Middle East ETF News Older than One Year
Islamic banks drag Manama market down
June 25, 2013--The Bahrain All-Share Index declined 0.30% to 1,194.46 points on Tuesday.
Islamic financial institutions Gulf Finance House and Ithmaar Bank lost 6.67% and 4%, respectively. Bahrain National Holding jumped 5.88% to reach BD0.36.
Source: AME Info
Saudi Arabia Aligns Weekend in Next Step Toward Opening Market
June 24, 2013--Saudi Arabia will shift its weekend to Friday and Saturday starting next week, taking the biggest Arab economy a step closer to opening its stock market to foreign investors.
Government ministries and monetary agencies will adopt the new weekend from June 29, aligning Saudi Arabia with the other five Gulf Cooperation Council countries, according to a royal decree yesterday. The decision was taken based on “the economic position of the kingdom and its international and regional obligations,” it said. The Saudi weekend has been Thursday and Friday.
Source: Bloomberg
KSA's Tourism Enterprise rises ahead of summer season
June 24, 2013--The Tadawul All-Share Index declined 0.80% to 7,500.69 points on Monday.
Sabic, the most liquid share, closed 0.81% lower at SR91.75. Tourism Enterprise or Shams surged 2.30%, finishing at SR100.25. The tourism industry in the kingdom expects a rush of domestic travellers within the next two months despite the ultra-hot summer season in the kingdom. With the Holy month of Ramadan starting on July 10 and the Eid festivities taking place from August 8 on hotel resorts would have little issues in keeping up occupancy rates, tourism experts said at the Arabian Travel Market 2013 which took place from May 5-8.
Source: AME Info
Saudi market bucks regional downtrend as King introduces new weekend
June 23, 2013--The Riyadh-based Tadawul All-Share Index (Tasi) added 0.45%, closing at 7,561.50 points on Sunday.
Earlier in the day, Saudi Arabia's ruling King Abdullah, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, ordered to the shift of the official weekend to Friday and Saturday (instead of Thursday/Friday) as of now) in harmony with the weekend in all other GCC countries. The move will also mean all stock markets in the Gulf countries will be open for trading from Sunday to Thursday which eases trading for fund managers in the region and beyond. Blue chip shares and insurance firms mostly lifted the gauge. Sabic finished 0.27% higher at SR92.50. Gulf General Cooperative Insurance Company jumped 10%, ending at SR47.40. Ninety-nine shares advanced, while 36 declined.
Source: AME Info
Depa shares "nailed" at $0.41 despite tailwinds
June 20, 2013--The FTSE NASDAQ Dubai UAE 20 Index closed 1.44% lower at 2,663.77.
Interio design company Depa, which was responsible for the indorr outfit of the Burj Al Arab and the Burj Khalifa, closed flat $0.41. On June 18, Depa was awarded 2 new contracts in Saudi Arabia with a combined value of Dhs61.7m ($18.82m), Zawya Dow Jones reported. Earlier in the week, Drake and Scull International (DSI) vice chairman Khaldoun Rashid Tabari revealed he had a 10% stake in Depa. DSI is a Dubai-based construction and MEP company, listed on the DFM. Tabari has a seat on Depa's board of directors on behalf of Arabtec which owns a 24% stake in the Dubai-based outfitting firm.
Source: AME Info
CBQ falls as lender eliminates "Gekko"
June 20, 2013--The Qatar Exchange 20 Index headed down 1% to 9,246.19 points on Thursday.
The Gulf state's second lender Commercial Bank of Qatar or CBQ ended off 1.56% at QR69.60. Earlier in the CBQ said its board of directors has reviewed the operating performance of and future potential for Gekko LLC and has approved the dissolution of the Company. "Gekko was formed as a joint venture in which Commercial Bank owns 50% of the shares to market contactless payment cards. The impact on the financial performance of Commercial Bank will be minimal."
Source: AME Info
Aldar Properties falls the third day straight
June 20, 2013--The Abu Dhabi market gauge ADXGI ended down 0.90% at 3,632.36 points.
Lower oil prices in the wake of Bernanke's hint that bond purchases and record-low interest rates might cease in mid-2014 weighed on the gauage. "Dubai spot firm for now at $ 101 per barrel driven by geopolitical tension (-2.8% YTD)," said Dr. Giyas Gokkent, the chief economist and head of research at National Bank of Abu Dhabi (0.81% lower at Dhs12.25) earlier in the day. The emirate's biggest developer Aldar, which is currently merging with Sorouh Real Estate, ended down 2.18% at Dhs2.24 as the most actively traded stock by value. Sorouh lost 0.70% to Dhs2.86. Ras al-Khaima (RAK) Bank bucked the downtrend by closing 5.31% to reach Dhs6.35. Some 150m shares were traded, valued at Dhs357m.
Source: AME Info
Bernanke speech drags down Dubai market
June 20, 2013--The DFM General Index closed 1.35% higher at 2,360.59 points on Thursday.
The day before Fed chairman Ben S. Bernanke irritaed global markets by hinting that the Fed could curtail bond purchases by mid-2014. Weak data from China where HSCB's June flash PMI hit a 9-month low also weighed on the sentiment Dubai. The GCC second lender by market capitalisation Emirates NBD lost the most (down 2.26% at Dhs5.18) while Islamic insurance company Dartakaful posted the biggest day gain (up 1.05% at Dhs0.578). Market bellwether Emaar dived 2.12% to Dhs5.54. Trading volumes plummeted to 262m shares, valued at Dhs420m.
Source: AME Info
UAE market regulator sees 'many advantages' in bourse merger
June 19, 2013--Abdulla al-Turifi, CEO of the Securities and Commodities Authority (SCA) has said a potential merger between the two main stock exchanges of Dubai and Abu Dhabi would have "many advantages' for the country's financial sector, Reuters has reported.
“In case the two markets are merged into one it will have many advantages, although the SCA has not seen any negative aspects in the current situation of having two markets,” head of the UAE's equities market regulator said.
Source: AME Info
Tadawul market fails to recover losses from the beginning of the week
June 19, 2013--The Tadawul All-Share Index closed Wednesday trading unchanged at 7,526.26 points, which marks the last trading day of the Saudi Arabian work week.
Whilst the gauge rose steadily in the sessions since Sunday, the GCC bellewether index failed to recover last Saturday's day-loss of 4.23%, the biggest drop in 2 years after the King's early return from a private holiday fuelled speculations over new tensions in regards to the conflict in Syria. Sabic fell 0.27% to SR93. Saudi Indian Company for Co- operative Insurance, known as Wafa Insurance, posted the biggest increase, ending up 9.95% at SR168.50.
Source: AME Info
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