint sitting of Congress and his tax plan”, said Greg McKenna, chief market strate-gist at AxiTrader. “I get a sense trad-ers want to believe in him - hence the stocks rally - but (with haven invest-ment) gold up and rates down suggest there is some fraying at the edges of market ebullience.”

Markets are hoping the speech to-day will provide more details about Trump’s tax pledge, which he said this month would be “phenomenal.”

Traders work at their desks in front of the DAX board at the stock exchange in Frankfurt. The benchmark DAX 30 rose 0.2% to close at 11,822.67 yesterday.

Apple IncMicrosoft Corp

Exxon Mobil CorpJohnson & JohnsonGeneral Electric Co

Jpmorgan Chase & CoProcter & Gamble Co/The

Wal-Mart Stores IncVerizon Communications Inc

Pfizer IncVisa Inc-Class A Shares

Chevron CorpCoca-Cola Co/The

Intel CorpMerck & Co. Inc.

Cisco Systems IncHome Depot Inc

Intl Business Machines CorpWalt Disney Co/The

Unitedhealth Group Inc3M Co

Mcdonald’s CorpNike Inc -Cl B

United Technologies CorpBoeing Co/The

Goldman Sachs Group IncAmerican Express Co

Du Pont (E.I.) De NemoursCaterpillar Inc

Travelers Cos Inc/The

137.12

64.15

81.52

122.58

29.94

90.16

90.30

71.80

49.94

34.36

88.12

112.01

41.68

36.61

65.87

34.24

145.25

180.79

110.43

164.11

187.04

127.24

57.53

112.80

178.85

247.84

79.94

79.79

97.21

121.71

0.34

-0.74

0.54

-0.12

-0.83

-0.19

-0.82

-0.82

-1.30

0.28

-0.35

1.72

-0.25

0.22

-0.45

-0.23

-0.48

-0.31

0.10

0.64

-0.20

-1.10

-0.57

0.30

0.79

0.20

0.23

-0.03

1.81

-0.46

8,751,060

5,577,139

4,121,475

1,864,995

8,362,318

3,811,940

1,908,233

3,003,575

5,252,381

7,519,400

1,741,864

2,182,365

3,382,253

5,052,913

2,099,208

3,856,223

1,158,431

599,408

1,144,111

872,420

423,223

1,404,602

1,696,997

1,035,819

928,029

733,309

776,672

732,143

2,236,324

280,160

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/TheSabmiller Plc

Rsa Insurance Group PlcRoyal Mail Plc

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

Royal Bank Of Scotland GroupRolls-Royce Holdings Plc

Rio Tinto PlcRexam Plc

Relx PlcReckitt Benckiser Group Plc

Randgold Resources LtdPrudential Plc

Provident Financial PlcPersimmon Plc

Pearson PlcPaddy Power Betfair Plc

Old Mutual PlcNext Plc

National Grid PlcMondi Plc

Merlin EntertainmentMediclinic International Plc

Marks & Spencer Group PlcLondon Stock Exchange Group

Lloyds Banking Group PlcLegal & General Group PlcLand Securities Group Plc

Kingfisher PlcJohnson Matthey Plc

Itv PlcIntu Properties Plc

Intl Consolidated Airline-DiIntertek Group Plc

Intercontinental Hotels GrouInmarsat Plc

Informa PlcImperial Brands Plc

Hsbc Holdings PlcHargreaves Lansdown Plc

Hammerson PlcGlencore Plc

Glaxosmithkline PlcGkn Plc

Fresnillo PlcExperian Plc

Easyjet PlcDixons Carphone Plc

Direct Line Insurance GroupDiageo Plc

Dcc PlcCrh Plc

Compass Group PlcCoca-Cola Hbc Ag-Di

Centrica PlcCarnival Plc

Capita PlcBurberry Group Plc

Bunzl PlcBt Group Plc

British Land Co PlcBritish American Tobacco Plc

Bp PlcBhp Billiton Plc

Berkeley Group Holdings/TheBarratt Developments Plc

Barclays PlcBae Systems Plc

Babcock Intl Group PlcAviva Plc

Astrazeneca PlcAssociated British Foods Plc

Ashtead Group PlcArm Holdings Plc

Antofagasta PlcAnglo American Plc

Admiral Group Plc3I Group Plc

#N/A

1,887.00

272.00

4,917.00

243.80

3,817.00

200.90

970.00

3,824.50

1,132.00

1,501.00

188.95

177.80

365.30

725.00

1,090.00

1,528.00

1,198.00

996.50

4,893.00

2,309.00

3,027.00

266.40

646.50

0.00

599.00

407.80

2,180.50

2,081.50

233.60

767.50

3,341.00

0.00

1,504.00

7,285.00

7,630.00

1,614.50

2,919.00

2,036.00

661.50

8,640.00

219.90

3,792.00

975.30

1,879.00

495.80

738.50

329.00

3,107.00

69.06

247.10

1,055.00

323.90

3,042.00

201.50

289.90

523.00

3,473.00

3,779.00

696.00

661.50

3,818.00

649.20

1,329.00

586.50

326.55

1,648.00

342.90

1,477.00

1,601.00

938.00

297.40

338.80

2,276.00

6,835.00

2,747.00

1,477.00

1,946.00

224.90

4,345.00

546.00

1,659.00

2,241.00

331.20

609.50

5,078.00

452.05

1,323.50

2,919.00

511.00

225.05

618.50

880.50

501.50

4,619.00

2,592.00

1,650.00

0.00

809.50

1,270.00

1,823.00

690.00

0.00

0.80

0.22

0.90

-0.29

0.45

-0.96

-0.92

1.36

0.62

-0.46

-0.55

0.40

-1.11

-0.75

0.46

-1.23

-0.66

-0.15

1.01

-1.54

0.63

0.30

0.62

0.00

0.67

-0.12

0.67

0.41

-1.93

0.52

0.77

0.00

0.67

-0.36

-0.26

0.34

-0.03

0.54

0.68

0.06

0.55

0.03

-0.25

0.75

-0.50

0.14

0.21

-0.58

-0.32

-0.04

-1.12

0.03

0.96

-0.30

-1.09

-0.76

0.81

0.51

-0.85

0.53

-0.48

-0.17

0.61

-0.68

-0.29

0.52

-0.64

-3.15

0.50

0.70

-1.06

-7.08

0.20

0.44

3.00

0.68

0.52

-0.35

-0.02

-1.97

-0.12

3.22

-0.51

-0.89

0.16

1.11

1.19

0.45

-0.49

-0.38

0.57

-0.40

-0.40

0.22

-0.73

0.92

0.00

0.25

1.40

-2.51

0.36

0.00

1,340,689

2,770,464

250,869

4,505,771

156,363

26,784,852

967,305

3,279,222

435,859

264,453

12,912,561

14,615,007

4,040,536

5,651,231

575,915

1,672,264

1,977,572

1,549,571

1,080,558

554,098

116,786

3,167,599

1,030,418

-

2,466,955

1,757,101

2,201,545

2,460,549

10,409,248

2,799,681

2,326,202

-

3,080,734

607,628

404,488

2,666,142

197,499

1,316,098

2,577,624

115,088

3,907,935

448,092

2,456,543

1,043,004

1,006,243

990,608

3,669,338

737,352

123,967,619

6,988,457

701,727

7,450,453

820,104

11,663,022

3,062,846

5,220,059

197,250

219,573

2,364,824

1,625,415

978,051

20,623,053

289,268

958,591

30,256,933

3,754,644

2,550,589

758,746

414,790

2,265,368

2,424,270

12,718,204

3,315,651

216,554

1,687,924

1,491,512

291,069

10,389,246

504,414

2,007,951

462,528

1,023,178

7,934,339

1,311,105

1,295,410

16,926,235

4,165,886

475,282

2,582,951

70,856,134

5,696,071

700,237

4,754,503

1,081,793

1,108,189

976,219

-

1,601,941

2,905,972

1,994,397

665,432

-

FTSE 100

Company Name Lt Price % Chg Volume

East Japan Railway CoItochu Corp

Fujifilm Holdings CorpYamato Holdings Co Ltd

Chubu Electric Power Co IncMitsubishi Estate Co Ltd

Mitsubishi Heavy IndustriesToshiba Corp

Shiseido Co LtdShionogi & Co Ltd

Tokyo Gas Co LtdTokyo Electron Ltd

Panasonic CorpFujitsu Ltd

Central Japan Railway CoT&D Holdings Inc

Toyota Motor CorpKddi Corp

Nitto Denko Corp

10,175.00

1,625.50

4,324.00

2,462.00

1,484.00

2,219.00

438.30

215.80

2,979.50

5,507.00

511.30

11,175.00

1,229.50

652.00

18,360.00

1,733.00

6,406.00

2,969.00

9,455.00

-0.25

-0.67

-0.55

-1.26

-0.80

-1.36

-1.22

-4.09

0.85

-2.29

-1.10

-0.80

-2.30

-0.58

-0.57

-3.29

-0.65

-0.18

-0.73

903,300

4,935,400

1,096,400

2,970,700

1,565,400

4,112,000

15,768,000

118,494,000

2,335,900

2,572,200

8,186,000

682,400

10,158,800

11,940,000

323,000

4,912,900

5,912,400

4,786,500

547,800

TOKYO

Company Name Lt Price % Chg Volume

Rakuten IncKyocera Corp

Nissan Motor Co LtdHitachi Ltd

Takeda Pharmaceutical Co LtdJfe Holdings Inc

Ana Holdings IncMitsubishi Electric Corp

Sumitomo Mitsui Financial GrHonda Motor Co Ltd

Fast Retailing Co LtdMs&Ad Insurance Group Holdin

Kubota CorpSeven & I Holdings Co Ltd

Inpex CorpResona Holdings Inc

Asahi Kasei CorpKirin Holdings Co Ltd

Marubeni CorpMitsubishi Ufj Financial Gro

Mitsubishi Chemical HoldingsFanuc Corp

Daito Trust Construct Co LtdOtsuka Holdings Co Ltd

Oriental Land Co LtdSekisui House Ltd

Secom Co LtdTokio Marine Holdings Inc

Aeon Co LtdMitsui & Co Ltd

Kao CorpDai-Ichi Life Holdings Inc

Mazda Motor CorpKomatsu Ltd

West Japan Railway CoMurata Manufacturing Co Ltd

Kansai Electric Power Co IncDenso Corp

Sompo Holdings IncDaiwa House Industry Co Ltd

Jx Holdings IncNippon Steel & Sumitomo Meta

Suzuki Motor CorpNippon Telegraph & Telephone

Ajinomoto Co IncMitsui Fudosan Co Ltd

Ono Pharmaceutical Co LtdDaikin Industries Ltd

Bank Of Yokohama Ltd/TheToray Industries IncAstellas Pharma Inc

Bridgestone CorpSony CorpHoya Corp

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust HoldinJapan Tobacco Inc

Osaka Gas Co LtdSumitomo Electric Industries

Daiwa Securities Group IncSoftbank Group Corp

Mizuho Financial Group IncNomura Holdings Inc

Daiichi Sankyo Co LtdFuji Heavy Industries Ltd

Ntt Docomo IncSumitomo Realty & Developmen

Sumitomo Metal Mining Co LtdOrix Corp

Asahi Group Holdings LtdKeyence Corp

Nidec CorpIsuzu Motors Ltd

Unicharm CorpShin-Etsu Chemical Co Ltd

Smc CorpMitsubishi CorpNintendo Co Ltd

Eisai Co LtdSumitomo Corp

Canon IncJapan Airlines Co Ltd

1,131.00

6,232.00

1,105.00

616.90

5,325.00

2,121.00

334.70

1,651.50

4,380.00

3,498.00

35,250.00

3,769.00

1,770.00

4,407.00

1,113.50

624.80

1,084.50

1,947.50

725.50

738.90

864.00

21,965.00

15,735.00

5,141.00

6,324.00

1,800.50

8,178.00

4,886.00

1,673.50

1,709.50

5,780.00

2,110.50

1,573.50

2,662.00

7,422.00

16,130.00

1,251.00

5,008.00

4,176.00

3,104.00

524.60

2,763.50

4,407.00

4,788.00

2,256.00

2,542.50

2,502.50

10,590.00

0.00

995.00

1,523.00

4,495.00

3,454.00

5,062.00

4,051.00

3,778.00

434.00

1,841.50

702.00

8,393.00

208.40

720.60

2,575.50

4,229.00

2,687.50

3,120.00

1,571.50

1,742.50

4,026.00

43,630.00

10,480.00

1,490.00

2,500.00

9,560.00

31,970.00

2,543.00

23,680.00

6,285.00

1,511.50

3,292.00

3,670.00

-1.14

-0.62

-0.63

-2.54

-0.45

-1.62

-1.01

-2.34

-2.01

-1.55

0.20

-2.33

-0.95

0.48

-2.92

-1.23

-1.99

-0.38

-1.13

-3.07

-1.45

-0.88

0.13

-0.37

-0.53

-0.80

-0.41

-3.07

0.45

-0.81

1.05

-2.97

-1.75

-1.79

-0.54

-1.59

-0.91

-0.91

-4.00

-0.96

-1.37

-1.57

-1.43

0.08

0.07

-2.55

-0.36

-1.67

0.00

-1.39

-0.52

-0.84

-0.92

-0.26

-2.81

-0.71

-1.12

-1.31

-1.69

-2.41

-1.28

-2.16

-1.11

-1.10

-0.59

-2.65

-0.10

-1.11

-0.30

-0.05

-1.41

-3.50

0.64

-1.99

-1.51

-1.19

-0.15

-0.33

-1.05

-0.51

-0.76

TOKYO

Company Name Lt Price % Chg

Aluminum Corp Of China Ltd-HBank Of East Asia Ltd

Bank Of China Ltd-HBank Of Communications Co-H

Belle International HoldingsBoc Hong Kong Holdings Ltd

Cathay Pacific AirwaysCk Hutchison Holdings Ltd

China Coal Energy Co-HChina Construction Bank-H

China Life Insurance Co-HChina Merchants Port Holding

China Mobile LtdChina Overseas Land & Invest

China Petroleum & Chemical-HChina Resources Beer Holdin

China Resources Land LtdChina Resources Power Holdin

China Shenhua Energy Co-HChina Unicom Hong Kong Ltd

Citic LtdClp Holdings Ltd

Cnooc LtdCosco Shipping Ports Ltd

Esprit Holdings LtdFih Mobile Ltd

Hang Lung Properties LtdHang Seng Bank Ltd

Henderson Land Development

3.96

32.75

3.93

6.20

5.43

31.00

11.34

96.30

4.10

6.36

24.05

21.75

86.55

24.05

6.06

17.82

21.25

14.04

16.28

9.53

11.20

78.20

9.25

8.59

7.43

2.95

19.70

159.40

45.25

1.02

-0.46

-1.01

-0.80

-0.18

-0.16

-0.70

1.90

-0.97

-0.78

-1.23

1.87

0.06

-0.21

-0.66

-0.22

-0.70

-1.68

0.00

-0.73

-1.41

0.45

-1.39

0.70

1.92

0.00

-0.81

-0.38

0.11

19,647,761

1,478,693

342,533,413

19,534,400

9,238,505

6,550,542

3,754,626

10,206,416

9,504,273

289,824,778

44,605,918

7,751,491

10,664,126

13,032,569

74,202,445

2,588,039

5,946,565

4,395,086

15,260,689

56,111,722

17,124,822

1,694,711

70,775,874

4,068,528

9,479,237

17,623,975

3,725,366

1,636,887

1,745,995

HONG KONG

Company Name Lt Price % Chg Volume

Hong Kong & China GasHong Kong Exchanges & Clear

Hsbc Holdings PlcHutchison Whampoa Ltd

Ind & Comm Bk Of China-HLi & Fung Ltd

Mtr CorpNew World Development

Petrochina Co Ltd-HPing An Insurance Group Co-H

Power Assets Holdings LtdSino Land Co

Sun Hung Kai PropertiesSwire Pacific Ltd - Cl ATencent Holdings Ltd

Wharf Holdings Ltd

15.00

195.40

63.00

0.00

5.08

3.50

41.40

10.22

6.02

41.80

69.85

13.42

114.70

81.35

210.20

61.85

0.13

-1.31

-0.87

0.00

-1.17

-0.85

0.12

0.39

-1.47

-0.83

0.14

0.30

0.26

0.43

-0.47

0.00

8,676,278

6,740,430

37,267,733

-

272,699,692

27,998,704

1,890,652

17,158,940

129,001,824

30,251,335

2,004,647

4,348,671

2,821,112

1,220,055

14,141,432

1,672,708

HONG KONG

Company Name Lt Price % Chg Volume

Zee Entertainment EnterpriseYes Bank Ltd

Wipro LtdVedanta Ltd

Ultratech Cement LtdTech Mahindra Ltd

Tata Steel LtdTata Power Co Ltd

Tata Motors LtdTata Consultancy Svcs Ltd

Sun Pharmaceutical IndusState Bank Of India

Reliance Industries LtdPunjab National Bank

Power Grid Corp Of India LtdOil & Natural Gas Corp Ltd

Ntpc LtdMaruti Suzuki India Ltd

Mahindra & Mahindra LtdLupin Ltd

Larsen & Toubro LtdKotak Mahindra Bank Ltd

Itc LtdInfosys Ltd

Indusind Bank LtdIdea Cellular Ltd

Icici Bank LtdHousing Development Finance

Hindustan Unilever LtdHindalco Industries Ltd

Hero Motocorp LtdHdfc Bank Limited

Hcl Technologies LtdGrasim Industries Ltd

Gail India LtdDr. Reddy’s Laboratories

Coal India LtdCipla Ltd

Cairn India LtdBosch Ltd

Bharti Airtel LtdBharat Petroleum Corp Ltd

Bharat Heavy ElectricalsBank Of Baroda

Bajaj Auto LtdAxis Bank Ltd

Asian Paints LtdAmbuja Cements Ltd

Adani Ports And Special EconAcc Ltd

503.80

1,421.90

489.75

255.55

3,737.20

499.80

480.60

82.70

457.80

2,489.85

674.45

268.25

1,238.90

139.65

192.75

194.70

165.40

5,951.50

1,293.85

1,464.10

1,465.85

800.50

264.60

1,012.40

1,319.30

114.55

278.85

1,375.70

866.45

180.75

3,175.90

1,393.60

839.95

1,018.35

515.30

2,857.00

329.95

585.25

281.30

21,645.75

355.70

707.70

152.80

164.40

2,795.05

508.95

1,001.95

229.90

296.65

1,417.50

-2.84

-1.72

0.75

-2.78

-1.29

-0.76

-1.06

-0.90

-0.98

0.32

-0.01

-0.81

4.75

-0.36

-3.21

-0.66

-0.06

-1.32

-0.84

0.97

-1.40

-1.29

-0.40

0.35

-1.60

-4.22

-1.99

-0.72

0.96

-0.74

-0.03

-0.05

-0.34

-0.64

-0.43

-1.05

0.69

-1.21

-1.73

-1.57

-2.88

-1.39

-0.42

-2.23

-0.68

-3.64

-0.70

-0.91

-0.20

-1.43

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

20,823.91

2,368.18

5,846.56

15,499.65

47,181.04

66,662.10

7,257.45

4,852.04

11,835.44

9,465.90

19,107.47

1,534.00

23,925.05

5,773.76

1,317.54

28,812.88

8,896.70

3,108.62

32,868.84

5,382.87

+2.15

+0.84

+1.25

-33.81

+133.37

-799.29

+13.75

+6.80

+31.41

+12.40

-176.07

-16.14

-40.65

-13.12

+2.48

-80.09

-42.80

-8.41

-297.47

-3.03

Doha Securities MarketSaudi Tadawul

Kuwait Stocks ExchangeBahrain Stock Exchage

Oman Stock MarketAbudhabi Stock MarketDubai Financial Market

10,938.80

6,969.30

6,780.84

1,349.75

5,820.96

4,628.56

3,633.46

+1.73

-80.24

-28.94

-0.39

-12.60

-28.17

-9.05

“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.”

7,393,000

1,004,800

9,808,500

24,168,000

1,763,100

3,308,100

11,291,000

6,403,400

7,903,900

3,879,100

486,900

1,969,200

3,894,600

2,653,000

6,194,100

11,305,800

2,584,000

2,202,000

5,427,400

88,305,800

6,285,700

637,200

256,800

1,186,600

521,800

2,805,800

780,800

3,682,000

2,471,900

5,928,800

1,673,300

8,882,600

5,409,600

5,173,000

409,300

604,000

1,479,500

1,269,300

1,597,300

1,204,100

10,004,100

2,803,000

1,298,300

3,613,400

1,543,300

5,174,000

1,651,200

712,800

-

5,375,000

7,286,700

2,602,400

3,889,300

839,700

2,129,400

3,151,200

7,048,000

3,233,100

8,604,000

7,782,800

149,571,400

17,034,500

1,408,400

2,506,400

3,877,900

2,373,000

3,677,000

5,630,500

1,428,900

269,900

664,900

4,138,000

2,617,600

1,535,900

242,000

4,757,700

1,012,500

707,900

3,538,800

3,119,100

1,338,000

3,292,932

1,365,034

1,484,827

11,344,942

261,857

2,337,387

3,019,963

2,896,769

6,219,958

1,130,902

3,862,371

11,578,126

20,409,808

5,352,041

8,603,760

8,431,590

7,500,254

428,163

794,316

976,957

1,117,419

2,522,409

6,626,623

2,818,163

1,944,775

21,821,564

15,899,245

2,908,694

1,517,985

8,230,025

410,379

1,233,207

1,243,612

2,058,255

4,698,897

754,564

5,959,585

949,313

1,014,202

11,541

9,519,068

2,323,230

3,164,550

8,716,312

330,556

8,032,065

794,114

2,040,457

2,319,142

254,032

Gulf Times Tuesday, February 28, 2017

BUSINESS8

Page 9: MALAYSIA SPEND YELLEN VIEW Aramco set to invest $7bn

BUSINESS

Gulf Times Tuesday, February 28, 201714

Bond market is calling Yellen’s March interest rate hike bluff BloombergNew York

Bond traders are calling the Federal Reserve’s bluff .

For weeks now, everyone from Janet Yellen to Fed newcomer Patrick Harker has been trying to jawbone in-vestors into believing an interest-rate increase in March is on the table. That the meeting is “live.”

Yet try as they might, the bond mar-ket seems unconvinced there’s much behind the tough talk. With less than three weeks to go, traders see slightly more than a one-in-three chance the central bank raises rates. That’s well short of the 50% minimum that has predicated every rate hike in the past quarter-century, according to data compiled by Bianco Research.

Reasons for the scepticism are var-ied, but the one that stands out is the simple fact that Fed offi cials are run-ning out of time to make their case. The February jobs report comes fi ve days before Fed offi cials gather and infl ation data will be released mere hours be-fore their decision is announced. Both key metrics come out during the Fed’s public blackout period, which starts on March 4, leaving traders in the dark about the central bank’s intentions.

“The market recognises it has a veto over the Fed,” said Jim Bianco, a three-decade industry veteran whose research is followed by some of the big-gest fi xed-income managers. Because of the timing of the releases and the risk of whipsawing the market, “it might be too late at that point for them to do anything, even if we get eye-popping numbers.”

US Treasury yields have fallen this year as worries over faster infl ation and bigger defi cits under a Trump adminis-tration give way to a more tangible de-bate over the Fed’s interest-rate policy and jitters about the upcoming French election. The benchmark 10-year note has slid to 2.33%, down from 2.64% in mid-December.

Right now, the odds are decidedly against an increase in March. Futures traders are pricing in just a 40% proba-bility, based on the assumption that the eff ective fed funds rate will trade at the middle of the new FOMC target range after the next hike. The last two times

the Fed raised rates, in December 2015 and December 2016, the chances were 74% and 100%. Just one of the 23 bond dealers that trade with Fed are calling for higher rates next month.

“The Fed wants the market to believe March is live, but I don’t necessar-ily think that means they will tighten then,” said Clayton Triick, money manager at Angel Oak Capital Advisors, which oversees $5.5bn.

Fed offi cials said in minutes of their latest meeting that they can raise rates “fairly soon” if labour market and in-fl ation data meet or exceed current ex-pectations. But time and again, offi cials have shown that they want to be sure investors are ready for an increase be-fore it actually happens.

“We certainly never want to surprise the markets,” Cleveland Fed President

Loretta Mester told Bloomberg TV last week.

Since they began announcing their target for the Fed funds rate in 1994, a period encompassing 191 meetings, policy makers have never surprised traders by lifting rates when they were expecting the central bank to stay put, Bianco said. He looked at market-based expectations three weeks before each meeting and considers odds of 50% or more as pricing in a move.

Of course, the “bond markets can be wrong,” as Jeff rey Rosenberg, Black-Rock’s chief fi xed-income strategist, put it bluntly. But the window to change perceptions is closing fast. Yellen, the Fed chair, and Vice Chairman Stanley Fischer are both scheduled to speak on March 3, giving them each one last chance before the blackout period.

Recent fi gures on wage growth dis-appointed and the March calendar for economic releases is also working against the Fed. Not since January 2014 has the US announced jobs data so late into a month. And the central bank rarely pulls the trigger right after the release.

“The fact that the releases don’t come far enough in advance is going to be a problem” if the Fed really intends to tighten, said Michael Gapen, the head of US economics research at Barclays.

It’s not just March. The May 3 meet-ing comes between the fi rst and second rounds of France’s presidential elec-tion, in which right-wing, anti-euro candidate Marine Le Pen is leading the polls. That’s heightening concern that geopolitical issues may once again hamstring the Fed. Last year, the Fed

held off in June before the Brexit vote. China’s surprise yuan devaluation in 2015 also wreaked havoc with the cen-tral bank’s timetable.

Traders currently see a 63% likeli-hood of at least one rate increase by May. (If you were to strip out March, then odds for May would be lower.) The majority of dealers remain convinced the fi rst hike won’t happen until June.

“I don’t think May is in play,” Paul Richards, the president of Medley Glo-bal Advisors, told Bloomberg TV last week. “They blinked last year. The French election, representing someone like Le Pen, is just too big.”

The May gathering is one of four each year that doesn’t have an accom-panying news conference. The Fed be-gan holding media briefi ngs after every other meeting in 2011.

Deutsche Bank cuts bonus pool almost 80% on legal costsBloombergFrankfurt

Deutsche Bank AG cut its 2016 bonus pool by almost 80%, a fi gure unmatched in the bank’s

recent history as it tries to recover from legal expenses that wiped out profi t and eroded capital levels.

The lender is reducing payouts with an eye toward shareholders and is aware it will be “frustrating” for employees, chief administrative of-ficer Karl von Rohr told Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung in an in-terview.

The measures will affect about a quarter of the 100,000 staff, the German Sunday newspaper cited him as saying.

The comments were accurately re-ported, a Deutsche Bank spokesman told Bloomberg yesterday in Frankfurt.

Though Deutsche Bank told staff last month that it was scaling back bo-

nuses, the full magnitude of the cuts hadn’t been reported.

The fi rm, which operates Europe’s biggest investment bank, saw its shares sink 23% last year amid rising misconduct costs and concerns about its fi nancial strength.

In an eff ort to bolster profi tability and build its capital buff er, chief exec-utive offi cer John Cryan has eliminated jobs, suspended dividends and sold risky assets.

Philipp Haessler, an analyst at Equi-net Bank AG in Frankfurt, said the re-duction of almost 80% is more than he anticipated.

Deutsche Bank’s wider compen-sation expenses fell 11% to €11.9bn ($12.6bn) last year from a year earlier, company fi lings show.

“Investors will be happy to see that costs go down, but the question is, will the best people want to leave or are there no jobs out there for them?” said Haessler, who has a buy recommenda-tion on the shares. “It’d be great if this

helped keep personnel costs lower, but I’m sceptical on that given Deutsche Bank’s track record.”

Some workers in key positions – about 5,000 in all – will get a special, long-term incentive tied to the bank’s performance that will paid out after as many as six years, von Rohr said.

Cryan told reporters this month that those awards were for “relatively few” people in revenue-earning areas, but also in “critical infrastructure func-tions and control functions where we are focusing a lot of our investment to improve the bank.”

The bank hopes to “resume normal service for the business year 2017” with regard to bonuses, Cryan said.

The lender last year cut its bonus pool 17%, arguing at the time that deeper reductions would compromise its ability to retain top talent.

The cuts to the 2016 bonus outpace those of competitors.

Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc trimmed its bonus pool by 8%, while

Barclays Plc cut awards for “front-of-fi ce” staff by about 1%.

Deutsche Bank hasn’t lost more staff than usual as a result and employee fl uctuation actually fell in January from a year earlier, according to von Rohr.

The company has “no diffi culty at-tracting the best people,” the newspa-per cited him as saying.

The bank has faced more than $14.5bn in fi nes and legal settlements since the start of 2008, more than any other European lender, calculations by Bloomberg show.

The largest expense was a $3.1bn civil penalty Deutsche Bank agreed to pay in a settlement with the US Justice Department in January over pre-crisis mortgage bond sales.

The total doesn’t include consumer relief payments.

Von Rohr said that Deutsche Bank hopes to conclude most of its big-gest remaining legal cases by the end of the year.

Russia’s VTB plans to slim downin EuropeReutersMoscow

Russian bank VTB plans to cut costs by slimming down its operations in

the European Union to focus on Frankfurt while keeping London as the base for its investment banking business, the bank’s fi rst deputy president said.

The reorganisation of VTB’s European business would mean the three banking licences it has in Austria, France and Germany would be merged into one held by its German bank, allowing VTB to signifi cantly cut costs, Yuri Soloviev told Reuters.

Soloviev said VTB was not looking to leave Britain due to its decision last year to leave the European Union.

“London remains the inter-national headquarters of our in-vestment bank, VTB Capital.

At the moment we are defi -nitely not considering any re-duction of our business or an exit,” Soloviev said in an inter-view in Moscow.

“If you take any Russian com-pany on a roadshow, then abso-lutely the fi rst centre where you go remains London.”

VTB’s global ambitions took a hit when it was included in Western economic sanctions over the Ukraine confl ict, while an economic crisis in Russia from 2014 dented profi ts.

Sources have told Reuters that VTB cut London staff in the wake of the sanctions as deal volumes fell off sharply and many of its Russian corporate clients were shut out of international capital markets.

“Over the past year or two we have re-evaluated our presence in Europe,” Soloviev said.

“We have reformatted our business model.

Our main focus now is follow-ing Russian capital.

We have developed a speciali-sation in several countries, es-pecially ones where global banks have pulled back.

That’s some countries in East-ern Europe, Bulgaria, Serbia, former Yugoslavia in general.”

Among VTB Capital’s recent deals in Eastern Europe it sold Bulgaria’s leading telecoms op-erator Vivacom last year.

In 2012 it placed a $750mn Eurobond for Serbia.

Soloviev said VTB was in discussions with the European Central Bank over a pan-Euro-pean banking licence.

Soloviev said VTB saw oppor-tunities to expand its business in India after it helped fi nance the deal for a consortium led by Russian oil major Rosneft to buy India’s Essar Oil.

“After the Essar transaction we have become one of the most well-known brands on the lo-cal market,” he said. “We have found a very interesting niche on the level of mezzanine capital and trade cooperation between Russia and India.”

VTB currently has deals in In-dia in technology, media and tel-ecoms (TMT) and is monitoring the real estate and metallurgy sectors, Soloviev said.

In Russia, Soloviev said VTB was capitalising on a pickup in investor appetite for Rus-sian debt by organising one or two corporate Eurobond deals a week.

The headquarters of Deutsche Bank is seen in Frankfurt. The bank cut its 2016bonus pool by almost 80%, a figure unmatched in the bank’s recent history as it tries to recover from legal expenses that wiped out profit and eroded capital levels.

Funds prepare $2bn oil market play as supply tightensReutersNew York

Passive investment funds are poised to shift an estimated $2bn from far-term to near-term crude futures over the next week, anticipating an energy market rally as a historic Opec output cut slashes supply.The switch may foreshadow the end of a global oil glut that built up during a two-year price war.On Friday — for the first time in six years — a rule in one of the most popular commodity market indices was triggered, requiring funds tracking the index to sell Brent crude futures contracts for December and to buy contracts for June.The S&P GSCI Enhanced Commodity Index rule aims to ensure that investors are positioned to cash in when oil market fundamentals change — in this case, when supply becomes so tight that the current price of oil becomes higher than the price of oil for delivery

many months or years into the future.That structure is called backwardation.When markets are oversupplied, the opposite is true: It is cheaper to buy crude now than to buy it for delivery later.That structure is called contango.An S&P bulletin late Friday confirmed the rule had been triggered for Brent contracts.It stipulates that the funds must bring their money forward if the second and third month contract settles at a diff erence of less than 0.5% on the third to the last day of any given trading month.On Friday, the Brent May contract price settled at $56.31 a barrel, while the June price settled at $56.55 a barrel.That would make the diff erence about 0.4%.The threshold was not breached for West Texas Intermediate crude.Investors will need to start the shift on March 1 and complete it over the next five business days, moving 20% of their money each day.

Two traders with knowledge of the indices told Reuters that they estimated that rule impacts between 35,000 and 45,000 Brent contracts.Each contract represents 1,000 barrels.So if those predictions prove true, about 40mn barrels — worth about $2bn — will change hands.“This is just another reason to be very bullish” about oil prices, said one trader involved with the deals, who spoke on condition of anonymity.When the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) and some non-Opec producers agreed in November to cut output, they wanted to stem a flood of supply that had left the contango so deep that traders found it profitable to buy crude and store it for sale later.That dynamic pushed worldwide inventories to record levels and helped drive oil prices to multi-year lows.Opec’s output cut, however, has tightened supply and narrowed contango, prompting traders from the United States to Asia to start selling oil

from more expensive storage facilities because the contango is no longer enough for them to make a profit by holding oil.If contango narrows further, tens of millions more barrels could flood out of storage.That could put downward pressure on prices in the short term, but the move to unleash stored oil is viewed by analysts as a first step toward rebalancing global markets after a period of oversupply.The fast flow of capital into front-month contracts will make it uneconomical for traders to store physical barrels, said Michael Tran, director of energy strategy at RBC Capital Markets.“The unintended consequence” of the trading shift, he added, “is helping Opec in its objective to draw barrels from storage.”It’s not clear exactly how much money is managed by firms that benchmark off the indices, but exchange-traded funds linked to them, such as the iShares S&P GSCI Commodity-Indexed Trust, have

more than $1.1bn in assets, according to ETF Securities.Since the Opec output cut, the spread between the front month and second month Brent contracts has tightened to as little as 5 cents from 79 cents.June and December contracts traded near parity on Friday.To make money by holding crude, the spread between oil prices for future months needs to be wide enough to cover the cost of leasing tank space and borrowing the money to buy the fuel to fill it.For the last two years, US traders have rushed to that opportunity as those price spreads widened.Now, they may be forced to rush out of it.“When there’s a shortage, there’s no value to storage. So, there’s a premium put on having the oil right now,” said Jodie Gunzberg, global head of commodities and real assets at S&P Dow Jones Indices. “That’s where you want to be sitting up front in the near contract.”

Yellen: Taking investors into confidence.

Page 10: MALAYSIA SPEND YELLEN VIEW Aramco set to invest $7bn

BUSINESS15Gulf Times

Tuesday, February 28, 2017

Shrinking bonuses slow revolving door of Wall St brokersBloombergNew York

After months of secretive plan-ning, seven teams of fi nan-cial advisers had new business

cards and client lists in hand, poised to dump their employers and join Morgan Stanley with more than $500mn of as-sets in tow.

But the wealth managers woke on October 28 to fi nd the ground beneath them had shifted. Morgan Stanley had pulled the advisers’ lucrative recruit-ment packages overnight after US regulators clarifi ed new rules to reduce confl icts of interest in the industry, ac-cording to people with knowledge of the situation. The teams were thrown into limbo.

For years, top Wall Street fi nan-cial advisers have cashed in on cli-

ent relationships by jumping to rivals off ering rich recruitment packages. But those multimillion-dollar deals abruptly crumbled in October when the Department of Labor briefed banks ahead of the April implementation of its so-called fi duciary rule. Major fi rms including Morgan Stanley and Bank of America Corp’s Merrill Lynch soon restructured their enticements, typically off ering at least 25% less than before, according to the people. And even though the rule’s future is now in doubt, its impact on bonuses endures.

“Right this second, I fi nd almost nobody moving,” said Michael King, a New York-based recruiter. “Unless there’s a special situation they’re try-ing to fi x, like if they hate their man-ager, people are waiting to see if the bonuses come back.”

At the centre of the disruption is the Department of Labor’s interpretation

of the fi duciary rule. Broadly speak-ing, the regulation says advisers han-dling retirement accounts must give advice in a client’s best interest and shouldn’t earn more than reasonable compensation. More specifi cally, the regulator said in October, hiring in-centives risked running afoul of rules because they include sales targets that can pressure brokers to push expensive products on savers.

In January, President Donald Trump signed an executive memorandum di-recting the regulator to review the rule. But after years of preparation, Morgan Stanley and Merrill Lynch have said they will still follow through with re-forms they drafted to become com-pliant. They haven’t specifi ed what they’ll do with compensation.

Hardest hit are brokers who focus on commission-based accounts, where revenue is fuelled by higher-cost in-

vestments such as variable annuities. While top fi nancial advisers usually cater to a wealthy clientele who pay a fl at fee, many still have at least some assets subject to the restrictions.

None of the seven teams poised to join Morgan Stanley in October fol-lowed through, according to the people with knowledge of the situation, who asked not to be identifi ed discussing confi dential talks. But of several dozen others who agreed before the last week of October to take jobs, almost half eventually accepted the smaller pack-ages, another person said.

Signing bonuses are calculated based on an adviser’s trailing 12-month revenue, which includes fees and com-missions. Before the Labor Depart-ment issued guidance in October, top performers could expect total incen-tive packages equal to about 330% of their revenue.

That meant an adviser with $200mn in assets under management produc-ing about $2mn in annual revenue could expect a deal worth $6.6mn. The payouts were split between upfront bonuses and back-end awards spread over about a decade. To collect the full package, the recruit had to hit certain production targets.

But since October, the four major wirehouses of Morgan Stanley, Mer-rill Lynch, Wells Fargo & Co and UBS Group have been off ering packages worth 200% to 250%. That means the same adviser would reap at least $1.6mn less. The back-end awards have either been replaced by pay based on the deferred compensation that brokers forfeit when moving fi rms or changed to de-emphasize production targets to comply with the Labor De-partment directives.

Regardless of what happens with the

rule, banks may not rush back to their old practices. For years recruitment deals have been derided as a zero-sum game that hurts industrywide profi t-ability because big fi rms mostly just trade brokers among themselves. But banks continued to off er the bonuses to defend and build wealth manage-ment businesses with steadier revenue and lower capital requirements than trading operations. The disruption in October may help ratchet down the bidding for top producers.

“It’s been an ongoing bull market for top talent, and this has been the first correction in at least 15 years,” said Danny Sarch, president of re-cruitment firm Leitner Sarch Con-sultants. “We’ve had pauses, like during the financial crisis, but this is the first real step back. Now the question is, will they still be able to get people to move?”

Hedge funds, money managers find plenty of willing sellers in oilBy John KempLondon

For every buyer of futures and options

there must be a seller. For every long posi-

tion there must be a corresponding short

position. Hedge funds and other money

managers have purchased a record

number of futures and options contracts

linked to Brent and WTI, betting that prices

will rise.

As a group, hedge funds now hold a

record net long position equivalent to

951mn barrels across the three main Brent

and WTI contracts.

Hedge fund long positions outnumber

short positions by a record ratio of 10.3:1.

With hedge funds almost all long, some

other group of traders must have sold a

correspondingly large number of futures

and options contracts, either as a hedge or

betting prices will fall.

Since September 2009, the US Com-

modity Futures Trading Commission

(CFTC) has employed a four-way clas-

sification for all traders with reportable

positions in crude oil.

Traders are classed as a producer/

merchant/processor/user, a swap dealer, a

money manager, or into a miscellaneous

“other reporting” category. Traders with

positions less than 350,000 barrels do not

have to report them but they show up as a

residual “non-reporting” category.

The classification is discussed on the

commission’s website (“Disaggregated

commitments of traders report: explana-

tory notes”, CFTC, undated).

If a trader’s market activities span more

than one category, the commission makes

a judgment about their predominant

activity, and all trades are then classed in

this category.

Unfortunately, the commission does

not disclose how individual traders are

classified, which creates considerable

uncertainty about the composition of

the categories. For example, if a major oil

company hedges its inventory as well as

providing price risk management services

to customers, we don’t know whether

its trades are classified as producer/mer-

chant/processor/user or as a swap dealer.

On February 21, hedge funds and other

money managers held a net long posi-

tion in WTI on the New York Mercantile

Exchange (NYMEX) equivalent to 414mn

barrels, according to CFTC data.

“Other reporting” traders also held a

net long position of 173mn barrels while

non-reporting traders were net long by

15mn barrels.

The corresponding short positions were

held by producer/merchant/processor/

users, with a net short position of 291mn

barrels, and swap dealers, with a net short

of 310mn barrels. As hedge funds have

increased their net long positions in WTI,

the majority of the contracts have been

sold to them by swap dealers.

Hedge funds and other money manag-

ers have increased their net long position

in WTI by 254mn barrels since early

November. Swap dealers increased their

net short position by 202mn barrels over

the same period (with the balance of extra

short positions coming from producer/

merchant/processor/users).

Hedge fund positions in WTI are more

closely correlated with swap dealers than

with any other category of traders.

The CFTC defines swap dealers as any

“entity that deals primarily in swaps for a

commodity and uses the futures markets

to manage or hedge the risk associated

with those swaps transactions”.

According to the commission, “the

swap dealer’s counterparties may be

speculative traders, like hedge funds, or

traditional commercial clients that are

managing risk arising from their dealings

in the physical commodity”.

Swap dealers function as market mak-

ers and intermediaries and may assume

positions on their own account or act as

intermediaries for other traders.

Swap dealers (or their clients) have

been eager sellers of futures and options

linked to WTI because as hedge funds

have accumulated a record position prices

have scarcely risen since mid-December.

Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) em-

ploys a similar four-way classification for

trades in its Brent and other commodity

contracts listed in London.

But although ICE employs the same cri-

teria there is no guarantee that individual

classifications by ICE and the CFTC are the

same because the CFTC does not disclose

how individual traders are categorised.

The positioning of traders is very diff er-

ent in Brent, which may reflect diff erences

in the structure of the market, or inconsist-

encies in classification.

On February 21, hedge funds and other

money managers held a net long position

in ICE Brent futures and options equiva-

lent to 508mn barrels.

Swap dealers also held a very large net

long position amounting to 428mn barrels

in Brent, according to records published

by ICE, which contrasts with their large

short position in WTI.

In Brent, the corresponding short posi-

tions all came from producer/merchant/

processor/users with a net short position

of 790mn barrels. Hedge funds have

boosted their net long position in Brent

by 241mn barrels since November 8, with

most of this supplied by an increase in

producer/merchant/processor/user short

positions of 193mn barrels.

John Kemp is a Reuters market analyst.

The views expressed are his own.

Britons face surge in motor insurance premiumsReutersLondon

Britons will have to pay much more for motor in-surance after the govern-

ment announced new rules yes-terday that will push up lump sum payments for personal in-jury claims.

The industry’s trade body de-scribed the change as “crazy” as it would lead insurers to further increase motor insurance premi-ums, which jumped 9% last year.

The personal injury lawyers’ trade group, however, said it was “long overdue”.

Shares in Britain’s biggest motor insurers Admiral and Di-rect Line tumbled after the Min-istry of Justice said the discount rate used to calculate lump sum payouts would be cut to minus 0.75%, from 2.5% — a much big-ger reduction than the industry had expected.

The ministry expects the lower rate to force insurers to pay out more in cash to personal injury claimants to ensure that returns over their lifetime meet the awarded compensation.

The change will come into ef-fect next month.

“The current legal framework makes clear that claimants must be treated as risk-averse investors, refl ecting the fact that they may be fi nancially dependent on this lump sum, often for long periods or the duration of their life,” the Ministry of Justice said in a statement.

The discount rate is calculated based on real yields on index-linked UK government bonds, but had not been changed since 2001 and so failed to account for a sharp drop in real yields, which are currently negative.

The Association of British In-surers, calling the move a “crazy decision”, said in a statement that motor and liability premi-

ums would rise as a result.Consultants PwC estimated

annual motor premiums would rise by £50-£75 on average.

That means higher costs for motorists, after premiums rose 9.3% last year due to tax in-creases, rising repair costs and whiplash claims. However, the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers said in a statement that “people already coping with the most severe injuries have been deprived of the help and care they need for years”.

Barrie Cornes, analyst at Pan-mure Gordon, described the move as a “huge blow to insur-ers”. Admiral estimated the net fi nancial impact on 2016 re-ported profi t at £70mn-£100mn ($87mn-$124mn).

Its shares were down 3.2% at 1,811 pence yesterday.

Direct Line said the new rate would reduce 2016 profi t before tax by £215mn-£230mn.

Its shares fell 7.8% to 336 pence, making it the worst performer in Britain’s blue chip FTSE 100 index. Shares in mid-cap motor insurer Esure, however, were up 3% at 214 pence, recovering ini-tial losses after the company es-timated the net impact of the rule change for 2017 would be £1mn.

The change will also aff ect Britain’s health service.

The government has com-mitted to making sure there is enough money to cover changes to hospitals’ clinical negligence costs, the justice ministry said.

Mid-cap insurer Hastings said the change would lead to a one-off pre-tax charge of £20mn in its 2016 results.

Its shares were unchanged at 232 pence. The change will be-come eff ective on March 20 al-though the Ministry of Justice said that in coming months it would also consult on whether this was the appropriate way to calculate the rate.

US core capital goods orders unexpectedly decline in January Shipments of core capital goods decline 0.6%; durable goods orders jump 1.8%

ReutersWashington

New orders for US-made capital goods unexpectedly fell in Janu-ary after three straight months

of strong gains, but did little to change views that manufacturing was recover-ing from a prolonged slump amid rising commodity prices.

The Commerce Department said yesterday that non-defence capi-tal goods orders excluding aircraft, a closely watched proxy for business spending plans, dropped 0.4% after an upwardly revised 1.1% increase in December.

These so-called core capital goods were previously reported to have gained 0.7% in December.

There were declines in orders for pri-mary metals and electrical equipment, appliances and components, as well as computers and electronic products.

Orders for machinery and fabricated metal products rose.

Economists polled by Reuters had forecast core capital goods rising 0.5% last month.

January’s drop in core capital goods orders likely refl ects caution among businesses as they await details of the Trump administration’s proposed tax reform.

US fi nancial markets were little moved by the report.

President Donald Trump has promised a “phenomenal” tax plan that the White House said would include tax cuts for businesses and individuals.

Details on the plan remain vague, though Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said last week that he wanted the tax relief enacted by August.

Expectations of tax cuts, increased infrastructure spending and a lighter

regulatory burden have boosted busi-ness confidence in recent months, spilling over into investment on capital goods.

Business investment shifted into higher gear in the fourth quarter, with spending on equipment increasing at a 3.1% rate after four straight quarterly declines.

The Trump administration’s perceived business-friendly policies, together with rising oil prices, are driving manufactur-ing, which accounts for about 12% of the US economy.

A strong dollar, however, remains a challenge for manufacturers as it makes

their goods less competitive on overseas markets. Shipments of core capital goods fell 0.6% last month after jumping 1.6% in December.

Core capital goods shipments are used to calculate equipment spending in the government’s gross domestic product measurement.

A 6.0% surge in demand for transpor-tation equipment buoyed overall orders for durable goods, items ranging from toasters to aircraft that are meant to last three years or more, which leapt 1.8% last month.

Durable goods orders decreased 0.8% in December.

Last month’s surged refl ected a 69.9% jump in civilian aircraft orders.

The surge came even as Boeing re-ported on its website that it had received orders for only 26 aircraft last month.

Economists believe not all of the 290 aircraft ordered in December were re-fl ected in the durable goods orders report for that month.

Orders for motor vehicles and parts rose 0.2% in January, while bookings for defence aircraft soared 59.9%. Point-ing to continued manufacturing recov-ery, unfi lled orders of core capital goods increased 0.5% last month after rising 0.4% in December.

Page 11: MALAYSIA SPEND YELLEN VIEW Aramco set to invest $7bn

Tuesday, February 28, 2017

BUSINESSGULF TIMES

Off icials of the Qatar Businessmen Association (QBA) held a meeting yesterday with members of a trade delegation from Azerbaijan to discuss bilateral and economic relations between the two countries. The Azerbaijan delegation presented investment opportunities in the fields of agriculture, food processing, tourism incentives, technology and communications, alternative energy, production of building materials, lighting, machinery, and in the chemical sector. Qatar-Azerbaijan relationship spans more than 23 years. It was enhanced by the establishment of a joint commission and the conclusion of 25 agreements in sectors such as information technology, communications, and information sharing. More agreements are expected to be secured in the presence of Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev, who is currently in Doha to enhance strategic partnership between the two countries.

QBA officials meet Azerbaijan trade delegation

Salam International Investment’s (SIIL) general assembly approved the board’s recommendation to distribute a cash dividend equal to 8% (for 2016) of the company’s paid-up capital to shareholders amounting to QR0.80 per share. During the meeting, presided over by SIIL chairman Issa Abdul Salam Abu Issa, it was announced that SIIL posted a net profit of QR119.7mn in 2016. The general assembly also approved the renewal of the authorisation granted to the board in connection with purchasing, selling, renting, and mortgaging the company’s and its subsidiaries’ real estate assets. In addition, to hold the loans, issue letters of credit and guarantees necessary to obtain bank facilities in order to run the company and its subsidiaries, finance their future projects, and compile and reschedule loans. In addition, to authorising the chairman of the board to grant power of attorney to a board member or executive director of the company, whether jointly or separately, to execute the above resolution on real estate and loans. The general assembly approved the renewal of its joint venture agreements with Salam Bounian, where authorising the board to enter into joint ventures with the sister company, in addition to holding their loans and issuing letters of credit and guarantees where necessary. PICTURE: Shaji Kayamkulam

SIIL to distribute 8% cash dividends to shareholders

QNB wins ‘Best Bank in Qatar’ awardfrom Asiamoney magazine

QNB Group has received the “Best Bank in Qatar” award from Asiamoney

magazine at its Finance in the Middle East Awards ceremony held recently in Hong Kong to recognise the best banks and deals across the region’s fi nan-cial markets.

According to Asiamoney, QNB received the highly-competitive award after successfully under-going all the stringent valuation for fi nancial performance, key strategy, and presence in the market.

“QNB’s winning of the award from one of the top financial industry publications is a true testament to the excellence of the bank’s services, business model, competitiveness in an increasingly fierce market-place, and the expertise of its management,” the bank said in a statement.

It added: “The bank con-stantly strives to improve the quality of its off ering and the effi ciency of its operations by always keeping up with the lat-est developments and adapting to changes in local and interna-tional markets.”

QNB has won many awards from various international pub-lications in recognition of the excellence of its services and op-erations.

Asiamoney reports and off ers analysis on the fi nancial and in-vestment markets for capital is-suers, borrowers, institutional investors, and senior corporate and government monetary deci-sion makers.

QNB Group is present through its subsidiaries and associ-ate companies in more than 30 countries across three conti-nents, providing a comprehen-sive range of products and serv-ices. QNB Group staff exceeds 28,000 and operates through 1,200 locations with a network of 4,300 ATMs.

QNB Group is present through its subsidiaries and associate companies in more than 30 countries across three continents, providing a comprehensive range of products and services. QNB Group staff exceeds 28,000 and operates through 1,200 locations with a network of 4,300 ATMs

GIS outlines QR1.1bn investment in 5 yearsGulf International Services

(GIS), a holding company of Gulf Drilling International,

Gulf Helicopters, Al Koot and Amwaj – is planning to invest more than QR1bn in the next fi ve years, according to its top offi cial.

“The group expects to further in-vest QR1.1bn over the next fi ve years. Much of these investments are aimed to respond to the challenges on im-proving the effi ciency and reducing operating costs so that the group will continue to remain competitive,” GIS chairman Sheikh Khalid bin Khalifa al-Thani said.

Considering the current unpredict-able business environment as an op-portunity rather than a threat to it, he said GIS believes continued invest-ment in operating assets under such environment is essential to reap the available opportunities.

“Therefore we will continue to in-vest selectively when the right oppor-tunity becomes available to the group,” he said.

GIS is planning to work with a con-sultant to refi ne and evolve a corporate strategy that will focus on identifying the growth opportunities, and to de-vise plans to execute those strategies, according to him.

Stressing that the company will inculcate new thinking and infuse new processes to improve its busi-ness operations, Sheikh Khalid said “we are also hopeful that the cur-rent gradual recovery of the crude oil

prices will improve the confidence amongst our clients, which in turn will help us to better utilise our cur-rent asset base, and search for new business opportunities.”

GIS managing director Ebrahim Ahmad al-Mannai said the group is actively working on several initiatives including developing a new growth strategy to support the group in the future, and to further diversify the group operations to sustain in an un-certain economic environment, and

to reduce the operational risks. Al-though recent economic headwinds do present challenges to the company, GIS and its group companies will con-tinue to strategically grow, the com-pany board said.

“Our aviation and insurance seg-ments are planned to grow during the business plan period. Additionally, the group is currently contemplat-ing a number of new strategies that will focus on three main areas name-ly: identifying growth opportunities

within the existing segments, further optimising the value chain within the group and potential restructuring of the operations, and to diversify into other related services segments within the economy,” the board report said.

Ongoing eff orts were made to ten-der for new contracts to have a sus-tained growth during the turbulent times, the board said, adding the cur-rent fi nancing strategy was revisited and eff orts were made to restructure some of the loans.

GIS is planning to work with a consultant to refine and evolve a corporate strategy that will focus on identifying the growth opportunities, says its chairman Sheikh Khalid bin Khalifa al-Thani.

Ooredoo named one of world’s ‘Top 50 Telecoms Brands’Ooredoo is the fastest-growing of any

of the major telecoms brands in the

region, rising in value 48% from 2016 to

2017 and among the top 50 telecoms

brands in the world, according to a

new report by valuation and strategy

consultancy Brand Finance.

The report, ‘Telecoms 500 2017’,

comes as Ooredoo hosts one of its larg-

est and most technologically-advanced

product demonstrations at Mobile

World Congress 2017 taking place in

Barcelona this week.

Telecoms 500 2017 values the

brands of operators and infrastructure

companies around the world. Brands

are first evaluated to determine their

strength, based on factors such as mar-

keting investment, familiarity, loyalty,

staff satisfaction and corporate reputa-

tion, and this is used to determine what

proportion of a business’s revenue is

contributed by the brand.

This information is then used to rank

the world’s 500 most valuable telecoms

brands. Ooredoo has risen to become

the 47th biggest telecoms brand in

2017, appearing in the top 50 for the

first time in its history.

Since beginning the rebranding proc-

ess in 2013 with a special ceremony at

the Mobile World Congress, Ooredoo

has rolled out the Ooredoo brand in

eight markets in the Middle East, North

Africa, and Southeast Asia. During that

time, its total brand value has grown

from less than $1bn to more than $3bn,

propelling it into the top 50.

According to the report, Ooredoo’s

brand value has consistently increased

since the company began its global

brand roll-out, which the report calcu-

lates as $3.1bn in 2017. With more than

138mn customers, the Ooredoo brand

is becoming one of the most widely-

recognised communications brands in

the world today.

Ooredoo Group CEO Sheikh Saud

bin Nasser al-Thani said: “Ooredoo

continues to evolve and reach new

customers and new markets around

the world. We have set our operations

the target of becoming data experience

leaders across our global footprint, and

to enable everyone to enjoy the inter-

net on Ooredoo networks. This report

demonstrates the progress we have

made to date, and also the incredible

momentum of our brand.”

As part of the Ooredoo brand roll-

out, the company executed a major

modernisation process, which has in-

cluded network investment, customer

service revamps, and digital content

boosts across its markets.

In its pursuit of data experience lead-

ership, Ooredoo has invested in build-

ing world-class networks, off ering 4G

services in eight out of 10 markets and

launching 4G+ services in a number of

key markets. The company is also test-

ing 5G solutions to sustain Ooredoo’s

leadership in this area.

As a reflection of the success of this

strategy, revenue from data increased

to 40% of Group revenues in 2016, a

new record for the company.

Other highlights from the Telecoms

500 2017 report include AT&T overtak-

ing Verizon as the most valuable tel-

ecoms brand in the world and Huawei

retaining the top spot in the infrastruc-

ture table.

The Mobile World Congress 2017

runs until March 2 in Barcelona, Spain.


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