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Wednesday, October 24, 2018

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GULF TIMES Economic relationship

driving force behind
Qatar-Japan strategic

BUSINESS partnership: Al-Sada

SoftBank’s Son
Commercial Bank’s cancels Saudi
forum speech

nine-month net profit Reuters

Dubai/Tokyo

SoftBank Group Corp chief executive

Masayoshi Son, whose $93bn Vision Fund

jumps 386% to QR1.26bn

The bank’s total assets stand at QR138.7bn at the
end of September
drew nearly half its money from Saudi
Arabia, cancelled a speaking engagement
at the kingdom’s investment conference
this week, a person close to the matter told
Reuters.
It was unclear earlier whether Son would still
attend the event which started yesterday, the
Commercial Bank group chief executive officer person said on condition of anonymity.
Joseph Abraham commented, “Commercial Bank’s per- Son’s absence from the stage is in marked
formance during the first nine months of the year is a contrast to last year’s inaugural event, where
testament to the team’s execution of our 5-year strategic the 61-year-old Japanese entrepreneur was a

I
n a clear testament to the successful execution of
its five-year strategic plan, Commercial Bank post-
ed a nine-month net profit of QR1.26bn, up 386%
on the same period last year.
The bank’s total assets stood at QR138.7bn at the end
of September, which shows an increase of 3.5% over
the same period last year.
Customer loans and advances stood at QR84.8bn
in September, up 0.3% on the same period last year.
Customer deposits totalled QR74.9bn at the end of the
third quarter, up 2.2% on the same period last year.
Commercial Bank chairman Sheikh Abdulla bin Ali
bin Jabor al-Thani said, “Qatar continues to transform
its economy for a more sustainable future, implement-
ing a raft of reforms designed to strengthen the econo-
my, increase self-sufficiency and promote growth.
“Markets have reacted positively to Qatar’s econom-
ic developments and the vision of its leadership with
the QE Index posting its biggest quarterly jump in four
years, outperforming its regional peers and becoming
the second-best performer in the world in dollar terms
this year.
“By aligning itself with the economic objectives of
the nation and providing a strong, stable and innova-
tive financial institution to support Qatar’s economy,
Commercial Bank is pleased to continue to be a part of
Qatar’s growth story.”
Commercial Bank vice chairman Hussain Alfardan
said, “Our bottom line continues to show improvement
as our legacy loan provisioning reduces. We have also
made progress in optimising costs with strategic in-
vestments in key technologies to digitise and automate
internal systems, partly reflected in the 12% reduction
in operating expenses during the first nine months of
2018 as compared to the same period last year.”
The group’s net provisions for loans and advances
decreased by 57.5% to QR617mn for the nine months
ended September 30, from QR1.45bn for the same pe-
riod in 2017.
The non-performing loan (NPL) ratio decreased to
5.5% in the nine months that ended in September com-
pared to 5.6% for the same period in 2017.
The loan coverage ratio is maintained at 83.5% com-
pared to 91.6% for the same period in 2017.
plan. Our consolidated operating profit was QR1.77bn,
an increase of 8% while net profit increased 386% to
QR1.26bn compared to the same period last year.
“Our bottom line has benefited from the reduction
of our legacy loan book provisioning and is trending
towards a normalised provisioning rate. This was sup-
ported by a focus on efficiency across the business with
operating expenses declining. As a result our cost to
income ratio is now 33.5% compared to 38.1% for the
same period last year.
“Consolidated net interest income increased to
QR1.91bn during the first nine months of 2018, up by
4% compared with QR1.84bn during the same pe-
riod last year. Loans and advances remained stable at
QR84.8bn at the end of Q3, due to the impact of the
depreciation in Turkish lira and a contraction in gov-
ernment loans due to repayment of loans post the State
of Qatar bond issue. Customer deposits increased to
QR74.9bn in September, up 2.2% compared to the
same period last year.
“The domestic bank reported an increase of 7%
in net interest income to QR1.6bn, supported by 4%
growth in loans and advances compared to the same
period last year and customer deposits increased by
3% at QR66bn.
“Our strategy with Alternatif Bank in Turkey has
been to focus on proactively addressing the risk profile
of customers in order to meet possible challenges in the
current risk and macro-economic environment. Alter-
natif Bank reported an increase in net profit to QR75mn
in the first nine months of 2018, up 29% compared
with the same period last year. In Qatari riyals, loans
and advances to customers declined 18% in Q3, 2018
compared to the same period last year, due to currency
depreciation. In local currency terms, Alternatif Bank
delivered a growth of 62% in net profit, while loans and
advances to customers increased 47% to TL19.1bn for
the period.
“Our Associate, NBO reported a net profit of
QR360mn for the first nine months of 2018, 10% high-
er than that of the same period in 2017. We continue
to classify UAB as an asset held for sale and we remain
focused on improving the performance of the entity as
per our corporate strategy.”
notable presence lending credence to Saudi
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s efforts
to attract foreign investment.
In a sign of its ongoing commitment to the
Gulf kingdom, SoftBank’s representative on
the opening day of the event, Vision Fund
managing partner Saleh Romeih, reiterated the
fund’s plan to open an office there.
Son’s speaking cancellation comes as pressure
mounts on Riyadh over the disappearance and
death of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, with many
high-profile company executives pulling out
altogether.
SoftBank representatives did not respond to
requests for comment.
Son’s speaking cancellation was first reported
by the Wall Street Journal.
Nearly half of the more than $93bn raised last
year to create SoftBank’s Vision Fund came
from Saudi, giving Son the firepower to make
big bets in late-stage startups such as Uber
Technologies Inc and shared office space
provider WeWork Co.
SoftBank has repeatedly declined to comment
on whether SoftBank management including
Son would attend, even as executives from
portfolio companies Uber and Improbable
dropped out.
Arm Holdings CEO Simon Segars has pulled out
of the event, a person familiar with the matter
told Reuters on Monday.
SoftBank acquired the chip designer in 2016.
Bloomberg reported on Monday that SoftBank
chief operating officer Marcelo Claure would
also not attend.
Son’s mix of visionary rhetoric and hard-
headed business decisions has given him an
oversized presence in the tech world.
However alarm over Saudi’s involvement in the
disappearance of Khashoggi has underlined his
investment juggernaut’s reliance on backers
such as the kingdom at a time of rising political
Commercial Bank Plaza at West Bay. The bank’s performance during the first tensions. Page 2
nine months is a testament to the execution of its 5-year strategic plan.

QIC posts 54% surge in 9-month profit to QR474mn

Share buyback plan cancelled
Qatar Insurance Group has decided not to
go ahead with the proposed buyback of
shares, about five months after its board
Gross written premiums rise to
QR9.5bn during January-September
2018
Further impetus for growth arose from
the ongoing digitalisation of the group’s
Mena retail pillar. QIC Group’s interna-
tional subsidiaries in Bermuda, the UK
and Malta accounted for about 76% of the
for the first nine months of 2018 against
QR798mn in the year-ago period.
QIC Group improved its already excep-
tional operational efficiency as its adminis-
trative expense ratio for its core operations

passed a resolution in this regard.
“The board of directors decided not to
proceed with the board resolution in
meeting No (3/2018) held on 5/6/2018
regarding company’s shares buy-back,
as the main purpose of that decision no
longer exists, nearly five months has
passed without finalisation of the required
procedures,” the group said.
The cancellation of buyback decision has
been arrived after a detailed consideration
of company’s long-term vision, regulatory
framework governing buy-backs in Qatar,
as well as the recent changes in the
Qatar Stock Exchange index constituents
impacting QIC’s share price and liquidity.
In June this year, the group had informed
the bourse that the board of directors had
approved buyback of its own shares up to
QR500mn. The buyback was subject to
obtaining the approvals from regulatory
authorities and the Qatar Central Bank
(QCB), in accordance with the rules and
procedures of the Qatar Financial Market
Authority.
Q
atar Insurance Group, the leading
insurer in Qatar as well as the Mid-
dle East North African (Mena) re-
gion, reported a 6% year-on-year growth in
gross written premiums (GWP) to QR9.5bn
during the first nine months of this year.
Overall, the group’s net profit reported
a 54% annual growth to QR474mn during
January-September 2018.
The Mena markets continued to produce
stable premiums with underwriting profit-
ability, weathering geopolitical headwinds
in the region. Consistent with previous
quarters, QIC Group’s international opera-
tions further expanded in select low vola-
tility classes whilst shedding underpriced
(severity) business, it said.
The group’s global carriers namely Qatar
Re, Antares and QIC Europe (QEL), posted
GWP growth of 11% to QR7.3bn and its
domestic and Mena operations growth re-
mained stable, while the company’s life and
medical insurance subsidiary, QLM, head-
quartered in Doha, and OQIC, the group’s
listed subsidiary in Oman, continued to
expand.
group’s total GWP.
The group’s net underwriting result in-
creased to QR378mn, compared with (-)
QR103mn for the same period last year, the
third quarter of which saw the devastating
series of major hurricanes (Harvey, Irma,
Maria).
“The third quarter of 2018 saw a string of
major catastrophes losses, especially in the
US and Japan. Still, rate increases remain
elusive as the growth of alternative capital
with lower return hurdles places secular
and not just cyclical pressure on (re)insur-
ance margins in the low frequency high se-
verity space,” said Khalifa Abdulla Turki al-
Subaey, group president and chief executive
of QIC Group.
QIC Group diligently applies its recently
adopted strengthened reserving govern-
ance and philosophy, resulting in a more
cautious view on market projections. The
group is constantly expanding its low se-
verity high frequency business which now
constitutes a significant portion of the total
portfolio.
Investment income stood at QR615mn
stood at 6.5%, down from 6.6% in the same
period of the previous year.
The group continues to reap the benefits
from its ongoing endeavour towards process
efficiencies and automation. Further, cost-
efficiency gains are expected from the en-
visaged integration of back office operations
across the group’s international entities.
In addition, a concerted approach to ret-
rocession buying will benefit the group’s
underwriting result.
“Through our direction to achieve the
group’s growth strategy we have to deal
with challenges beyond our control such
as the geopolitical situation in the Middle
East and the vagaries of global re/insur-
ance loss and pricing cycles. Therefore, QIC
Group is redoubling its efforts to excel in
an area which counts among our historical
strengths: Cost-efficiency,” al-Subaey said.
Through the acquisition of Marker-
study Group Insurance companies (an-
nounced in January) by its subsidiary Qatar
Re, this transaction marked a milestone
in the group’s shift towards low volatility
business. Al-Subaey: Redoubling efforts to excel in cost-efficiency.
 Gulf Times
2 Wednesday, October 24, 2018
BUSINESS
Oil market can see past Khashoggi killing, but not Iran
By Clyde Russell
Saudi Arabia’s killing of a journalist and
the ramping up of US sanctions against
Iran have added a layer of uncertainty
to crude oil markets, creating a
dilemma as to whether these events
are real price drivers or just temporary
noise.
The death of Saudi journalist Jamal
Khashoggi at the kingdom’s consulate
in Istanbul has generated a constant
stream of headlines, often with
contradictory messages for the outlook
for oil supply and prices.
Examples included a veiled Saudi threat
to restrict its oil production in response
to any sanctions over the killing, and a
suggestion that US President Donald
Trump is soft-pedalling Khashoggi’s
death to support his Saudi allies and
increase his leverage over them to
boost the kingdom’s crude output.
While it is the job of the media to
pursue the story and all related
Saudi’s PIF backs stocks
to limit market crash
after Khashoggi murder
Reuters
Dubai
S
audi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund
(PIF) has been indirectly supporting
local stocks, using local institutions,
to limit a market crash caused by the killing
of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, sources
familiar with the matter said.
Foreign investors have been dumping
Saudi equities over the past two weeks.
Last week, they sold 1.07bn in Saudi
stocks, in one of the biggest sell-offs since
the market opened to direct foreign buying
in mid-2015.
The sell-off came amid increasing inves-
tor worries over the potential blow to Saudi
Arabia’s relations with the West following
the death of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in
Istanbul on October 2.
Riyadh said on Saturday that Khashoggi
died in a fight inside its Istanbul consulate,
its first acknowledgement of his death after
denying for two weeks that it was involved in
his disappearance.
The Saudi index has dropped over 4%
since the beginning of October, but the loss
would have been bigger if state-linked funds
had not mounted an operation to support the
stock market, several sources said.
The PIF, with assets estimated at over
$250bn and the largest shareholder in public
equities in the kingdom, was one of the funds
intervening in the market, buying stocks
through institutional funds, fund managers
and bankers said.
One of the sources said the buying by state
funds was a natural response at a time when
valuations were low.
Last week, PIF-backed funds bought
around 5bn riyals ($1.33bn) of stocks, a re-
gional fund manager said.
The PIF, which is to play a leading role in
Saudi Arabia’s drive to develop non-oil in-
dustries, declined to comment.
Stocks that PIF holds stakes in are among
those that have outperformed the index in
the month to date, among them Riyad Bank,
angles, the twists and turns of the tale
ultimately do little to illuminate the
likely path of the crude oil market.
Oil analysts are often reluctant to
partake in political discussions,
preferring the relative safety of supply
and demand fundamentals, trusting
that these will eventually overcome
what they hope are temporary
influences.
But perhaps the better approach
would be to stand back and try to
dispassionately look at the likely
reasonable outcomes of the killing of
Khashoggi.
The death, according to the available
details, seems either premeditated,
state-sanctioned murder or the result
of heavy-handed incompetence that
resulted in Khashoggi being killed.
Either way, the likely result is
condemnation and action by Western
countries, and a trial of sorts of the
perpetrators, all against the backdrop of
trying to avoid placing blame on Saudi
Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin
A Saudi investor monitors the stock prices at the Saudi Stock Exchange. Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund has been indirectly supporting
local stocks, using local institutions, to limit a market crash caused by the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, according to sources
familiar with the matter.
Samba Financial Group and National Com-
mercial Bank, according to Refinitiv data.
The Saudi index plunged by 3.9% on Oc-
tober 11, the biggest drop since January 2016,
and plummeted further on October 14, shed-
ding up to 7% during that day — its biggest
drop since December 2014, when oil prices
were crashing.
But by market close that day the mar-
ket had recovered some of its losses, ending
Salman. What does this mean for the oil
market? Most likely very little beyond
what is already happening.
The Saudis will continue to try and
increase production and meet the
demand needs of consuming countries
that are being forced to cut back their
purchases of Iranian crude.
And while the Khashoggi killing may
generate anger at the brazen Saudi
cover-up attempt, and raise concerns
about the real-world consequences of
Trump’s continual characterisation of
the media as the “enemy of the people”,
it’s likely that for oil the outcome will be
business as usual.
The likelihood that Saudi Arabia will
try to increase its oil output, however,
doesn’t answer the question of whether
this will be enough to offset the loss of
Iranian barrels.
US sanctions against Iran ratchet up
early next month, and the Trump
administration’s stated goal is to reduce
the Islamic republic’s exports to zero.
Nobody believes this is likely. The issue,
down 3.5% as state-backed funds started
buying stocks to limit the damage.
Since then, the pattern has continued,
with stocks declining during the day and re-
bounding by market close.
Foreigners sold 619.9mn riyals of stocks in
the week ended on October 11 and 4bn riyals
of stocks in the week ended on October 18,
exchange data showed.
It is not the first time state funds have
though, is how much less oil Iran will
supply to the world market, and can
this be made up elsewhere.
Tracking Iran’s exports has become
more challenging in recent weeks as
the country’s oil tankers have taken to
switching off their tracking monitors.
It does seem likely that Iran’s exports
are around 2mn barrels per day (bpd),
which is about 700,000 to 800,000
bpd below potential.
It also seems clear that the Organisation
of the Petroleum Exporting Countries
(Opec), of which Saudi Arabia is the
largest producer, has so far been unable
to make up for the reduction in Iranian
supplies.
Saudi Energy Minister Khalid al-
Falih said Opec and its non-Opec
allies, including Russia, would pump
roughly an extra 1mn bpd following an
agreement in June to raise supplies to
offset any losses caused by sanctions
on Iran.
An internal document prepared by
Opec’s Vienna headquarters for a
stepped in to stabilise the market. They
helped boost stocks in the days after last No-
vember’s sweeping anti-corruption investi-
gation by the government, which raised fears
that people detained in the crackdown could
dump assets.
Among the other $148bn in mainly Saudi-
listed assets, PIF holds stakes include Saudi
Basic Industries Corp and Saudi Telecom
Company, according to Refinitiv data.
Saudi cinema renaissance put on hold
Bloomberg
Los Angeles
Just six months ago, Saudi Arabia
looked like the New World to
Hollywood. Industry advisers and
dealmakers crowded a Beverly Hills,
California, hotel to rub shoulders with a
visiting delegation from the kingdom,
which was ending a 35-year ban on
movie theatres.
But the murder of writer Jamal
Khashoggi in Saudi Arabia’s consulate
in Istanbul has put those plans in
doubt.
Vue, one of the world’s largest cinema
chains, has put on hold plans to
open as many as 30 locations, chief
executive officer Tim Richards told the
Guardian newspaper on Monday. He
also won’t attend the economic forum
dubbed “Davos in the Desert.”
Theatre operators were one group
that was going to benefit quickly from
the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed
bin Salman’s liberalisation plans. On
April 18, the first commercial theatre
in Riyadh opened after a three-decade
ban.
AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc,
the first to win a cinema licence in
technical panel meeting on Friday it’s likely Mnuchin will discover that
showed, however, that Opec members, the market is currently only priced for
excluding Nigeria, Libya and Congo, the current reduction in Tehran’s oil
pumped only an extra 428,000 bpd in shipments.
September compared to May. Relying on a boost in oil output from
This suggests the market may well be other places, such as US shales, ignores
short of oil, if US sanctions force more differences in crude qualities and won’t
buyers to avoid Iranian crude. necessarily help ease the loss of Iranian
Once again, politics is playing a part medium to heavy sour grades.
in this process, with US Treasury Overall, as disturbing as the killing of
Secretary Steven Mnuchin giving Khashoggi is, the impact on the oil
seemingly contradictory statements in market will likely be muted, as it isn’t
an interview with Reuters in Jerusalem in the interest of anyone to provoke a
on October 21. disruption.
Mnuchin said it would be harder for Meanwhile, the impact of renewed
buyers to obtain waivers to continue US sanctions on Tehran has yet to
buying Iranian crude than it was under be quantified, and may come down
sanctions put in place during the to a “who blinks first” scenario, as
administration of President Barrack successfully re-imposed restrictions
Obama. on the trade of Iranian barrels would
But he also said the loss of Iranian likely increase prices and cause
cargoes was already priced into the pain to the United States and its oil-
market and he didn’t expect oil costs consuming allies.
to rise in the wake of next month’s re-
imposed sanctions. If, though, Iranian „ Clyde Russell is a columnist for Reuters.
crude supplies are severely curtailed, The views expressed are those of the author.
Saudi oil chief says
Opec’s in ‘produce
as much as you
can’ mode
Bloomberg
Riyadh
as part of a broad eco-
nomic transformation
plan to wean it off reli-
ance on oil. Al-Falih said
S
audi Arabia gave plans to diversify the
the strongest indi- economy will continue,
cation yet that it’s but oil and gas expan-
trying to stop oil prices sion will also remain a
from rising further, say- priority. In addition to
ing that Opec and al- its crude investments,
lies are in a “produce as Saudi Arabia intends to
much as you can mode” partner in liquefied nat-
to assure customers that ural gas projects abroad
they can meet demand and start trading LNG in
and remove any uncer- the future.
tainties about looming Global gas consump-
shortages. tion is growing, he said,
The kingdom has al- and oil demand will reach
ready boosted oil pro- 120mn barrels a day in 30
duction to 10.7mn years, from 100mn cur-
barrels a day, near an rently.
all-time high, and it can In an effort to main-
increase it even more tain stable supplies to the
to help plug any sup- crude market, al-Falih
ply shortfalls due to US said he hopes the Organi-
sanctions against Iran’s sation of Petroleum Ex-
energy industry, Saudi porting Countries and
Energy Minister Khalid its non-Opec oil partners
al-Falih told a confer- will sign an “open-end-
ence in Riyadh. ed” agreement in Decem-
US President Don- ber. The group, some-
ald Trump is counting times known as Opec+,
on Saudi cooperation to agreed in late 2016 to cut
soften potential price production to eliminate a
increases from the sanc- supply glut and has since
tions that take effect intervened to co-ordinate
next month. output and balance the
“We will meet any de- market.
mand that materialises,” The Saudi oil chief
al-Falih said at the coun- lauded the achievements
try’s signature invest- of the group, saying that
ment conference, which it has stabilised the mar-
is being overshadowed by ket and helped the energy
an international outcry industry to recover.
over the killing of Saudi “Significant invest-
government critic Jamal ment flows” have re-
Khashoggi. turned to the oil and gas
Brent crude, the global industry that will bring
benchmark, has dropped on new supplies to help
almost 10% from a four- replace losses in areas
year high of $86.29 a bar- such as the North Sea and
rel on October 3 as Saudi in some Opec countries,
Arabia and Russia prom- he said.
ised extra supplies and US Even still, the outlook
stockpiles climbed. for next year is “very un-
The Riyadh conference predictable” in terms of
is aimed to generate in- both supply and demand,
vestments in the country al-Falih said.
The AMC cinema logo is seen in Riyadh. The murder of writer Jamal Khashoggi in
Saudi Arabia’s consulate in Istanbul has put Saudi Arabia’s cinema plans in doubt.
the country, outlined plans to open Since the exhibitors were just getting
100 theatres in partnership with the started there, their risks are small,
country’s Public Investment Fund by according to Michael Pachter, analyst
2030. At stake is $1bn in revenue, by at Wedbush Securities.
the Leawood, Kansas-based operator’s “AMC has one theatre there and if
own estimates. they proceed with new builds, it will
The company didn’t respond to be after sanctions/resolution of this
requests for comment. issue,” said Pachter, who expects even
Imax Corp, the operator of large- a temporary closing of the market
format screens, declined to comment. to have no impact on the stocks. He
The company announced plans in May recommends both AMC and Imax
to expand there in a deal with Dubai- shares.
based Vox Cinemas. CEO Rich Gelfond “Saudi gross domestic product is one
said in July he looked forward to more third of Italian GDP,” he said, “so AMC
growth in the region. has a better opportunity in Italy.”

Oil decoupling creates stress test
for imperilled Russian economy
Bloomberg
Moscow
U
ntethered from oil, Russia’s
traditionally boom-and-bust
economy is finding little else to
power growth. After retooling its budget
and currency for an era of depressed
crude prices, the world’s biggest en-
ergy exporter is failing to feed off the
rally that took oil to a four-year high
earlier this month. Now a sluggish post-
recession upturn has given way to stag-
nation, with Goldman Sachs Group Inc
estimating gross domestic product even
contracted slightly last quarter in sea-
sonally adjusted and annualised terms.
Worse may be yet to come as struc-
tural issues go unaddressed, especially
with the lurking threat of more US
sanctions. The economy is at risk of
grinding to zero growth next year, ac-
cording to Igor Nikolaev, director of
strategic analysis at FBK, an audit and
consulting firm in Moscow.
“A slowdown of economic develop-
ment is underway,” he said. “Growth
factors are lacking. Old structural
problems aren’t resolved.”
Faster expansion is vital for President
Vladimir Putin’s ability to deliver on his
campaign promises to improve living
standards. Economy Minister Maxim
Oreshkin is still holding out hope that
a pickup in growth will materialise this
quarter. Even so, the government ex-
pects GDP gains will slip to 1.3% next
year from 1.8% in 2018.
Petrodollars aren’t finding their way
into the economy because the gov-
ernment currently diverts its windfall
revenue from oil prices above $40 per
barrel to reserves under the so-called
budget rule. A value-added tax increase
and plans to increase the retirement
age also threaten to cripple consumer
spending.
The latest estimates by state de-
velopment lender Vnesheconombank
show monthly GDP, adjusted for sea-
sonal factors, contracted in June and
An oil worker inspects a pumping jack during drilling operations in an oilfield operated by Bashneft in Russia. Untethered from oil, Russia’s traditionally boom-and-bust
economy is finding little else to power growth.
August and had zero growth in July.
Benchmark Brent – which trades at a
small premium to Russia’s Urals export
blend – has gained about 17% this year
to just under $80 a barrel.
Some traders have forecast prices
will return to $100 a barrel soon as the
Organisation of Petroleum Exporting
Countries struggles to fill a supply
gap. Were it not for the budget rule,
Russia would have been the world’s
biggest beneficiary from oil at that
level, according to Oxford Economics.
Confidence is flagging after Russia’s
economy failed to sustain momentum
following a growth spurt last year and
a brief boost to household finances
around presidential elections in March.
The outlook is increasingly in question
after a smaller harvest and the disap-
pointing performance of investment,
industry and consumer spending.
Russia can expect little in the way
of monetary stimulus. Interest-rate
cuts may not resume for more than
year after the central bank shifted to
tightening last month. All but two ana-
lysts surveyed by Bloomberg predict
its benchmark will be kept at 7.5% at a
meeting this Friday.
The Bank of Russia’s research and
forecasting department says the econ-
omy still eked out seasonally-adjusted
growth of 0.4% in the third quarter,
projecting a slight slowdown but no
contraction in the coming months. It’s
Wednesday, October 24, 2018
BUSINESS
warned, however, that a deceleration of
the global economy in recent months
may “negatively affect” Russia.
The same budget safeguards that
protect Russia from falling oil prices are
now blunting any positive effect for the
economy, said Evsey Gurvich, head of
the Economic Expert Group, which is a
consultant to the government.
“Oil no longer works as a driver of
growth,” he said. “And no other drivers
have yet been created.”
Gulf Times
3
Germany
seeks to keep
post-Brexit
ties to UK
markets cop
Bloomberg
Frankfurt
British and European markets
watchdogs may wrap up a com-
prehensive deal that protects
cross-border securities trading
after Brexit. But the Germans
aren’t betting on it.
Germany is laying plans to
open its own direct links to the
UK’s Financial Conduct Author-
ity in case fellow European
countries fail in their efforts to
reach a joint deal. Regulator
BaFin is looking at fall-back op-
tions “to ensure as friction-free
a transition as possible,” said
the regulator’s vice president,
Elisabeth Roegele. That goes
further than statements from
France, which has signalled that
it’s relying on a joint pact.
London is the European Un-
ion’s largest financial centre, and
regulators on both sides of the
channel are working to prevent
market turmoil when the coun-
try leaves the bloc. Germany,
Europe’s biggest economy, is
taking an increasingly pragmatic
approach to supervision as the
clock ticks down and politicians
in the UK and rest of the EU have
yet to reach a wider withdrawal
agreement.
Roegele said that like France,
she supports efforts by the
European Securities and Markets
Authority to reach a multilateral
deal between the FCA and EU
regulators. That should cover
how the watchdogs will super-
vise financial firms that delegate
responsibilities and transfer risk
between their units in the UK
and the EU, she said in e-mailed
comments to Bloomberg.
“A commitment to transpar-
ency, market integrity and
investor protection serves
the smooth functioning of fi-
nancial markets and stability,”
Roegele said.
 Wednesday, October 24, 2018

4 ISLAMIC FINANCE GULF TIMES

EDUCATION/FAQ on Mudarabah
Is it permissible for a bank to set
aside a certain percentage of
investors’ money for the creation of
a reserve fund as a remedy against
investment risks?
It is permissible to create a fund out
of the investors’ money in order
to mitigate risks arising out of
investments. The terms and conditions
of the investors’ contribution, including
the percentage to be deducted, are
mentioned in the Mudarabah contract.
The money so contributed by each
investor is in the form of a gift, such that
the investor will have no further claims
on that money. The reserve fund is
managed by the bank (working partner)
and will be used either when the
investors’ money is at risk or when the
return on investment is so low that it
adversely affects the bank’s reputation.
It is the bank’s responsibility, as working
partner of the reserve fund, to invest
the fund’s resources in suitable and
profitable ventures. All yields from such
investments are added to the reserve
fund. The bank continues to operate
the fund for as long as it remains in
operation. In the event of the bank’s
winding up, the fund is dissolved and all
proceeds are donated to charity
Is it permissible for the working
partner of funds in a Mudarabah to
transfer the funds collected to an
agent for investment?
It is permissible for the working
partner to appoint an agent for
investing the money collected.
Is it permissible to pool the profits
of working partners?
It is forbidden to pool the profits
of working partners, though it is
acceptable for individual working
partners to share their profits after
distribution.
In case of long-term Mudarabah
contracts, is it permissible to
periodically distribute profits
among investors instead of a bulk
distribution at the conclusion of the
Mudarabah contract?
It is permissible, with mutual
agreement among investors, to
periodically distribute profits instead
of a bulk distribution at the conclusion
of the contract.
In case of termination of a
Mudarabah through the investor
buying all the assets of the
partnership, is it permissible for
that investor to sell such assets
under a Murabaha?
In the case described above, the
Mudarabah operation has ceased
to exist and all assets belonging to
the Mudarabah operation are now
in the custody of the investor. It is
permissible for the investor to dispose
of the assets in any manner he deems
suitable, including Murabaha. However,
care must be taken to comply with all
the requirements of a valid Murabaha
sale, including disclosure of the exact
purchase price of goods from the
partnership, as well as any ancillary
expenses.
Is it permissible for the investor
to demand from the working
partner a certain percentage of
each investment to be made, in
addition to his share of proceeds of
investment?
It is not permissible for the investor to
demand such money from the working
partner. The role of the working
partner is that of a trustee, and a
trustee cannot be required to pay any
amount to the investor except in case
of the trustee’s negligence.
Is it permissible to categorise
investors in a single Mudarabah,
with different profit rates for each
category?
It is permissible to categorise
investors in order to have different
profit rates for each category of
investors. The categories may be
made on any just and sound basis,
such as the period of investment or
the amount of investment. However,
it is necessary that the investor and
the working partner both agree
and understand the implications of
such categorisation, and that it is
mentioned clearly in the Mudarabah
contract.
In a Mudarabah agreement, who
has the primary liability for loss?
The investor bears all losses barring
negligence, in which case the
negligent party is financially liable.
To what extent may a mudarib
exercise his authority independent
of the investor?
Without the investor’s consent, even in
an unrestricted Mudarabah, the worker
may not lend the Mudarabah’s money,
invest the capital, invite new partners or
otherwise do anything contrary to what
is reasonably considered to be normal
business practice for his chosen industry.
Source: Ethica Institute of Islamic
Finance via Bloomberg

Oman to return

Singapore is giving it to bond market

with plans to sell
7-year sukuk

another try to embrace Bloomberg

Dubai

Oman is lining up a sale of Islamic bonds and

has hired banks including JPMorgan Chase & Co
and HSBC Holdings Plc to place the issue.

Islamic finance growth

Gulf International Bank BSC, KFH Capital
and Standard Chartered Plc will also help the
sultanate manage the deal, according to people
with knowledge of the transaction. The country
was set to hold investor calls yesterday and a
fixed rate seven-year dollar-denominated sukuk
may follow subject to market conditions, said
By Arno Maierbrugger the people, asking not to be identified because
Gulf Times Correspondent the information is private.
Bangkok The Gulf nation carries the lowest investment
grade rating from Moody’s Investors Service
and Fitch Ratings and is rated speculative grade

T
he Southeast Asian financial hub of
Singapore, where Islamic finance so far
had a comparatively weak standing, is
now seeking to play its cards with the launch
of a new Shariah-compliant index designed
as a benchmark for Shariah-compliant stock
investments in the country. Launched by
FTSE Russell, a UK-based provider of stock
market indices and associated data services,
the FTSE ST Singapore Shariah Index tracks
companies listed on the Singapore Exchange
and selects them in accordance to their Sha-
riah-compliance as demand for Islamic in-
vestment products continues to see stable
growth in the region.
According to its creator, the new index is
screening the companies against a clear set of
Shariah principles to create a reliable and au-
thoritative Shariah-compliant index for the
Singapore market. At launch earlier in Octo-
ber, there were 48 companies in the FTSE FT
Singapore Shariah Index which fulfilled the
criteria. They are being scrutinised for their
business activities and whether they include
conventional finance, alcohol, tobacco, pork
and pork-related products and non-halal
food production, including packaging and
processing, certain haram activities such as
casinos, gambling and adult entertainment,
as well as weapons, arms and defence manu-
facturing.
As for the companies’ financials, certain
ratios must be met to be considered Shariah-
compliant, namely debt less than 33.33% of
total assets, cash and interest-bearing items
less than 33.33% of total assets and accounts
receivable less than 50% of total assets, while
total interest and non-compliant activities
income shall not exceed 5% of total revenue.
“We welcome the FTSE ST Singapore Sha-
riah Index to the Singapore stock exchange,”
said Ng Kin Yee, head of market data and con-
nectivity of the city state’s bourse.
“The outlook for the global Islamic fund
and wealth management sector continues to
be positive, supported by an increasing range
of Islamic financial instruments available to
investors. This index will serve as a bench-
A man rides an escalator past an electronic screen at the Singapore Exchange (SGX) headquarters in Singapore (file). Launched by FTSE Russell,
the FTSE ST Singapore Shariah Index tracks companies listed on the Singapore Exchange and selects them in accordance to their
Shariah-compliance as demand for Islamic investment products continues to see stable growth in the region.
mark for Shariah-compliant funds looking to
invest in Singapore, and potentially pave the
way for the creation of other Shariah-com-
pliant products,” he added.
The top ten companies in the new Shariah
index are currently Singtel, Hongkong Land,
Keppel, ComfortDelGro, Singapore Airlines,
Singapore Press Holdings, Venture Corp, Ma-
pletree Industrial Trust, Netlink NBN Trust
and Hutchison Port Holdings Trust. Inde-
pendent screening is carried out by Yasaar
Research, a London-and Dubai-based Islam-
ic finance consultancy with expert Shariah
scholars.
Singapore in the past has made various at-
tempts to establish a stronger Islamic finance
industry, but apart from a few Islamic win-
dows of conventional banks and some sukuk
issuances the business did not really take off,
which seems to have had to do with a lack of
demand from investors and retail clients and
the image of Islamic banking as a niche in-
dustry in the past.
Gulf Times
Exclusive
However, in terms of regulations, Singa-
pore is prepared for growth in the Shariah-
compliant finance industry, and geographi-
cally, it has the advantage of sitting right
between populous Muslim countries Ma-
laysia and Indonesia of which particularly
the latter has immense potential for Islamic
finance.
Singapore’s strength as an international
financial centre also lies within its pruden-
tial regulations, consistent regulatory regime
and an efficient government, coupled with an
excellent business infrastructure, economic
freedom and a wide talent pool.
The importance of Islamic finance for the
city state has been recognised by regula-
tors and financial institutions as early as in
2005, when the Money Authority of Singa-
pore began to adjust its regulatory framework
for Shariah-compliant finance and banking
and later introduced tax-related regulatory
amendments to ensure a level playing field
between conventional and Islamic finance.
However, there are still domains of Islamic
finance such as Islamic fund and wealth
management, as well as takaful which remain
relatively underdeveloped given Singapore’s
significance in the global financial industry
and could also be focused on in the future.
by Standard & Poor’s. Taking advantage of
attractive interest rates, Oman raised $6.5bn
in January, its biggest sale on record, to help
bridge deficits.
An Omani official said last month the country
does not need to return to the international
bond market until 2019 as higher oil prices is
helping boost state revenue. The higher average
crude price of $67 a barrel compared with the
budgeted $50 had reduced the need to borrow
to bridge the deficit, he said.
As oil prices more than halved in the two years
through 2016, Oman’s budget deficit climbed to
21.6% of gross domestic product. The country
has relied on borrowing to fund the deficit,
which the International Monetary Fund sees
narrowing to 5.7% this year. It has more than
doubled its external debt in the three years
through 2017, according to the IMF, which had
projected the nation’s debt-to-GDP ratio at
about 47% for this year.
Tenaga Nasional plans dollar sukuk
in rare Malaysia company deal
Tenaga Nasional Bhd is preparing a return to the
dollar-bond market after a two-year hiatus, offering
investors a rare chance to diversify in an arena
dominated by Chinese corporates in recent years,
Bloomberg reported.
The state-controlled power generation and distribu-
tion company has hired four banks to arrange a
series of meeting with bond investors in Asia and
Europe, according to people familiar with the mat-
ter. If successful, Tenaga would be only the second
Malaysian company this year to issue dollar notes
following Malayan Banking Bhd, which sold $280mn
of securities in July, according to Bloomberg league
tables.
The proposed notes of up to $1bn from TNB Global
Ventures Capital, a special purpose company set
for such issuance, have been rated BBB by S&P
Global Ratings. That is one-notch below Tenaga’s
own grade, reflecting the debt’s subordination in the
company’s capital structure.

Egypt plans to issue

Deal signed to streamline rule-making

international sovereign
sukuk in 2019-2020
amid debt woes
Egypt plans to issue its first
international sovereign sukuk, or
Islamic bonds, in the 2019-2020 By Bernardo Vizcaino “Some of these pressures we are al- AAOIFI and IFSB have traditionally
financial year, Finance Minister Reuters ready feeling...There is a need for change worked separately on their respective
Mohamed Maait told Reuters last and we are all aware of it,” he said. mandates.
week. Investors want to reduce complexity in AAOIFI focuses on accounting and

Maait did not give the size of the
planned offering. Egypt is aiming
to issue about $20bn in foreign
currency-denominated bonds by
2022.
Issuing sukuk could allow Egypt
to attract a new class of investor
as it implements a three-year
IMF-backed economic reform
programme agreed in late 2016.
The country has borrowed
heavily from abroad since then
and faces a tough repayment
schedule and a rising bill for oil
imports.
Egypt’s foreign debt stood at
$92.64bn at the end of June,
an increase of 17.2% from the
previous year.
Egyptian officials have previously
announced their intention to
issue Islamic bonds, but the plans
did not materialise.
T
he top two organisations that
set the rules for Islamic finance
signed an agreement yesterday
to work together to develop and revise
some of their guidelines, aiming to has-
ten standardisation in the $2tn industry.
Islamic finance is growing fast across
markets in Africa, the Middle East and
Southeast Asia, but it remains a frag-
mented industry with uneven imple-
mentation of its rules, which could stunt
growth.
The agreement signed between the
Bahrain-based Accounting and Audit-
ing Organisation for Islamic Financial
Institutions (AAOIFI) and the Malaysia-
based Islamic Financial Services Board
(IFSB) could help avoid that.
Collaboration is important to avoid
mounting pressures from investors, Is-
lamic finance institutions and regulatory
bodies, AAOIFI acting secretary general
Omar Mustafa Ansari said at an industry
conference in Manama, Bahrain.
Islamic finance and simplify the process
of creating an Islamic finance product
and bringing it to market.
Currently the fragmented nature of
the industry means this can be a lengthy
process.
Tackling the complexity of some Sha-
riah-compliant contracts could make
them easier to design and bring to mar-
ket, which could help attract new issuers
of Islamic bonds, according to credit rat-
ing agency Standard & Poor’s.
Islamic finance, which bans interest
payments and pure monetary specula-
tion, is estimated to have over $2tn of as-
sets globally with around $1.3tn held by
Islamic commercial banks.
Standardisation is becoming more
necessary because Islamic finance is now
systemically important in over a dozen
countries, including Malaysia and Qatar,
while countries like Morocco and Kenya
have opened up to the sector in recent
years.
auditing standards, while IFSB devel-
ops prudential rules in areas including
capital adequacy and disclosure require-
ments.
But in the past few years their work has
overlapped and this in turn has slowed
adoption by national regulators.
Both AAOIFI and IFSB have issued
standards on corporate governance, but
a single document could increase adop-
tion across jurisdictions, IFSB secretary
general Bello Lawal Danbatta said ahead
of the signing of the agreement.
The proposed collaboration would
make better use of limited resources and
could extend to new projects, as there is
yet to be a standard on financial inclu-
sion, Danbatta added.
AAOIFI has published over 100 stand- Women stand at the CIMB Islamic Banking Bhd and the Bank Islam Malaysia
ards which are mandatory in countries Bhd booths at the Global Islamic Finance Forum in Kuala Lumpur on
such as Bahrain and Oman, but it is a September 3, 2014. Standardisation is becoming more necessary because
sprawling organisation with 200 in- Islamic finance is now systemically important in over a dozen countries,
stitutional members from across 45 including Malaysia and Qatar, while countries like Morocco and Kenya have
countries. opened up to the sector in recent years.
 Gulf Times
Wednesday, October 24, 2018 5

BUSINESS

A big secret in Japan bond market is getting harder to keep

Bloomberg not to be identified discussing a sen- further drives down the market price. UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities Co trading practices in Japan’s corporate brokerage or not. If it was and the note
Tokyo sitive topic. Spokespeople for all four A surge in issuance encouraged the – declined to comment. Bloomberg debt market are opaque. In a 2010 re- had been issued recently, there’s a pos-
companies said that’s not what they practice in September. Companies News has been tracking unsold bonds port, the Japan Securities Dealers As- sibility that the brokerage was unload-
were told by their banks. had held off from selling bonds af- in Japan since July 2017, obtaining the sociation said there was criticism that ing a bond it couldn’t sell earlier in the

I
t’s an oddity of Japan’s corporate
bond market: many debt sales that
bankers said were successful actu-
ally weren’t. The secret may be getting
harder to keep.
Underwriters failed to fully sell at
least 29% of company note offerings in
September, twice the average over the
past six months, according to informa-
tion compiled by Bloomberg based on
more than 400 interviews with inves-
tors, underwriters and issuers.
Deals from Japan Airlines Co, Japan
Tobacco Inc, Honda Finance Co and
Idemitsu Kosan Co were among them,
said some of those people, who asked
It’s hardly a financial-system flaw
for underwriters to soak up part of a
deal. That’s what they’re paid to do.
But not being transparent about it can
create problems.
The fudging on unsold bonds is ei-
ther to cover up a lack of demand,
salvaging business relationships with
issuers, or to give underwriters room
to make nice with favoured clients by
selling them the leftover securities at a
discount later, according to the people
familiar with the matter.
That can be to the detriment of in-
vestors who paid more for the bond
at the initial offering, and also if it
ter a July policy tweak by the Bank of
Japan, then scrambled to issue debt
from late-August as bond yields set-
tled down.
Spokespeople for Japan Airlines,
Japan Tobacco, Honda Finance and
Idemitsu said that underwriters told
them that there were more orders
than available bonds in their respec-
tive deals.
Spokespeople for the five biggest
underwriters of Japanese corporate
bonds so far this fiscal year – Mi-
zuho Securities Co, Daiwa Securities
Co, Nomura Securities Co, SMBC
Nikko Securities Inc and Mitsubishi
information by interviewing issuers,
investors and underwriters.
Some of the yield premiums on the
unsold notes have risen more than the
market as a whole.
The spread on Japan Tobacco’s 2038
bonds, for example, has climbed four
basis points since its sale last month,
and the extra yield on Japan Airlines’
20-year debt has increased 1 1/2 basis
points.
Spreads on Japanese corporate notes
have been flat since mid-September,
according to an ICE BofAML index.
Regulators and an industry group
have acknowledged that some of the
bond terms had at times diverged from
market levels due to inaccurate report-
ing by underwriters on demand for the
securities.
Little by little, changes are being
made. Some borrowers, especially
those issuing Samurai and hybrid se-
curities, are selling notes using the
so-called pot system, under which
syndicate banks share details with is-
suers about bond buyers to find the
best prices. It’s the norm for debt sales
in the US and Europe.
The JSDA also began from October
to reveal whether, in bond trades on
the secondary market, the seller was a
primary market as an underwriter, ac-
cording to investors familiar with the
matter.
The industry group only divulges
this information for issues where
credit ratings are AA level or higher.
A working group discussed last year
whether to expand the disclosure to
bonds graded at the A level, but de-
cided against it due to opposition from
brokerages, said Katsuyuki Tokushima,
the chief investment analyst at NLI
Research Institute in Tokyo who is a
member of the group. The topic may be
revisited at the working group’s annual
meeting next month.

Sensex, Nifty fall

for fourth day
Bloomberg, Reuters MidCap Index tumbled 1.2%.
Mumbai Meanwhile the rupee yes-
terday traded lower against US
dollar tracking losses in its lo-

I
ndian equity benchmarks
fell for fourth day in a row
to their lowest levels in over
six months dragged by IT and
pharma stocks as global stocks
resumed selloff.
The S&P BSE Sensex fell
0.84% or 287 points to 33,847 and
the NSE Nifty 50 Index dropped
0.96% or 98 points to 10,147.
Indian markets are likely to re-
main weak till expiry of futures
and option contracts and ru-
pee has again started to weaken
which is also negative for mar-
kets, said Avinash Gorakshakar,
head of research at Joindre Capi-
tal Services.
Seventeen of 19 sector gauges
compiled by the BSE ended low-
er dragged by the S&P BSE In-
formation Technology and S&P
BSE Healthcare Indices’ over
2% drop. On the other hand, the
An exterior view of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange building. The Hang Seng closed down 3.1% to 25,351.73 points yesterday. S&P BSE Realty Index rose 0.4%.
Mid- and small-cap shares
fell in line with larger peers
as the S&P BSE MidCap In-
cal equity and Asian currencies
market.
The rupee was trading at 73.73
a dollar, down 0.23% from its
Monday’s close of 73.56. The
currency opened at 73.70 a dol-
lar.
The 10-year gilt yield stood at
7.935% from its previous close
of 7.93%. Bond yields and prices
move in opposite directions.
So far this year, the rupee has
declined 13.18%, while foreign
investors have sold $4.55bn and
$8.69bn in the equity and debt
markets, respectively.
Asian currencies were trad-
ing lower as the dollar held near
a two-month high and investors
weighed whether Chinese meas-
ures to supports its economy and
markets would be sufficient.
South Korean won was down
0.67%, Thai baht 0.28%, Phil-
ippines peso 0.25%, Taiwan
dollar 0.20%, Indonesian ru-
piah 0.16%, Singapore dollar
and China Offshore were down

Asian bourses plunge

dex fell 0.9% and the S&P BSE 0.12% each.

Glum mood hits EM assets

Reuters Securities in London, pointing to

as trade risks pile up

AFP concerns weigh on investor confidence,”
Hong Kong Nick Twidale, chief operating officer at
Rakuten Securities Australia, said.
He added that with regards to China,
away, but it is far from cured, and it’s only
a matter of time before medicine starts to
wear off,” he told Bloomberg News.
“I still abide by the belief that there
breaks the bloc’s financial rules.The pop-
ulist government in Rome has refused to
back down and cut its spending promises
despite warnings about the country’s
London
Emerging-market stocks and cur-
rencies took a beating yesterday
as concerns over Italy’s budget,
Brexit talks and Saudi Arabia’s
handling of Jamal Khashoggi’s
killing kept investors’ appetite for
risk in the doldrums.
A weak lead from Wall Street
Italy as a continuing source of risk
in Europe.
“For as long as this negotiation/
clash remains (between the EU
and Italy), it will provide some
additional risk-off sentiment in
the market and I don’t think it will
be over today.
Saudi Arabia, a top crude oil
exporter, faces international
pressure to provide all the facts

A
sian markets plunged yesterday as
geopolitical risks pile up, from US
tensions with Russia and Saudi
Arabia, to trade issues and Italy’s budget
stand-off with the European Union.
Hong Kong lost more than 3% to wipe
out its gains from the previous two trad-
ing days, while Shanghai and Tokyo were
more than 2% off.
The losses brought an end to a rally
that was fuelled by China’s top brass is-
suing coordinated statements of support
for the country’s markets and officials
unveiling tax cut plans.
The advances had provided some
much-needed support to Asia but in-
vestors reverted to selling yesterday,
with nerves tested further after Donald
Trump’s warning that he will pull out of
a nuclear treaty with Russia and bolster
America’s arsenal.
“Global financial markets continue to
struggle to rally as various geopolitical
dealers “will be very keen to see if they
can maintain the stellar run that they’ve
experienced over the last couple of days,”
he said.
“With the rest of the world looking
much more pessimistic in the current
environment there could be a firm cor-
rection on the cards.”
Shanghai sank 2.3%, having jumped
more than 6% since Thursday’s close,
while Hong Kong fell 3.1% in the after-
noon.
Chen Jihao, partner at Gaoxi Hedge
Fund in Beijing, said the words of sup-
port from Beijing would only have a
limited impact and expects further sell-
ing as Chinese leaders struggle to boost
the economy while fighting a huge debt
mountain.
“Stocks in the past two days were like
a patient, just coming out of the ICU and
going straight to the nightclub — the
symptoms may have temporarily gone
will be no bull market in a deleveraging
process.”
Tokyo plunged 2.7%, Sydney lost more
than 1% and Singapore fell 1.3%. Seoul
dived 2.6%, Wellington lost 1.5% and
Taipei was 2% off.
There were also steep losses in Manila,
Mumbai and Jakarta.
Asia was given a tepid lead from Wall
Street, where traders are turning their
attention to next month’s midterm elec-
tions, which could turn control of Con-
gress over to the Democrats.
With the polls in mind, Trump has
been on a tour of the country, ramping up
his nationalistic rhetoric.
On Monday he said he is ready to add
to America’s nuclear stockpiles after an-
nouncing he will pull the nation out of a
decades-old agreement with Moscow.
There is also growing unease about
Italy’s row with the EU over its purse-
busting budget, which Brussels said
economic outlook.
The standoff comes as officials strug-
gle to hammer out a Brexit agreement
with a deadline for Britain to leave the EU
in sight.
Pressure is also growing on Saudi
Arabia after it admitted that a journalist
critical of Riyadh had been killed at its
Istanbul consulate.
The flight to safety sent the dollar ral-
lying against most higher-yielding cur-
rencies, with South Korea’s won down
0.8%, the Australian dollar off 0.5% and
the Mexican peso 0.6% off.
However, the yen, a go-to unit in
times of uncertainty climbed against the
greenback.
In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 closed down
2.7% to 22,010.78 points; Shanghai —
Composite ended down 2.3% to 2,594.83
points and Hong Kong — Hang Seng
closed down 3.1% to 25,351.73 points
yesterday.
overnight filtered through to
stock markets, with Chinese
shares falling after two strong
days and South Korea’s Kospi
dropping 3% to its lowest in more
than a year and a half.
Poland’s Wig-20 fell to its
lowest in nearly 2 weeks as initial
indications from Sunday’s elec-
tion showed the populist Law and
Justice government had racked
up strong nationwide support but
lost mayoral elections in major
cities.
The MSCI emerging market
stock index was down 1.8%, on-
pace to post its worst session in
nearly two weeks.
“This is more of a carry forward
from Asia session for now,”
said Cristian Maggio, head of
emerging market strategy at TD
about an incident that has raised
a global storm and added the
threat of sanctions against the
kingdom to a list of market
concerns.
Investors worry that may lead
to retaliation through crude oil,
although a Saudi pledge to keep
markets supplied held down
crude prices yesterday.
Turkey’s lira fell as much as
2% against the dollar before the
speech.
The stock index lost close
to 1%. Consumer confidence in
Turkey slid to its lowest level in
nearly 10 years in October, height-
ening investor concern ahead
of a central bank meeting today
that is the first since it raised
rates by 6.25 percentage points in
September.

China’s $195bn debt splurge has less bang than one might think
Bloomberg
Beijing
China’s burst of local bond issuance is
supposed to fund roads, affordable homes
and other infrastructure developments
that will help support its flagging econ-
omy. But there don’t seem to be enough
projects around to spend the money on.
Provincial authorities had by the end
of September already raised 92% of the
1.35tn yuan ($195bn) worth of special
infrastructure bonds that the central
government has targeted for the entire
year. The bonds, which are separate to
provincial authorities’ budgets, are part of
an attempt to counter the economic slow-
down by financing projects from railways
to environmental facilities and affordable
homes.
But analysis of bond data by Bloomb-
erg News shows that about 42% of the
total special bonds sold since August are
earmarked for “land reserves,” which
means compensating farmers for property
acquisition or preparing the acreage for
future development. In short, the eco-
nomic boost of the debt creation will be
less immediate than if it was used to build
highways or redevelop sub-standard hous-
ing straight away.
“Land reserve bonds are favoured
because local officials don’t have enough
projects in the pipeline when they’re
being asked to speed up spending,” said
Nie Wen, a Shanghai-based economist at
Huabao Trust Co.
“The direct impact on investment is
limited,” he said. “If other funding chan-
nels for local governments remain tightly
controlled, special bonds alone won’t be
enough to restore growth.”
The sudden surge in such debt sold
into the market has also had an indirect
crowding-out impact - yields on other
forms of government bonds have risen, in
turn pushing up those on corporate debt.
As China seeks to buffer the domestic
economy and shield it from the trade war
with the US, the difficulties around the
bond programme heighten the chances
the nation will just increase indebtedness
without stoking growth. Tax cuts, infra-
structure spending and other fiscal stimu-
lus measures are playing an increasing
role in the efforts of Chinese policy makers
to prevent the world’s second-largest
economy from slowing further. But data
released last week show that the impact
of government spending has yet to kick in,
with infrastructure investment sliding to
the slowest growth since early 2014.
“Boosting spending in infrastructure
will definitely have to rely on government”
and special government bonds are an
important source to replenish funding for
that, said Li Peijia, a senior analyst at the
Bank of China’s Institute of International
Finance in Beijing.
China started to issue special bonds in
2015 to finance projects from highways
to environmental facilities and affordable
homes. Policy makers decide an annual
quota in March each year. That has swol-
len over the years as local authorities
grapple with worsening financing condi-
tions as well as increasing downward
pressure on the economy.
The spending is seen by some as a
turbocharger in boosting investment, as
it stays outside the official budget deficit,
and it can leverage additional bank loans
and even private capital in infrastructure
projects.
“Infrastructure investment growth will
likely rebound in the fourth quarter, but it
won’t be a big recovery” unless the central
government increases its budget deficit
and local authorities find alternative
financing channels for off-balance- sheet
lending, according to a report last week
from China International Capital Corp
analysts led by Chen Jianheng.
This year the issuance of special bonds
had a slow start amid attempts to clean up
the nation’s finances. So when in late July
the government told officials to pick up
the pace, it led to a flood of hasty selling,
and caused an “obvious substitution im-
pact” on bank loans and corporate bonds,
the PBoC said last week when it added the
debt to its measure of total credit supply.
The slump in net corporate bond sales
in September to 8.7bn yuan from 338bn
yuan in August was “mainly due to the
crowding-out effect from the surge in local
government bond issuance on private sec-
tor financing,” according to Lu Ting, chief
China economist at Nomura International
Ltd in Hong Kong.
The impact of land reserve bonds is lim-
ited as is their effect on investment data,
according to a report by the fixed- asset
research team at China Merchants Bank
Co in mid-September.
 Gulf Times
6 Wednesday, October 24, 2018

BUSINESS
SAUDI ARABIA KUWAIT OMAN
Company Name Lt Price % Chg Volume Company Name Lt Price % Chg Volume Company Name Lt Price % Chg Volume
Solidarity Saudi Takaful Co 14.08 4.14 292,186 Specialities Group Holding C 71.00 1.28 154,150 Aloula Co 0.53 0.00 -
Amana Cooperative Insurance 13.36 4.38 482,839 Abyaar Real Eastate Developm 16.20 0.62 1,582,367 Al-Omaniya Financial Service 0.28 0.00 -
Alabdullatif Industrial Inv 10.66 0.57 78,223 Kgl Logistics Company Kscc 40.80 0.00 242,361 Al-Hassan Engineering Co 0.03 0.00 -
Saudi Printing & Packaging C 14.08 2.77 423,881 Combined Group Contracting 358.00 -0.56 4,040 Al-Fajar Al-Alamia Co 0.75 0.00 -
Saudi Paper Manufacturing Co 13.20 1.23 1,715,209 Jiyad Holding Co Ksc 74.00 -5.13 35,497 Al-Anwar Ceramic Tiles Co 0.08 0.00 90,000
Alinma Bank 20.58 3.11 20,708,229 Boubyan Intl Industries Hold 28.90 0.00 19,960 Al Suwadi Power 0.12 1.72 220,000
Almarai Co 46.10 -3.96 706,305 Gulf Investment House Ksc 14.90 0.00 5,003 Al Sharqiya Invest Holding 0.09 1.08 25,000
Falcom Saudi Equity Etf 29.60 0.00 114,351 Boubyan Bank K.S.C 531.00 0.00 150,577 Al Maha Petroleum Products M 0.91 0.00 5,000
United International Transpo 25.05 0.20 433,911 Ahli United Bank B.S.C 203.00 1.50 3,179,651 Al Maha Ceramics Co Saoc 0.20 0.00 -
Hsbc Amanah Saudi 20 Etf 30.20 0.00 1 Osos Holding Group Co 92.90 3.34 11,530 Al Madina Takaful Co Saoc 0.10 2.13 1,110,413
QATAR Saudi International Petroche 20.08 2.97 1,977,597 Al-Eid Food Ksc 65.00 0.00 7,920 Al Madina Investment Co 0.04 2.63 40,000
Falcom Petrochemical Etf 34.10 0.00 - Qurain Petrochemical Industr 407.00 3.56 2,189,081 Al Kamil Power Co 0.38 0.00 -
Company Name Lt Price % Chg Volume Walaa Cooperative Insurance 20.98 3.35 211,241 Ekttitab Holding Co Sak 21.00 0.00 115,532 Al Jazerah Services -Pfd 0.55 0.00 -
Bank Al-Jazira 13.78 4.08 5,510,628 Real Estate Trade Centers Co 24.00 2.13 100 Al Jazeera Steel Products Co 0.28 0.00 -
Zad Holding Co 99.10 0.00 300 Al Rajhi Bank 85.90 -3.48 7,474,461 Acico Industries Co Kscc 198.00 -1.00 220,078 Al Jazeera Services 0.11 0.00 -
Widam Food Co 72.48 -0.71 19,344 Samba Financial Group 30.80 -6.67 3,899,705 Kipco Asset Management Co 64.30 -4.03 39,795 Al Izz Islamic Bank 0.09 0.00 244,550
Vodafone Qatar 8.50 -2.07 1,174,518 United Electronics Co 55.40 4.73 222,261 National Petroleum Services 825.00 0.00 594 Al Buraimi Hotel 0.88 0.00 -
United Development Co 13.96 -0.29 159,723 Allied Cooperative Insurance 17.12 1.30 82,906 Alimtiaz Investment Group 126.00 0.00 345,265 Al Batinah Power 0.12 1.72 184,016
Salam International Investme 5.00 0.00 13,928 Malath Insurance 10.38 4.85 783,484 Ras Al Khaimah White Cement 74.00 -1.33 3,100 Al Batinah Hotels 1.13 0.00 -
Qatar & Oman Investment Co 6.01 -1.48 2,119 Alinma Tokio Marine 15.90 3.25 196,905 Kuwait Reinsurance Co Ksc 0.00 0.00 - Al Batinah Dev & Inv 0.09 0.00 -
Qatar Navigation 73.00 0.00 105,336 Arabian Shield Cooperative 16.74 4.49 931,137 Kuwait & Gulf Link Transport 92.60 -4.54 113,250 Al Anwar Holdings Saog 0.10 0.97 610,500
Qatar National Cement Co 61.98 5.30 122,262 Savola 29.70 -1.16 602,467 Humansoft Holding Co Ksc 3,012.00 -2.84 101,172 Al Ahlia Insurance Co Saoc 0.36 0.00 200,000
Qatar National Bank 188.00 1.08 206,008 Wafrah For Industry And Deve 14.02 5.41 121,559 Automated Systems Co Kscc 115.00 0.00 10,000 Ahli Bank 0.15 0.00 666,954
Qatar Islamic Insurance 54.20 0.37 560 Fitaihi Holding Group 10.36 3.60 158,797 Metal & Recycling Co 68.00 0.00 37 Acwa Power Barka Saog 0.72 0.00 115
Qatar Industrial Manufactur 42.20 0.00 4,977 Tourism Enterprise Co/ Shams 29.05 5.25 143,514 Gulf Franchising Holding Co 90.00 0.00 1,771 Abrasives Manufacturing Co S 0.05 0.00 -
Qatar International Islamic 61.11 0.68 52,010 Sahara Petrochemical Co 15.82 1.15 2,172,510 Al-Enma’a Real Estate Co 31.70 0.00 15,766 A’saffa Foods Saog 0.60 0.00 100
Qatari Investors Group 29.45 1.34 41,033 Herfy Food Services Co 39.85 -0.13 146,929 National Mobile Telecommuni 750.00 -0.27 1,115 0Man Oil Marketing Co-Pref 0.25 0.00 -
Qatar Islamic Bank 145.00 0.69 128,616 Saudi Ind Investment Group 23.60 1.29 1,787,008 Unicap Investment And Financ 58.20 0.00 30,000 #N/A Invalid Security 0.00 0.00 -
Qatar Gas Transport(Nakilat) 18.15 2.08 960,502 Salama Cooperative Insurance 14.08 6.67 812,006 Al Salam Group Holding Co 31.20 2.63 1,000 #N/A Invalid Security 0.00 0.00 -
Qatar General Insurance & Re 48.00 0.00 - Emaar Economic City 8.10 2.53 2,786,782 Al Aman Investment Company 45.00 -10.00 82 #N/A Invalid Security 0.00 0.00 -
Qatar German Co For Medical 4.76 0.21 7,093 Alahli Takaful Co 24.22 9.99 142,811 Mashaer Holding Co Ksc 42.20 -4.95 5,000 #N/A Invalid Security 0.00 0.00 -
Qatar Fuel Qsc 177.00 -0.14 15,185 Anaam International Holding 9.05 3.08 136,218 Manazel Holding 28.50 1.79 67,343 #N/A Invalid Security 0.00 0.00 -
Qatar First Bank 4.60 0.22 798,622 Saudi Telecom Co 83.10 -3.37 689,125 Tijara And Real Estate Inves 53.00 0.00 102,500 #N/A Invalid Security 0.00 0.00 -
Qatar Electricity & Water Co 186.99 -0.86 34,126 Al Alamiya Cooperative Insur 32.30 3.36 158,916 Jazeera Airways Co Ksc 730.00 0.00 42,550 #N/A Invalid Security 0.00 0.00 -
Qatar Exchange Index Etf 100.49 0.00 1,787 Saudi Industrial Services Co 11.58 3.02 429,590 Commercial Real Estate Co 79.80 0.13 1,108,563
Qatar Cinema & Film Distrib 16.53 0.00 - Al-Ahsa Development Co. 9.50 3.26 445,971 National International Co 54.60 -7.46 77,650
Al Rayan Qatar Etf 24.00 3.27 2,790 National Co For Glass In/The 18.00 1.69 53,019 Taameer Real Estate Invest C 27.50 -1.08 84,747
Qatar Insurance Co 37.49 1.11 91,303 Dur Hospitality Co 20.46 3.13 54,407 Gulf Cement Co 76.00 0.00 100,100
Ooredoo Qpsc 70.11 -0.13 53,878 Tabuk Cement Co 10.74 2.29 156,725 Heavy Engineering And Ship B 469.00 -0.21 74,127 UAE
National Leasing 8.47 -1.74 103,709 Sasco 15.00 2.46 230,277 National Real Estate Co 91.00 -0.33 24,192
Mazaya Qatar Real Estate Dev 7.71 -2.16 293,306 Saudi Cement 35.95 -0.55 546,292 Al Safat Energy Holding Comp 30.00 9.09 130,000 Company Name Lt Price % Chg Volume
Mesaieed Petrochemical Holdi 17.29 1.71 844,066 Aseer Trading Tourism & Manu 8.80 3.53 322,942 Kuwait National Cinema Co 993.00 0.00 360
Al Meera Consumer Goods Co 153.00 -0.07 11,239 Nama Chemicals Co 25.20 7.69 496,301 Danah Alsafat Foodstuff Co 37.50 -2.60 28,579 Waha Capital Pjsc 1.87 0.54 33,569
Medicare Group 64.78 0.03 17,380 Saudi Arabian Mining Co 43.50 6.10 2,544,698 Independent Petroleum Group 430.00 2.38 3,000 United Insurance Company 2.00 0.00 -
Mannai Corporation Qsc 59.96 2.50 160 Yanbu Cement Co 19.50 1.77 148,806 Kuwait Real Estate Co Ksc 45.00 0.00 429,492 United Arab Bank Pjsc 1.20 0.00 -
Masraf Al Rayan 37.50 -0.53 151,476 Saudi Fisheries 14.26 2.59 478,673 Salhia Real Estate Co Ksc 328.00 -0.30 20,000 Union National Bank/Abu Dhab 4.50 0.67 1,841,152
Al Khalij Commercial Bank 11.25 0.81 1,500 Ash-Sharqiyah Development Co 39.40 3.14 171,401 Gulf Cable & Electrical Ind 366.00 -2.14 2,993 Union Insurance Co 1.33 0.00 -
Industries Qatar 142.00 -1.70 61,871 Makkah Construction & Devepl 77.50 1.97 24,093 Kuwait Finance House 0.00 0.00 - Union Cement Co 0.00 0.00 -
Islamic Holding Group 24.62 -2.11 19,185 Al Jouf Cement 7.40 2.07 264,044 Gulf North Africa Holding Co 48.00 0.00 277,760 Umm Al Qaiwain General Inves 1.00 0.00 -
Investment Holding Group 5.35 -0.56 88,325 Abdullah A.M. Al-Khodari Son 7.24 0.00 - Hilal Cement Co 0.00 0.00 - Sudan Telecommunications Gro 0.46 0.00 -
Gulf Warehousing Company 41.59 2.34 26,365 Knowledge Economic City 10.00 0.20 624,659 Osoul Investment Kscc 58.40 0.00 48,609 Sharjah Islamic Bank 1.15 -2.54 433,809
Gulf International Services 20.32 -0.54 237,711 Al-Ahlia Cooperative Insuran 9.24 3.24 189,559 Gulf Insurance Group Ksc 623.00 0.00 510 Sharjah Insurance Company 2.84 0.00 -
Ezdan Holding Group 10.75 0.00 662,931 Al Rajhi Co For Co-Operative 51.20 3.43 485,316 Umm Al Qaiwain General Inves 64.90 0.00 58,950 Sharjah Group 1.20 0.00 -
Doha Insurance Co 12.52 0.16 1,630 Alkhodar Ab Equity 46.05 3.95 631,137 Aayan Leasing & Investment 32.30 0.00 28,100 Sharjah Cement & Indus Devel 0.93 0.00 -
Doha Bank Qpsc 21.36 -0.65 236,696 Kec Ab Equity 19.00 2.70 150,919 Alrai Media Group Co Ksc 51.00 -0.97 20,000 Ras Al-Khaimah National Insu 3.20 0.00 -
Dlala Holding 10.51 -3.75 89,954 Alahlia Ab Equity 21.10 4.46 61,277 National Investments Co 76.50 0.53 284,452 Ras Al Khaimah White Cement 0.90 0.00 -
Commercial Bank Pqsc 41.30 -0.48 158,783 Arcci Ab Equity 7.22 1.98 620,239 Commercial Facilities Co 172.00 -0.58 7,000 Ras Al Khaimah Ceramics 2.22 1.83 220,358
Barwa Real Estate Co 37.60 -0.66 227,859 Appc Ab Equity 20.90 2.96 1,305,697 Yiaco Medical Co. K.S.C.C 130.00 0.00 21,188 Ras Al Khaimah Cement Co Psc 0.69 4.39 353,514
Al Khaleej Takaful Group 9.00 -1.85 3,500 Albabtai Ab Equity 44.00 -3.93 3,066,425 Munshaat Real Estate Project 114.00 1.79 75,500 Ras Al Khaima Poultry 1.89 0.00 -
Aamal Co 9.61 0.10 17,761 Noor Financial Investment Co 51.30 0.00 35,100 Rak Properties 0.61 -0.82 634,971
Al Tamdeen Investment Co 280.00 0.00 46,436 Ooredoo Qpsc 61.50 0.00 -
Credit Rating & Collection 22.90 8.53 2,461 Oman & Emirates Inv(Emir)50% 0.50 0.00 -
KUWAIT National Takaful Company 0.55 0.74 50,000
Ifa Hotels & Resorts Co. K.S 95.00 0.00 2,788
SAUDI ARABIA Sokouk Holding Co Sak 42.00 -2.10 634,600 National Marine Dredging Co 2.85 0.00 -
Company Name Lt Price % Chg Volume Warba Bank Kscp 226.00 0.00 645,229 National Investor Co/The 0.58 0.00 -
Company Name Lt Price % Chg Volume Sultan Center Food Products 56.50 0.89 1,000 Viva Kuwait Telecom Co 720.00 0.00 21,440 National Corp Tourism & Hote 1.92 0.00 -
Kuwait Foundry Co Sak 191.00 1.60 260 Mezzan Holding Co Kscc 642.00 0.31 59,662 National Bank Of Umm Al Qaiw 2.50 -3.85 53,722
United Wire Factories Compan 13.42 2.44 152,258 National Bank Of Ras Al-Khai 4.05 0.25 815,679
Kuwait Financial Centre Sak 89.50 0.56 65,000
Etihad Etisalat Co 16.42 3.79 5,043,417 National Bank Of Fujairah 3.40 0.00 -
Ajial Real Estate Entmt 140.00 0.00 77,941
Dar Al Arkan Real Estate Dev 9.01 1.92 31,248,968 Methaq Takaful Insurance 0.77 0.00 8,571
Kuwait Finance & Investment 48.20 0.00 5,000
Alawwal Bank 14.20 1.43 1,746,323
National Industries Co Ksc 170.00 1.19 3,038
OMAN Manazel Real Estate Pjsc 0.43 -0.23 122,841
Rabigh Refining And Petroche 20.18 5.10 3,124,470 Invest Bank 2.25 0.00 -
Kuwait Real Estate Holding C 24.30 15.17 1,034
Banque Saudi Fransi 32.00 -8.57 185,803 Company Name Lt Price % Chg Volume Intl Holdings Co Pjsc 1.12 -5.08 437,572
Securities House/The 48.00 -0.83 139,182
Saudi Enaya Cooperative Insu 15.30 2.00 305,018 Voltamp Energy Saog 0.29 0.00 - Insurance House 0.85 0.00 -
Boubyan Petrochemicals Co 1,037.00 -1.05 394,709
Mediterranean & Gulf Insuran 12.90 1.74 988,662 Vision Insurance Saoc 0.14 0.00 - Gulf Pharmaceutical Ind Psc 2.20 0.00 -
Al Ahli Bank Of Kuwait 294.00 -0.34 1,000
Saudi British Bank 33.00 -7.04 1,229,982 United Power/Energy Co- Pref 1.00 0.00 - Gulf Medical Projects 1.98 0.00 -
Ahli United Bank (Almutahed) 290.00 0.00 19,866
Red Sea International Co 13.48 2.74 370,458 United Power Co Saog 3.44 0.00 - Gulf Cement Co 0.92 0.00 -
National Bank Of Kuwait 810.00 -0.25 1,674,826
Takween Advanced Industries 9.18 2.00 380,534 United Finance Co 0.09 0.00 - Fujairah Cement Industries 1.20 0.00 -
Commercial Bank Of Kuwait 505.00 0.00 68,214
Sabb Takaful 16.88 2.30 269,101 Ubar Hotels & Resorts 0.13 0.00 - Fujairah Building Industries 1.56 0.00 -
Kuwait International Bank 231.00 0.00 240,105
Saudi Arabian Fertilizer Co 79.70 -0.38 587,435 Takaful Oman 0.13 0.00 - Foodco Holding Pjsc 3.35 0.00 -
Gulf Bank 254.00 3.25 5,561,882
National Gypsum 12.48 6.12 272,688 Taageer Finance 0.10 0.00 - First Abu Dhabi Bank Pjsc 14.70 0.55 2,017,672
Al-Massaleh Real Estate Co 40.80 2.26 5,000
Saudi Ceramic Co 21.00 4.48 595,894 Sweets Of Oman 0.55 0.00 - Finance House 1.68 0.00 -
Al Arabiya Real Estate Co 29.00 0.00 52,010
National Gas & Industrializa 29.00 1.75 29,149 Sohar Power Co 0.12 0.00 - Eshraq Properties Co Pjsc 0.60 -1.32 2,450,159
Kuwait Remal Real Estate Co 32.60 1.88 3,037
Saudi Pharmaceutical Industr 28.20 1.08 247,472 Sohar Poultry 0.21 0.00 - Emirates Telecom Group Co 16.80 0.00 1,286,234
A’ayan Real Estate Co Sak 60.20 -4.44 25,000
Thimar 23.10 5.48 202,455 Smn Power Holding Saog 0.54 0.00 - Emirates Insurance Co. (Psc) 6.50 0.00 -
Investors Holding Group Co.K 12.40 1.64 2,136,002
National Industrialization C 17.30 5.49 5,337,886 Shell Oman Marketing - Pref 1.05 0.00 - Emirates Driving Company 6.80 14.86 105,700
Al-Mazaya Holding Co 72.00 -0.41 1,095,643
Batic Investments And Logist 34.85 7.07 114,978 Shell Oman Marketing 1.49 0.00 - Dana Gas 1.16 0.00 7,185,663
Al-Madar Finance & Invt Co 152.00 2.01 1,421,499
Saudi Electricity Co 14.60 0.97 1,569,285 Sharqiyah Desalination Co Sa 3.10 0.00 - Commercial Bank Internationa 0.62 8.77 2,000
Gulf Petroleum Investment 24.40 0.83 225,804
Saudi Arabia Refineries Co 36.45 5.81 264,746 Sembcorp Salalah Power & Wat 0.21 0.00 - Bank Of Sharjah 1.07 -0.93 95,000
Mabanee Co Sakc 615.00 0.99 269,173
Arriyadh Development Company 16.44 1.86 190,185 Salalah Port Services 0.60 0.00 - Axa Green Crescent Insurance 0.50 0.00 -
Inovest Co Bsc 84.40 0.00 82,399
Al-Baha Development & Invest 14.20 1.43 328,404 Salalah Mills Co 0.77 0.00 - Arkan Building Materials Co 0.58 12.94 142,600
Al-Deera Holding Co 17.00 5.59 140,010
Saudi Research And Marketing 82.80 1.60 321,511 Salalah Beach Resort Saog 1.38 0.00 - Alkhaleej Investment 1.90 0.00 -
Mena Real Estate Co 27.00 0.00 1,100
Aldrees Petroleum And Transp 28.30 3.28 408,576 Sahara Hospitality 2.38 0.00 - Aldar Properties Pjsc 1.69 0.60 3,022,670
Amar Finance & Leasing Co 32.40 0.00 273,000
Saudi Vitrified Clay Pipe Co 48.50 -2.22 22,343 Renaissance Services Saog 0.40 0.00 25,000 Al Wathba National Insurance 12.76 0.00 -
United Projects For Aviation 620.00 0.00 5,010
Jarir Marketing Co 174.60 -0.80 135,805 Raysut Cement Co 0.39 -2.51 19,430 Al Qudra Holding Pjsc 0.98 0.00 -
National Consumer Holding Co 0.00 0.00 -
Arab National Bank 31.10 -9.86 893,163 Phoenix Power Co Saoc 0.11 2.73 244,557 Al Khazna Insurance Co 0.25 0.00 -
Amwal International Investme 64.20 0.00 20
Yanbu National Petrochemical 64.00 -1.54 775,609 Packaging Co Ltd 2.21 0.00 - Al Fujairah National Insuran 300.00 0.00 -
Equipment Holding Co K.S.C.C 28.20 0.00 27,057
Arabian Cement 18.20 2.94 107,335 Ooredoo 0.55 0.36 13,705 Al Dhafra Insurance Co. P.S. 3.60 0.00 -
Arkan Al Kuwait Real Estate 78.30 -2.13 30,000
Middle East Specialized Cabl 7.37 4.99 1,043,134 Ominvest 0.36 0.00 100 Al Buhaira National Insuranc 2.21 0.00 -
Gfh Financial Group Bsc 96.00 0.00 37,233
Al Khaleej Training And Educ 10.74 3.07 244,443 Oman United Insurance Co 0.31 0.00 - Al Ain Ahlia Ins. Co. 38.00 0.00 -
Energy House Holding Co Kscp 37.00 1.37 21,100
Al Sagr Co-Operative Insuran 10.58 3.32 499,033 Oman Telecommunications Co 0.82 0.49 49,110 Agthia Group Pjsc 3.95 -1.00 5,005
Kuwait Co For Process Plant 225.00 0.00 140,442
Trade Union Cooperative Insu 19.40 1.68 523,372 Oman Refreshment Co 1.75 0.00 1,000 Abu Dhabi Ship Building Co 1.11 -0.89 1,853
Al Maidan Dental Clinic Co K 1,220.00 0.00 500
Arabia Insurance Cooperative 18.00 -1.53 195,114 Oman Qatar Insurance Co 0.12 0.00 - Abu Dhabi Natl Co For Buildi 0.49 0.00 -
National Shooting Company 16.00 0.00 176,930
Saudi Chemical Company 30.20 7.09 261,534 Oman Packaging 0.28 0.00 - Abu Dhabi National Takaful C 4.40 0.00 -
Al-Ahleia Insurance Co Sakp 427.00 0.00 46,135
Fawaz Abdulaziz Alhokair & C 19.60 2.94 784,542 Oman Oil Marketing Company 1.13 0.00 - Abu Dhabi National Oil Co Fo 2.20 -2.22 1,937,320
Wethaq Takaful Insurance Co 26.00 3.17 1,000
Bupa Arabia For Cooperative 100.60 -2.33 79,758 Oman National Engineering An 0.18 0.00 - Abu Dhabi National Insurance 3.50 0.00 -
Salbookh Trading Co Kscp 40.00 0.00 91,500
Wafa Insurance 9.42 5.72 1,120,824 Oman Investment & Finance 0.09 0.00 - Abu Dhabi National Hotels 3.65 2.82 23,946
Aqar Real Estate Investments 61.70 0.00 36,000
Jabal Omar Development Co 35.10 3.69 2,580,679 Oman Intl Marketing 0.52 0.00 - Abu Dhabi National Energy Co 1.15 0.00 125,249
Hayat Communications 77.00 0.00 150
Saudi Basic Industries Corp 123.20 -2.99 3,755,595 Oman Flour Mills 0.71 0.00 -
Soor Fuel Marketing Co Ksc 119.00 1.71 36,286
Saudi Kayan Petrochemical Co 14.52 2.25 19,826,360 Oman Fisheries Co 0.08 0.00 308,000
Tamkeen Holding Co 10.30 0.00 24,000
Etihad Atheeb Telecommunicat 5.35 0.00 - Oman Europe Foods Industries 1.00 0.00 -
Burgan Co For Well Drilling 100.00 0.00 187,263
Co For Cooperative Insurance 52.00 0.97 125,169
Kuwait Resorts Co Kscc 55.90 0.18 121,347 Oman Education & Training In 0.22 0.00 - BAHRAIN
National Petrochemical Co 25.50 4.08 387,133 Oman Chromite 3.64 0.00 -
Oula Fuel Marketing Co 115.00 0.00 13,772
Gulf Union Cooperative Insur 11.20 2.56 124,012
Palms Agro Production Co 60.00 0.00 4,890 Oman Chlorine 0.30 0.00 - Company Name Lt Price % Chg Volume
Gulf General Cooperative Ins 11.92 3.65 115,989 Oman Ceramic Company 0.42 0.00 -
Mubarrad Holding Co Ksc 59.50 0.00 19,200 Zain Bahrain Bscc 0.09 0.00 88,830
Basic Chemical Industries 24.02 2.39 55,850 Oman Cement Co 0.32 0.00 51,685
Shuaiba Industrial Co 198.00 0.00 2,663 United Paper Industries Bsc 0.00 0.00 -
Saudi Steel Pipe Co 17.68 5.24 272,189 Oman Cables Industry 1.03 0.00 100
Aan Digital Services Co 17.40 0.00 180,000 United Gulf Holding Bsc 0.95 -6.86 1,600
Buruj Cooperative Insurance 19.08 3.25 211,866 Oman & Emirates Inv(Om)50% 0.13 0.00 -
First Takaful Insurance Co 46.00 -13.21 10,000 Trafco Group Bsc 0.00 0.00 -
Mouwasat Medical Services Co 68.50 -1.15 229,267 Natl Aluminium Products 0.38 0.00 -
Kuwaiti Syrian Holding Co 37.40 1.08 220,000 Takaful International Co 0.00 0.00 -
Southern Province Cement Co 32.00 1.59 116,752 Celebrity National Financial 0.04 0.00 -
National Cleaning Company 59.00 0.00 10,000 Seef Properties 0.22 0.00 80,286
Maadaniyah 16.66 4.13 37,221 National Real Estate Develop 5.00 0.00 -
United Real Estate Company 61.00 -1.45 341,000 National Bank Of Bahrain Bsc 0.61 0.00 28,029
Yamama Cement Co 12.70 1.93 331,596 National Pharmaceutical 0.12 0.00 -
Agility 803.00 -0.12 1,024,963 Nass Corp Bsc 0.10 0.00 28,340
Jazan Energy And Development 13.56 1.19 179,754 National Mineral Water 0.10 0.00 -
Kuwait & Middle East Fin Inv 29.50 0.00 25,000 Khaleeji Commercial Bank 0.09 1.14 100,000
Zamil Industrial Investment 16.60 3.23 340,992 National Life & General Insu 0.34 0.00 -
Fujairah Cement Industries 61.50 -4.50 33,058 Ithmaar Holding Bsc 0.10 0.00 300,000
Alujain Corporation (Alco) 21.60 2.86 2,149,066 National Gas Co 0.33 0.00 600
Livestock Transport & Tradng 201.00 0.00 1,000 Investcorp Bank -$Us 9.60 0.00 5,000
Tabuk Agricultural Developme 9.20 1.10 392,735 National Finance Co 0.14 0.00 -
International Resorts Co 19.30 0.00 49,000 Inovest Co Bsc 0.00 0.00 -
United Co-Operative Assuranc 10.32 3.20 239,289 National Detergent Co Saog 0.70 0.00 100
National Industries Grp Hold 155.00 0.00 252,188 Gulf Hotel Group B.S.C 0.44 0.00 4,860
Qassim Cement/The 33.60 -0.30 63,837 National Biscuit Industries 3.80 0.00 -
Warba Insurance Co 68.50 -2.14 12,000 Gfh Financial Group Bsc 0.35 0.00 191,413
Saudi Advanced Industries 10.82 3.84 330,822 National Bank Of Oman Saog 0.18 0.00 30,081
First Dubai Real Estate Deve 37.60 -1.05 28,510 Esterad Investment Co B.S.C. 0.11 0.00 32,094
Kingdom Holding Co 8.00 2.83 117,733 Muscat Thread Mills Co 0.08 0.00 -
Al Arabi Group Holding Co 65.50 -2.24 7,300 Eskan Bank Realty Income Tr 0.10 0.00 67,000
Saudi Arabian Amiantit Co 5.46 1.87 845,213 Muscat Insurance Co Saog 0.80 0.00 -
Mobile Telecommunications Co 438.00 0.46 2,386,523 Delmon Poultry Co 0.00 0.00 -
Al Jouf Agriculture Developm 19.08 2.03 158,580 Muscat Gases Company Saog 0.23 0.00 4,891
Effect Real Estate Co 20.00 0.00 100 Bmmi Bsc 0.74 0.00 13,000
Saudi Industrial Development 7.85 3.56 305,710 Muscat Finance 0.09 0.00 211,000
Tamdeen Real Estate Co Ksc 332.00 0.00 19,214 Bbk Bsc 0.44 0.00 25,700
Riyad Bank 16.80 -4.55 2,486,681 Muscat City Desalination Co 0.13 0.00 -
Al Mudon Intl Real Estate Co 27.00 11.11 210 Bahrain Telecom Co 0.25 -0.79 200,000
The National Agriculture Dev 25.55 0.59 133,200 Majan Glass Company 0.18 0.00 -
Kuwait Cement Co Ksc 375.00 0.00 4,549 Bahrain National Holding 0.36 0.00 4,722
Halwani Bros Co 44.40 3.26 12,956 Majan College 0.45 0.00 -
Sharjah Cement & Indus Devel 72.10 0.00 54,856 Bahrain Kuwait Insurance 0.32 0.00 14,680
Arabian Pipes Co 9.02 1.81 869,492 Hsbc Bank Oman 0.12 0.00 240,035
Kuwait Portland Cement Co 1,065.00 0.00 25,000 Bahrain Islamic Bank 0.13 0.00 141,435
Eastern Province Cement Co 16.90 0.00 218,688 Hotels Management Co Interna 1.25 0.00 -
Educational Holding Group 310.00 0.00 110,000 Bahrain Flour Mills Co 0.00 0.00 -
Al Gassim Investment Holding 9.54 2.58 161,300 Gulf Stone 0.12 0.00 -
Asiya Capital Investments Co 31.10 -1.27 7,000 Bahrain Duty Free Complex 0.71 0.00 37,500
Filing & Packing Materials M 32.10 0.31 77,686 Gulf Mushroom Company 0.31 0.00 -
Kuwait Investment Co 122.00 2.52 762,600 Bahrain Commercial Facilitie 0.76 0.00 20,000
Saudi Cable Co 31.00 1.31 1,009,369 Gulf Investments Services 0.09 0.00 261,375
Burgan Bank 272.00 0.00 1,482,582 Bahrain Cinema Co ` 0.00 1,700
Tihama Advertising & Public 35.00 4.01 358,814 Gulf Invest. Serv. Pref-Shar 0.11 0.00 -
Kuwait Projects Co Holdings 208.00 0.00 480,002 Arab Banking Corp Bsc-$Us 0.40 0.00 247,543
Saudi Investment Bank/The 17.70 0.45 331,735 Gulf International Chemicals 0.20 0.00 -
Al Madina For Finance And In 22.20 -1.77 320,100 Aluminium Bahrain Bsc 0.60 0.84 7,000
Astra Industrial Group 16.08 3.08 110,860 Gulf Hotels (Oman) Co Ltd 9.50 0.00 -
Kuwait Insurance Co 330.00 0.00 10,000 Albaraka Banking Group 0.30 0.00 108,354
Saudi Public Transport Co 12.70 4.44 460,629 Global Fin Investment 0.09 0.00 1,500,200
Al Masaken Intl Real Estate 41.80 0.00 1,100 Al-Salam Bank 0.10 0.00 82,500
Taiba Holding Co 27.75 2.78 26,661 Galfar Engineering&Contract 0.10 0.98 708,500
Intl Financial Advisors 21.60 -0.46 441,943 Ahli United Bank B.S.C 0.67 0.75 100,350
Saudi Industrial Export Co 122.20 9.89 126,091 Galfar Engineering -Prefer 0.39 0.00 -
First Investment Co Kscc 38.90 1.04 32,044 #N/A Invalid Security 0.00 0.00 -
Saudi Real Estate Co 12.18 4.10 705,833 Financial Services Co. 0.18 0.00 -
Al Mal Investment Company 19.30 2.12 380,007 #N/A Invalid Security 0.00 0.00 -
Saudia Dairy & Foodstuff Co 77.00 3.08 148,258 Financial Corp/The 0.10 0.00 -
Bayan Investment Co Kscc 36.00 -0.83 95,199 #N/A Invalid Security 0.00 0.00 -
National Shipping Co Of/The 33.05 8.36 3,849,420 Dhofar Tourism 0.49 0.00 -
Egypt Kuwait Holding Co Sae 342.00 0.00 34,000 #N/A Invalid Security 0.00 0.00 -
Methanol Chemicals Co 11.26 6.23 6,065,180 Dhofar Poultry 0.18 0.00 -
Coast Investment Development 29.00 -1.36 40,800 #N/A Invalid Security 0.00 0.00 -
Chubb Arabia Cooperative Ins 16.06 1.65 120,485 Dhofar Intl Development 0.28 0.00 -
Privatization Holding Compan 51.00 -0.20 4,000 #N/A Invalid Security 0.00 0.00 -
Mobile Telecommunications Co 5.98 3.10 3,224,712 Dhofar Insurance 0.16 0.00 -
Injazzat Real State Company 82.50 0.00 120,515 #N/A Invalid Security 0.00 0.00 -
Saudi Arabian Coop Ins Co 10.38 3.59 422,162 Dhofar Fisheries & Food Indu 1.28 0.00 -
Kuwait Cable Vision Sak 30.00 0.00 21 #N/A Invalid Security 0.00 0.00 -
Axa Cooperative Insurance 18.94 5.22 224,769 Dhofar Cattlefeed 0.17 0.00 -
Sanam Real Estate Co Kscc 43.20 0.00 287 #N/A Invalid Security 0.00 0.00 -
Alsorayai Group 10.12 3.79 518,024 Dhofar Beverages Co 0.26 0.00 -
Ithmaar Holding Bsc 29.00 -0.34 984,311 #N/A Invalid Security 0.00 0.00 -
Bank Albilad 22.80 0.44 711,085 Construction Materials Ind 0.03 0.00 -
Aviation Lease And Finance C 340.00 -0.58 303,483 #N/A Invalid Security 0.00 0.00 -
Al-Hassan G.I. Shaker Co 7.71 1.85 530,949 Computer Stationery Inds 0.26 0.00 -
Arzan Financial Group For Fi 25.00 -2.34 26,162 #N/A Invalid Security 0.00 0.00 -
Wataniya Insurance Co 20.92 7.06 91,228 Bankmuscat Saog 0.42 0.48 835,655
Ajwan Gulf Real Estate Co 20.00 -4.76 250,012 #N/A Invalid Security 0.00 0.00 -
Abdullah Al Othaim Markets 65.00 2.52 152,068 Bank Sohar 0.13 -0.79 1,398,409
Kuwait Business Town Real Es 46.50 -1.90 25,999
Hail Cement 7.30 2.53 138,617 Bank Nizwa 0.09 0.00 211,141
Future Kid Entertainment And 100.00 0.00 50
Saudi Re For Cooperative Rei 6.31 2.27 738,390 Bank Dhofar Saog 0.16 0.00 - LATEST MARKET CLOSING FIGURES
 Gulf Times
Wednesday, October 24, 2018 7

BUSINESS
DJIA WORLD INDICES
Company Name Lt Price % Chg Volume Indices Lt Price Change
Dow Jones Indus. Avg 25,009.91 -307.50
Apple Inc 218.67 -0.90 20,120,653 S&P 500 Index 2,718.24 -37.64
Microsoft Corp 106.84 -2.55 23,036,293 Nasdaq Composite Index 7,394.21 -74.42
Exxon Mobil Corp 79.21 -2.39 7,393,882 S&P/Tsx Composite Index 15,157.28 -255.42
Johnson & Johnson 137.77 -0.66 4,080,891 Mexico Bolsa Index 46,662.94 -299.80
General Electric Co 12.44 0.48 35,134,411 Brazil Bovespa Stock Idx 84,907.22 -689.47
Jpmorgan Chase & Co 104.95 -1.33 11,704,644 Ftse 100 Index 6,955.21 -87.59
Procter & Gamble Co/The 86.47 -0.15 7,979,212 Cac 40 Index 4,967.69 -85.62
Walmart Inc 96.60 -0.56 4,646,712 Dax Index 11,274.28 -250.06
Verizon Communications Inc 56.63 2.99 16,006,527 Ibex 35 Tr 8,726.10 -80.40
Pfizer Inc 43.73 -1.45 10,562,460
Nikkei 225 22,010.78 -604.04
Visa Inc-Class A Shares 138.02 -1.86 5,665,455
Japan Topix 1,650.72 -44.59
Chevron Corp 112.63 -3.91 3,833,411
Hang Seng Index 25,346.55 -806.60
Coca-Cola Co/The 45.72 -0.55 7,502,781
All Ordinaries Indx 5,944.85 -61.31
Intel Corp 44.78 -0.51 17,024,089
Nzx All Index 1,520.71 -20.98
Merck & Co. Inc. 71.50 -1.48 6,034,035
Bse Sensex 30 Index 33,847.23 -287.15
Cisco Systems Inc 44.99 -1.68 11,049,039
Nse S&P Cnx Nifty Index 10,146.80 -98.45
Home Depot Inc 176.93 -1.02 3,299,718
Straits Times Index 3,031.39 -46.67
Intl Business Machines Corp 130.05 0.02 3,005,945
Karachi All Share Index 27,990.72 -387.23
Walt Disney Co/The 116.98 -1.09 4,440,565
Jakarta Composite Index 5,797.89 -42.54
Unitedhealth Group Inc 260.85 -0.51 2,200,188
3M Co 190.77 -5.26 4,861,939
Mcdonald’s Corp 176.39 5.85 8,422,206
Nike Inc -Cl B 72.94 -2.62 4,383,324 TOKYO
United Technologies Corp 128.34 1.53 3,900,888
Boeing Co/The 348.05 -2.23 2,256,739 Company Name Lt Price % Chg Volume
Goldman Sachs Group Inc 216.97 -2.09 1,853,361
Sumitomo Realty & Developmen 3,905.00 -2.79 2,764,200
American Express Co 103.15 -1.30 1,647,094
Sumitomo Metal Mining Co Ltd 3,646.00 -2.64 1,244,700
Caterpillar Inc 122.23 -5.03 16,161,479
Orix Corp 1,771.50 -3.38 5,460,100
Travelers Cos Inc/The 123.89 -0.15 750,395
Daiwa Securities Group Inc 664.40 -2.35 6,407,400
Softbank Group Corp 9,157.00 -2.93 9,735,500 A trader monitors stock prices at the London Stock Exchange. The FTSE 100 sank 1.2% to 6,955.21 points yesterday.
Mizuho Financial Group Inc 191.30 -1.49 129,666,800
Central Japan Railway Co 21,260.00 -3.47 329,500
FTSE 100 Nitori Holdings Co Ltd 14,350.00 -4.62 504,500

Europe markets sink

T&D Holdings Inc 1,882.00 -2.49 2,682,300
Company Name Lt Price % Chg Volume Toyota Motor Corp 6,544.00 -0.08 8,340,700
Hoya Corp 6,250.00 -0.22 888,600
Wpp Plc 1,041.50 -0.14 5,091,316
Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdin 4,499.00 -2.83 1,030,800
Worldpay Group Plc 0.00 0.00 -
Japan Tobacco Inc 2,883.50 -2.42 6,117,400
Wolseley Plc 0.00 0.00 -
Osaka Gas Co Ltd 2,081.00 -4.28 1,185,100

on geopolitical risks
Wm Morrison Supermarkets 248.70 -0.56 7,950,933
Sumitomo Electric Industries 1,547.50 -1.50 2,976,400
Whitbread Plc 4,396.00 -1.52 725,308
Ono Pharmaceutical Co Ltd 2,663.00 -5.18 3,937,300
Vodafone Group Plc 146.24 -2.22 98,383,108
Ajinomoto Co Inc 1,821.00 -2.70 1,636,900
United Utilities Group Plc 714.80 0.48 2,592,871
Mitsui Fudosan Co Ltd 2,538.00 -2.42 3,721,400
Unilever Plc 4,130.50 0.36 3,174,100
Daikin Industries Ltd 13,170.00 -2.88 1,212,700
Tui Ag-Di 1,296.00 -0.73 1,046,135
Toray Industries Inc 807.70 -2.78 5,100,700
Travis Perkins Plc 1,020.00 4.08 3,127,173
Tesco Plc 214.30 0.61 21,585,206
Bridgestone Corp 4,150.00 -3.08 3,578,800
AFP The price of gold, which is typically to placate the Commission, suggest-
Sony Corp 6,184.00 -1.98 6,745,200 ing that the two remain on a collision
Taylor Wimpey Plc 153.00 1.16 13,026,922 London in demand in times of uncertainty, rose
Astellas Pharma Inc 1,800.00 -3.25 6,976,600
Standard Life Plc 0.00 0.00 -
Jxtg Holdings Inc 769.90 -0.96 11,351,700
by around 1% on the day. course,” Capital Economics said in a
Standard Chartered Plc 529.00 -2.11 12,073,409
Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Meta 2,139.50 -3.21 3,642,700 Participating in Frankfurt’s plunge note to clients.

S
St James’s Place Plc 980.20 -5.25 4,050,939 Pressure is also growing on Saudi
Suzuki Motor Corp 5,600.00 -1.44 1,829,600 tock markets slumped yesterday was a share price drop in chemicals
Sse Plc 1,129.50 -0.79 2,933,265
Smith & Nephew Plc 1,268.50 -0.08 2,863,248
Nippon Telegraph & Telephone 4,830.00 -2.90 3,383,700 on geopolitical risks stretching and pharmaceuticals giant Bayer after Arabia after it admitted that a journal-
Sky Plc 1,734.00 0.46 389,218
Sompo Holdings Inc 4,631.00 -2.32 1,185,800 from US tensions with Russia a San Francisco judge on Monday up- ist critical of Riyadh had been killed at
Daiwa House Industry Co Ltd 3,250.00 -6.39 3,502,700 and Saudi Arabia to trade issues and held a jury verdict that found Bayer- its Istanbul consulate.
Shire Plc 4,466.00 -0.88 1,681,003
Komatsu Ltd 2,930.00 -4.50 8,451,000
Severn Trent Plc 1,842.50 -0.75 985,103 Italy’s budget stand-off with the Euro- owned Monsanto liable for not warn- Turkish President Recep Tayyip Er-
West Japan Railway Co 7,391.00 -2.94 440,300
Schroders Plc 2,648.00 -4.23 952,597
Murata Manufacturing Co Ltd 16,325.00 -1.45 874,200
pean Union. ing a groundskeeper that its weed killer dogan yesterday said that the “savage
Sainsbury (J) Plc 304.90 0.43 6,098,461 European stocks picked up where product Roundup might cause cancer. murder” of journalist Jamal Khashoggi
Kansai Electric Power Co Inc 1,668.50 -3.83 1,975,900
Sage Group Plc/The 535.20 -2.34 4,451,033
Denso Corp 5,093.00 -1.49 1,909,800 Asia left off, with Frankfurt closing Judge Suzanne Bolanos denied Mon- at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul was
Abi Sab Group Holding Ltd 0.00 0.00 -
Rsa Insurance Group Plc 543.60 -0.80 2,679,534
Dai-Ichi Life Holdings Inc 2,284.00 -2.54 3,909,700 2.2% lower at 11,274.28, after Hong santo’s request for a new trial but cut meticulously planned, demanding that
Royal Mail Plc 354.30 -1.28 4,390,047
Mazda Motor Corp 1,247.00 -1.50 4,367,000 Kong closed down more than 3%. the $289mn damages award to $78mn all those linked to the killing face pun-
Mitsui & Co Ltd 1,906.50 -3.08 4,806,900 London’s FTSE 100 shed 1.2% to to comply with the law regarding how ishment.
Royal Dutch Shell Plc-B Shs 2,482.50 -2.59 8,642,382
Kao Corp 7,771.00 -5.30 2,933,900
Royal Dutch Shell Plc-A Shs 2,428.50 -2.78 9,170,976 6,955.21 and Paris’s CAC 40 was down punitive damages awards must be cal- Oil prices slid yesterday as the mar-
Sekisui House Ltd 1,607.00 -4.32 5,126,300
Royal Bank Of Scotland Group 232.80 -0.94 12,985,457
Oriental Land Co Ltd 10,530.00 -2.68 564,500
1.7% to 4,967.69 points at close yester- culated. ket discounted concerns about poten-
Rolls-Royce Holdings Plc 841.40 -2.21 6,011,390 day. Bayer said it would appeal the latest tial supply disruptions in the Middle
Secom Co Ltd 9,193.00 -1.49 644,900
Rio Tinto Plc 3,628.50 -1.93 3,423,852
Tokio Marine Holdings Inc 5,333.00 -3.79 2,388,400 Wall Street also saw sharp falls in ruling. East.
Rexam Ltd 0.00 0.00 -
Relx Plc 1,506.00 -0.40 5,630,451
Aeon Co Ltd 2,566.50 -3.15 2,704,500 the early hours of trading, although the There is growing unease meanwhile Saudi Arabia said Monday it had no
Reckitt Benckiser Group Plc 6,587.00 -1.83 1,289,043
Fanuc Corp 18,860.00 -2.10 1,297,300 Dow and Nasdaq held above the morn- about Italy’s row with the EU over its plans to repeat its harsh 1973 oil em-
Daito Trust Construct Co Ltd 14,510.00 -3.91 484,300 bargo, even as relations with the West
Randgold Resources Ltd 6,534.00 3.78 940,610 ing’s worst levels approaching midday purse-busting budget, which Brussels
Otsuka Holdings Co Ltd 5,339.00 -2.07 908,400
Prudential Plc 1,505.00 0.00 8,466,954
Resona Holdings Inc 603.50 -1.68 9,678,500
in New York. said breaks the bloc’s financial rules. sour following the death of Khashoggi.
Provident Financial Plc 507.80 -5.61 1,253,103
Asahi Kasei Corp 1,406.50 -2.87 5,644,000 Mixed US corporate earnings, The populist government in Rome Earlier in Asia, sharp equity losses
Persimmon Plc 2,194.00 0.18 1,098,604 has refused to back down and cut its brought an end to a rally in previous
Kirin Holdings Co Ltd 2,684.00 0.09 2,646,700 prompting sharp falls in Dow members
Pearson Plc 887.80 1.07 3,947,031
Paddy Power Betfair Plc 6,235.00 -3.86 264,218
Mitsubishi Ufj Financial Gro 671.70 -2.40 63,776,700 Caterpillar and 3M, added to geopo- spending promises despite warnings sessions fuelled by China’s top brass
Old Mutual Plc 0.00 0.00 -
Marubeni Corp 917.70 -3.43 10,396,500 litical angst among investors, dealers about the country’s economic outlook. issuing co-ordinated statements of
Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings 894.40 -3.64 7,469,500 reported. Yesterday, the EU Commission re- support for the country’s markets and
Next Plc 5,094.00 0.79 678,738
Fast Retailing Co Ltd 56,000.00 -0.83 1,081,400
National Grid Plc 830.60 0.16 14,324,510 “US equity markets turned sharply jected Italy’s draft budget, the first officials unveiling tax cut plans.
Ms&Ad Insurance Group Holdin 3,484.00 -1.64 1,140,300
Mondi Plc 1,742.00 -2.30 2,900,121
Kubota Corp 1,853.00 -1.88 3,686,600
lower as investors turned chicken to the time the EU executive has ever sent Elsewhere, nerves have been test-
Merlin Entertainment 312.00 -2.41 3,542,260 tune of some very risk-off mood music,” a member state back to the drawing ed by US President Donald Trump’s
Seven & I Holdings Co Ltd 4,741.00 -1.96 2,181,400
Mediclinic International Plc 358.50 -3.40 1,823,285
Inpex Corp 1,379.00 -3.16 5,447,500 said Neil Wilson at markets.com. board over spending plans. warning that he will pull out of a nu-
Marks & Spencer Group Plc 284.20 0.89 6,021,898
London Stock Exchange Group 4,220.00 -3.10 900,680
Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Gr 4,371.00 -1.93 6,515,400 The dollar was down versus the “We doubt that the Italian govern- clear treaty with Russia and bolster
Lloyds Banking Group Plc 56.39 -0.07 169,371,466
Ana Holdings Inc 3,591.00 -2.50 1,302,900 euro, yen and pound. ment will alter its budget sufficiently America’s arsenal.
Mitsubishi Electric Corp 1,371.50 -2.31 5,680,900
Legal & General Group Plc 240.60 0.33 23,479,410
Honda Motor Co Ltd 3,011.00 -2.18 5,137,400
Land Securities Group Plc 832.60 -1.07 2,059,622
Tokyo Gas Co Ltd 2,707.50 -3.60 1,674,100
Kingfisher Plc 242.40 -0.37 6,403,084
-3.33
HONG KONG HONG KONG
Tokyo Electron Ltd 14,800.00 1,676,000
Johnson Matthey Plc 2,856.00 -2.76 917,870
Panasonic Corp 1,204.50 -1.95 8,115,500
Itv Plc 153.25 -0.81 15,035,857 Company Name Lt Price % Chg Volume Company Name Lt Price % Chg Volume
Fujitsu Ltd 7,328.00 -1.35 849,800
Intu Properties Plc 195.15 -3.15 8,164,917
East Japan Railway Co 9,551.00 -3.02 1,109,500 Aluminum Corp Of China Ltd-H 3.03 -2.26 25,909,880 Hong Kong & China Gas 14.78 -2.12 13,386,161
Intl Consolidated Airline-Di 561.40 0.18 5,037,306
Itochu Corp 2,087.00 -2.98 5,069,600 Bank Of East Asia Ltd 25.45 -3.05 1,793,128 Hong Kong Exchanges & Clear 209.60 -2.96 8,038,331
Intertek Group Plc 4,387.00 -1.92 674,621
Fujifilm Holdings Corp 4,911.00 -1.80 2,234,100 Bank Of China Ltd-H 3.27 -2.10 421,680,917 Hsbc Holdings Plc 62.40 -3.03 42,301,510
Intercontinental Hotels Grou 3,975.00 -1.34 727,359
Yamato Holdings Co Ltd 3,203.00 -2.47 981,000 Bank Of Communications Co-H 5.54 -1.07 17,433,136 Hutchison Whampoa Ltd 0.00 0.00 -
Inmarsat Plc 458.40 -4.10 1,882,049
Chubu Electric Power Co Inc 1,611.50 -4.84 1,770,000 Belle International Holdings 0.00 0.00 - Ind & Comm Bk Of China-H 5.24 -2.24 196,626,708
Informa Plc 711.40 -2.81 2,799,948
Mitsubishi Estate Co Ltd 1,808.00 -1.12 5,526,200 Boc Hong Kong Holdings Ltd 33.25 -1.63 9,693,757 Li & Fung Ltd 1.53 -4.38 15,859,386
Imperial Brands Plc 2,647.50 1.46 3,680,432
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries 4,111.00 -2.68 1,608,200 Cathay Pacific Airways 10.64 -2.39 1,971,000 Mtr Corp 38.15 -1.68 3,477,684
Hsbc Holdings Plc 606.70 -2.79 35,039,699
Shiseido Co Ltd 6,937.00 -4.03 2,570,900 Ck Hutchison Holdings Ltd 79.65 -2.57 6,146,431 New World Development 10.02 -1.96 10,175,780
Hargreaves Lansdown Plc 1,743.50 -4.15 1,349,074
Shionogi & Co Ltd 7,097.00 -3.69 1,609,500 China Coal Energy Co-H 3.34 -1.76 7,082,000 Petrochina Co Ltd-H 5.92 -1.82 98,649,122
Hammerson Plc 425.80 -3.84 4,747,041
Recruit Holdings Co Ltd 3,213.00 -2.96 4,240,300 China Construction Bank-H 6.20 -2.36 255,621,256 Ping An Insurance Group Co-H 75.90 -0.78 42,805,247
Glencore Plc 299.75 -3.51 49,986,333
Japan Airlines Co Ltd 3,833.00 -2.09 1,331,200 China Life Insurance Co-H 17.36 -2.58 37,854,436 Power Assets Holdings Ltd 52.50 -1.78 3,199,168
Glaxosmithkline Plc 1,543.40 0.23 10,090,794
Nitto Denko Corp 7,440.00 -5.76 1,629,400 China Merchants Port Holding 13.76 -2.13 2,407,877 Sino Land Co 12.40 -2.05 3,878,170
Gkn Ltd 0.00 0.00 -
Kddi Corp 2,881.50 -2.91 6,827,800 China Mobile Ltd 74.50 -3.87 24,675,800 Sun Hung Kai Properties 101.70 -2.31 4,956,298
Fresnillo Plc 977.20 9.11 3,796,666
Rakuten Inc 768.40 -0.54 8,539,900 China Overseas Land & Invest 23.60 -2.88 11,868,058 Swire Pacific Ltd - Cl A 82.80 -1.43 1,796,956
Experian Plc 1,750.00 -2.59 2,896,627
Kyocera Corp 6,047.00 -3.39 1,657,900 China Petroleum & Chemical-H 6.37 -3.34 89,714,961 Tencent Holdings Ltd 277.80 -4.60 30,960,896
Easyjet Plc 1,132.50 2.58 2,355,474
Nissan Motor Co Ltd 994.00 -0.95 17,185,300 China Resources Beer Holding 28.10 -3.44 4,740,062 Wharf Holdings Ltd 19.40 0.21 4,009,141
Dixons Carphone Plc 158.30 -0.78 1,823,966
Direct Line Insurance Group 325.00 -0.94 4,776,810 China Resources Land Ltd 25.45 -6.61 10,960,281
Diageo Plc 2,673.00 -0.48 4,813,063 China Resources Power Holdin 12.70 -2.61 5,071,449
SENSEX China Shenhua Energy Co-H 17.84 -3.57 22,631,972
Dcc Plc
Crh Plc
6,325.00
2,091.00
-5.10
-2.11
1,076,366
2,563,866 China Unicom Hong Kong Ltd 8.84 -0.90 33,352,793 GCC INDICES
Compass Group Plc 1,483.00 -0.13 3,967,498 Company Name Lt Price % Chg Volume Citic Ltd 11.42 -2.23 5,261,382 Indices Lt Price Change
Coca-Cola Hbc Ag-Di 2,321.00 -2.19 589,610 Clp Holdings Ltd 85.90 -3.21 4,435,437 Doha Securities Market 10,264.07 -10.38
Zee Entertainment Enterprise 437.60 -2.58 2,703,735
Centrica Plc 148.05 0.54 32,635,732 Cnooc Ltd 14.12 -2.89 38,438,568 Saudi Tadawul 7,549.77 -98.87
Yes Bank Ltd 213.20 0.80 30,779,306
Carnival Plc 4,212.00 -1.38 984,197 Cosco Shipping Ports Ltd 8.12 -1.93 3,388,677 Kuwait Stocks Exchange #N/A N/A #N/A N/A
Wipro Ltd 309.10 -4.07 4,144,296
Capita Plc 118.25 -1.54 4,901,110 Esprit Holdings Ltd 1.96 -2.49 5,413,536 Bahrain Stock Exchage 1,321.16 -1.48
Vedanta Ltd 210.35 -1.50 12,775,485
Burberry Group Plc 1,670.50 -2.28 2,219,182 Fih Mobile Ltd 0.72 -2.70 5,234,675 Oman Stock Market 4,459.36 +4.61
Ultratech Cement Ltd 3,343.65 -3.45 836,811
Bunzl Plc 2,190.00 0.23 1,499,487 Hang Lung Properties Ltd 14.24 -2.20 6,623,740 Abudhabi Stock Market 4,970.30 +14.11
Tech Mahindra Ltd 668.25 -1.23 1,696,420
Bt Group Plc 240.45 -1.23 32,403,763 Hang Seng Bank Ltd 196.90 -3.20 2,383,468 Dubai Financial Market 2,753.07 +5.68
Tata Steel Ltd 545.60 0.16 4,989,455
British Land Co Plc 571.80 -2.16 3,046,492 Henderson Land Development 37.25 -1.32 3,506,473
Tata Power Co Ltd 69.45 -0.22 4,585,613
British American Tobacco Plc 3,504.50 4.24 8,873,031
Tata Motors Ltd 170.65 -0.06 17,171,117
Bp Plc 533.20 -3.20 44,594,406
Tata Consultancy Svcs Ltd 1,843.65 -3.12 2,867,087
Bhp Billiton Plc 1,521.20 -1.88 8,154,535
Sun Pharmaceutical Indus 575.85 -5.12 4,888,146
Berkeley Group Holdings/The 3,274.00 -0.70 656,875 “Information contained herein is believed to be reliable and had been obtained from sources believed to be reliable. The
State Bank Of India 255.65 -1.81 21,400,720
Barratt Developments Plc 497.60 0.20 4,521,516
Reliance Industries Ltd 1,054.70 -0.75 11,101,157 accuracy and completeness cannot be guaranteed. This publication is for providing information only and is not intended
Barclays Plc 165.76 0.27 56,181,775
Punjab National Bank 64.75 -1.45 17,576,394 as an offer or solicitation for a purchase or sale of any of the financial instruments mentioned. Gulf Times and Doha Bank
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Babcock Intl Group Plc 591.60 -4.80 2,528,636
Oil & Natural Gas Corp Ltd 155.40 -0.35 8,642,539 this data.”
Aviva Plc 421.00 0.24 16,158,748
Ntpc Ltd 165.00 0.09 6,169,155
Astrazeneca Plc 5,931.00 -0.74 2,720,871
Maruti Suzuki India Ltd 6,771.30 -0.60 803,133
Associated British Foods Plc 2,284.00 -1.64 1,184,641
Ashtead Group Plc 1,818.00 -3.48 2,634,165
Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd
Lupin Ltd
729.95
851.00
-0.52
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1,742,336
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Icici Bank Ltd 322.85 -1.30 22,278,913
Housing Development Finance 1,686.75 1.72 3,931,453
TOKYO Hindustan Unilever Ltd 1,552.05 -2.07 1,133,295
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Company Name Lt Price % Chg Volume Hero Motocorp Ltd 2,724.25 -0.28 482,164
Hitachi Ltd 3,324.00 -2.46 3,178,100 Hdfc Bank Limited 1,984.85 -0.70 4,904,498
Takeda Pharmaceutical Co Ltd 4,528.00 -1.61 5,909,300 Hcl Technologies Ltd 951.55 -2.91 1,515,356
Jfe Holdings Inc 2,347.00 -3.48 3,248,400 Grasim Industries Ltd 825.95 -3.66 1,334,944
Sumitomo Corp 1,725.00 -3.39 5,624,300 Gail India Ltd 340.00 -0.67 3,692,082
Canon Inc 3,465.00 -2.91 4,416,800 Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories 2,473.75 -1.81 866,147
Nintendo Co Ltd 37,520.00 -1.39 1,139,000 Coal India Ltd 277.35 0.67 2,607,838
Eisai Co Ltd 10,155.00 -4.06 1,102,400 Cipla Ltd 622.35 -1.16 1,409,243
Isuzu Motors Ltd 1,475.00 -2.74 2,820,200 Cairn India Ltd 0.00 0.00 -
Unicharm Corp 3,121.00 -3.61 2,375,000 Bosch Ltd 17,736.60 -3.00 15,125
Shin-Etsu Chemical Co Ltd 8,772.00 -1.73 1,448,700 Bharti Airtel Ltd 285.90 0.05 6,757,846
Smc Corp 32,880.00 -3.27 228,600 Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd 269.55 -0.59 9,349,234
Mitsubishi Corp 3,295.00 -2.43 4,159,500 Bharat Heavy Electricals 73.85 -0.14 14,559,621
Asahi Group Holdings Ltd 4,790.00 -1.11 1,445,600 Bank Of Baroda 101.70 -0.88 12,771,264
Keyence Corp 53,830.00 -4.44 490,800 Bajaj Auto Ltd 2,586.50 1.16 359,286
Nidec Corp 14,065.00 -2.66 1,282,000 Axis Bank Ltd 562.75 0.12 10,065,671
Nomura Holdings Inc 541.40 -2.45 17,558,300 Asian Paints Ltd 1,138.45 -5.16 8,942,335
Daiichi Sankyo Co Ltd 4,515.00 -0.75 1,860,500 Ambuja Cements Ltd 200.60 -2.62 8,713,726
Subaru Corp 3,235.00 -1.82 2,573,900 Adani Ports And Special Econ 319.00 1.14 4,202,257
Ntt Docomo Inc 2,854.50 -1.11 3,779,500 Acc Ltd 1,381.00 -2.89 1,021,794
 Gulf Times
12 Wednesday, October 24, 2018
BUSINESS
Benetton death opens
succession dilemma
at billionaire family
Bloomberg
Milan
T
he death of Gilberto Benetton, the
mastermind of the family’s diver-
sification beyond sweaters into
infrastructures, restaurants and financial
companies, poses a succession issue for
the Italian billionaire clan.
Benetton co-founded the namesake
clothing more than 50 years ago with his
siblings Luciano and Giuliana, as well as
Carlo, who passed away in July. The four
had equal stakes in its main holding compa-
ny, Edizione Srl, and there’s a lack of an ob-
vious successor to Gilberto, who amassed a
net worth of about $2.5bn, according to the
Bloomberg billionaire’s Index.
The 77-year-old executive died on
Monday at his home in Treviso, Italy, fol-
lowing a brief illness, according to a state-
ment from his family.
While his older brother Luciano, 83,
has always been directly involved with
Benetton Group and returned last year at
the helm of the fashion chain to revamp
its struggling business, Gilberto was the
main architect of the family’s expansion
beyond the clothing industry. He helped
create Edizione, which controls invest-
ments in highway operator Atlantia SpA,
and Autogrill SpA, which runs roadside
rest-stop eateries.
Edizione, which had a net asset value of
€12bn ($14bn) at the end of June, is facing
one of its most difficult moments. After a
bridge its Atlantia unit operates in Genoa
collapsed and killed more than 40 peo-
ple, the family’s stake in the company lost
more than €2bn of value.
While the Benettons already opted in
the last few years for non-family mem-
bers such as former Telecom Italia chief
executive officer Marco Patuano to run
Edizione, Gilberto was still the family’s
most important voice in deciding invest-
ments and strategy. He served as Ed-
In recent years, Gilberto Benetton had been leaning to changing the role of family members to one of supervisors rather than managers.
He had indicated that in the future, the holding company should operate more like a sovereign wealth fund.
izione’s vice-chairman under chairman
Fabio Cerchiai.
“He was a man of extraordinary value
and rare entrepreneurial vision,” Patuano
and Cerchiai said in a statement.
“His capacity to foresee economic and
social developments guided Edizione into
its most important strategic choices.”
Now the family may be discussing
who should succeed Gilberto. Luciano’s
son Alessandro has been the prominent
figure of the second generation and is
well-known among investors. Still, the
54-year-old executive left the clothing
company in 2014 and is now fully dedi-
cated to his own private equity fund 21
Partners. Gilberto’s daughter Sabrina
is now expected to take his place in Ed-
izione’s board.
In recent years, Gilberto had been lean-
ing to changing the role of family mem-
bers to one of supervisors rather than
managers. He had indicated that in the
future, the holding company should op-
erate more like a sovereign wealth fund.
The family holding vehicle also owns
3% of Italy’s biggest insurer Assicurazioni
Generali SpA and a 2% of Mediobanca
SpA, the country’s largest listed invest-
ment bank. In July, Edizione bought the
biggest single stake in Spanish mobile-
phone tower operator Cellnex.
Gilberto was also a prominent figure in
Italy’s sport business. He transformed his
home-town Treviso into a sort of sport
capital in the 1990s when Benetton-
backed teams won several champion-
ships in rugby, volley and basketball. The
family is currently now concentrating
on its rugby team, which plays in the Pro
14 tournament and the European Rugby
Championship.
Dyson to make
electric cars
in Singapore
AFP
London
British electric appliance
pioneer Dyson said yesterday
it had picked Singapore as
the site for its first electric car
plant, sparking criticism of
the company’s Brexit-backing
billionaire founder for not
investing more in British
manufacturing.
Dyson, founded and owned
by serial entrepreneur James
Dyson, said the factory was
scheduled for completion
in 2020 as part of a £2.5bn
(€2.8bn, $3.3bn) global
investment drive in new
technology.
The company, best known for
its cordless vacuum cleaners,
hand dryers and fans, is
aiming to launch electric
vehicles in 2021.
“The decision of where to
make our car is complex,
based on supply chains,
access to markets and the
availability of the expertise
that will help us achieve
our ambitions,” Dyson chief
executive Jim Rowan said in a
statement.
“Our existing footprint and
team in Singapore, combined
with the nation’s significant
advanced manufacturing
expertise, made it a
frontrunner.
Singapore also offers access
to high-growth markets as
well as an extensive supply
chain and a highly-skilled
workforce,” Rowan said.
“Singapore has a
comparatively high cost base,
but also great technology
expertise and focus.
It is therefore the right place to
make high quality technology
loaded machines, and the
right place to make our
electric vehicle.”
The company already has
production facilities in
Malaysia and Singapore.
Best for Britain, an anti-Brexit
campaign group, called the
news “astonishing”.
“He’s snubbed Britain for
Singapore,” the group
tweeted.
Opposition Labour MP Ian
Murray, a supporter of Best
for Britain, said: “When even
someone who claims there
will be a resurgence in British
manufacturing after Brexit
isn’t prepared to put his
money where his mouth is, it
raises serious questions”.
But Singapore welcomed the
decision, which Prime Minister
Lee Hsien Loong said will see
car assembly return to the
city-state for the first time
since the 1980s.
“Now we will manufacture
cars again, except this time
greener, better, and more
high-tech!” he wrote on his
Facebook page.
Dyson announced his decision
to launch electric cars last
year — a sector in which
the company will face stiff
competition from established
players.
Electric vehicles are increasing
in popularity as governments
worldwide drive forward
plans to gradually phase out
polluting petrol and diesel
cars.
Dyson told AFP in an interview
earlier this year that electric
cars were already available to
order and the manufacturing
location would be either in
Britain or Asia.
Dyson, a vocal supporter of
the campaign to leave the EU,
said he was confident the EU
and Britain would reach an
agreement on free trade after
Britain leaves the bloc. “I think
it would be hurtful to both
sides not to do that,” he said.
The company said that 2017
operating profit surged by
almost one third to around
£800mn, aided by fast growth
in China, India, Japan, Korea
and Taiwan.

Huawei opens up to German
scrutiny ahead of 5G auctions
Reuters
Frankfurt
C
hina’s Huawei Technologies Co
Ltd will open a new information
security lab in Germany next
month that will enable source code re-
views, in a step aimed at winning regu-
lators’ confidence before the country’s
5G mobile spectrum auction.
The move follows Australia’s deci-
sion to ban Huawei from supplying 5G
equipment over concerns it could fa-
cilitate Chinese spying, and its barring
from some US government contracts
on national security grounds.
Germany, which lacks a telecoms
hardware industry of its own, is keener
to maintain its traditionally close trade
and investment ties with Beijing with-
out compromising on its own cyber-
security, say officials.
The Federal Office for Information
Security (BSI) said Huawei will open the
lab on November 16 in Bonn, where the
BSI and other key regulators are based.
Also headquartered in the former capi-
tal is Deutsche Telekom, the partly
state-owned market leader that has
close business ties with Huawei.
The lab would facilitate source-code
reviews, a BSI official said.
This entails examining the program-
ming language used to run network
gear, for example screening it for vul-
nerabilities such as ‘back doors’ that
might allow spy agencies to gain covert
access.
“We have to deal with the reality that
there are few hardware manufacturers
in Germany – they come from abroad,”
a BSI official told Reuters. “Based on
this reality, we have to achieve the best
level of security possible.”
Huawei was among a group of tel-
ecoms providers and network equip-
ment suppliers that took part in a
workshop hosted by the BSI last week
to address security in 5G networks that
can enable connected factories, self-
driving cars and telemedicine.
The company declined to comment
on any co-operation with the German
authorities, but said: “Information
security is absolutely central to all we
do.”
“Long before the issues that have
Japan PM
heads to
China
looking
for greater
trade ties
AFP
Tokyo
Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo
Abe makes a rare trip to China
this week hoping improved rela-
tions will lead to new economic
partnerships, as the two coun-
tries come under US pressure
on trade.
The visit is the first by a
Japanese premier since 2011
and is part of a years-long
process of repairing ties in the
wake of a disastrous falling-out
in 2012, when Tokyo “national-
ised” disputed islands claimed
by Beijing.
The incident prompted
anti-Japanese riots in China,
and kicked off a frosty spell that
has only gradually and recently
begun to thaw.
Since an awkward 2014
encounter between Abe and
Chinese President Xi Jinping on
the sidelines of a summit, there
have been ministerial visits by
both sides and a softening of
rhetoric.
But Abe’s trip will be a test
of how far the two countries
have come, and the need for
progress is all the more urgent
as US President Donald Trump
levies tariffs and rattles sabres
on trade with both China and
Japan.
“The trade war with the US
seems like it’s helping bring
them together a bit,” said Kristin
Vekasi, assistant professor of
political science at the Univer-
sity of Maine, and an expert on
Japan-China ties.
“In that sense, they’re actu-
ally on the same side... and if
Japan leans away from the US
because of decreased economic
opportunities, there’s a poten-
tial for closer ties with China,”
she told AFP.
People attend a Huawei Mate 20 smartphone series launch event in London. The Chinese firm will open a new information security lab in Germany next month that will
enable source code reviews, in a step aimed at winning regulators’ confidence before the country’s 5G mobile spectrum auction.
been raised in the US and Australia,
and entirely independently, we have
responded to the demands of custom-
ers by building the highest levels of
security into our products and opera-
tions,” a spokesman said.
“We rigorously test the cyber-secu-
rity of our products against the highest
global standards.”
In Britain, Huawei is already subject
to the scrutiny of an independent over-
sight board and set up a technology lab
in 2010 to facilitate its work.
Huawei says no inspection has ever
found any ‘back doors’ in the net-
works it has built, but the UK over-
sight board did recently fault techni-
Bank Indonesia keeps rates unchanged
Reuters
Jakarta
I
ndonesia’s central bank kept its
benchmark interest rate unchanged
yesterday, taking a pause after 150
basis points of rate hikes since May,
and warned that third quarter eco-
nomic growth may not be as strong as
initially expected.
The 7-day reverse repurchase rate
was held at 5.75%, which Bank Indone-
sia (BI) senior deputy governor Mirza
Adityaswara said is consistent with ef-
forts to narrow the current account gap
and maintains the attractiveness of as-
sets for foreign investors.
A Reuters poll had expected BI to
pause its tightening cycle this week,
taking advantage of relatively calm
markets.
Satria Sambijantoro, Bahana Sekuri-
tas economist, said BI may hike next
month to pre-empt the US Federal Re-
serve’s widely anticipated December
rate increase.
BI “is merely reloading its ammuni-
As US sanctions loom, China’s Bank of Kunlun to stop receiving Iran payments
Reuters
Beijing
Bank of Kunlun Co, the key Chinese
conduit for transactions with Iran, is
set to halt handling payments from
the Islamic Republic under pressure
of imminent US sanctions against the
country, four sources familiar with the
matter told Reuters.
Kunlun, the main official channel for
money flows between China and Iran,
has verbally informed clients that it
will stop accepting yuan-denominated
Iranian payments to China from
November 1, said the sources, who
include external loan agents and
business officials who trade with Iran.
The bank, controlled by the financial
arm of Chinese state energy group
CNPC, had already quietly suspended
euro-denominated payments from
Iran in late August, the four sources
said, declining to be named due to the
sensitivity of the matter.
Kunlun did not respond to an emailed
request seeking comment.
cal and supply-chain shortcomings in
its gear.
The opening of Huawei’s lab comes
just as Germany’s federal network reg-
ulator (BNetzA), which is also based in
Bonn, finalises terms for the 5G licens-
ing round that it plans to hold in the
first quarter of 2019.
Total costs of building out Germa-
ny’s 5G networks could run to €80bn
($92bn), making the stakes huge for
Huawei, the top global supplier with a
market share of 28%, and rivals Erics-
son, Nokia, ZTE and Samsung.
Huawei has already gained a foot-
hold, partnering with Deutsche Tel-
ekom on a 5G pilot project in Berlin.
Indonesian rupiah banknotes are seen after they were counted at a money changer
in Jakarta. The currency is about 11% weaker than its end-2017 level, hurt by capital
outflows triggered by rising US interest rates and the US-China trade war.
tion before launching another mon-
etary tightening in November,” he said.
The rupiah, the second worst per-
former among emerging Asian cur-
rencies, has remained around 15,200 a
A CNPC spokesman declined comment.
It was not immediately clear how long
the suspension of services will last and
how Chinese businesses still selling
goods or services to Iran would be able
to receive payment.
It was also not clear whether the bank’s
services settling China’s payments for
Iranian oil purchases would be affected.
China is the top buyer of Iranian oil
and nearly all of its oil payments go
through Kunlun.
China had been buying some $1.5bn
worth of oil each month from Iran as
recently as September.
But state refiners have since October
been scaling back oil purchases
from Iran to comply with looming US
sanctions, oil industry sources have
said. The previously unreported moves
by Kunlun highlight the mounting
pressure Beijing faces as Washington
reimposes sanctions targeting Iran’s
financial and oil sectors from early
November.
“A Kunlun account manager told us
payments from Iran made after that
date will be rejected and returned,”
Telekom said its relationship with
Huawei was close: “We have reached
several new technical milestones to-
gether in recent years,” a spokesman
said. The federal interior ministry, for
its part, said in answer to a parliamen-
tary question last week that there was
no legal basis to exclude any foreign
equipment provider from Germany’s
5G buildout – nor was any such meas-
ure planned.
The Chinese company is meanwhile
courting officials from North-Rhine
Westphalia, Germany’s most populous
state.
A 50-strong business delegation,
led by the state’s economy and digital
dollar in the past two weeks, near its
weakest since the Asian financial cri-
sis.
It barely moved after yesterday’s de-
cision.
said one of the sources, an agent who
serves as a go-between for the bank
and corporate borrowers.
“Whether and when to resume the
services depends on the international
situation after the sanctions start on
November 5,” said another one of the
sources, a businesswoman, citing a
WeChat message from her trade agent
recounting what she had heard from
Kunlun.
The agent urged her in the message
to hurry up payment collections, the
person said.
The new round of US sanctions aims
to force Tehran to stop its involvement
in regional conflicts in Syria, Yemen
and Iraq and halt its ballistic missile
programme, after President Donald
Trump abandoned a 2015 deal between
Iran and six world powers aimed at
curbing Tehran’s nuclear plans.
China has said it is opposed to any
unilateral sanctions and has defended
its commercial ties with Tehran.
Kunlun was established in 2006 as
a city commercial bank in Karamay,
an oil-producing hub in China’s far-
BUSINESS
affairs minister Andreas Pinkwart, is
currently visiting China.
Pinkwart’s office confirmed he
would attend the opening of the Hua-
wei lab in mid-November.
Huawei is also the main partner for
a smart city project in the regional city
of Duisburg, whose commercial port
on the Rhine is a main European ter-
minus for Beijing’s Belt and Road in-
frastructure initiative, and another in
Gelsenkirchen.
“The operating environment for us
as a Chinese company is ideal in North
Rhine-Westphalia,” Huawei vice presi-
dent Julio Kong said in a statement on
Pinkwart’s trip to Beijing.
The currency is about 11% weaker
than its end-2017 level, hurt by capital
outflows triggered by rising US inter-
est rates and the United States-China
trade war.
Higher borrowing costs may hurt
medium-term economic growth.
But although BI said loan growth
continued to pick up in August, eco-
nomic growth was expected to be
slower than initially expected in the
third quarter.
The deputy governor said growth
in Southeast Asia’s largest economy
in July-September was expected to
be “a little less than 5.1%” and it may
pull the rate for full-year 2018 to the
lower end of BI’s 5%-5.4% outlook.
BI attributed this to weaker-than-
expected export growth due to unfa-
vourable prices of commodities like
palm oil and coal.
This, coupled with higher oil pric-
es inflating imports, was likely to
slightly widen the third-quarter cur-
rent account deficit from April-June,
Adityaswara said.
The April-June gap was 3% of GDP,
western Xinjiang region. CNPC became
its major shareholder in 2009 through
a capital injection in a bid to expand its
oil financing business.
Kunlun is now 77.09% owned by CNPC
Capital, the bank’s latest annual report
shows.
Early this decade, Kunlun was chosen
by Beijing as its main bank to process
billions of dollars in oil payments
to Iran, shielding other banks from
penalties under Western sanctions that
ran between 2010 and 2015.
The US Treasury sanctioned Kunlun in
2012 for conducting business with Iran
and transferring money to an entity
linked to Iran’s Revolutionary Guards.
The lender has nearly 30,000
corporate clients, largely state-owned
enterprises and oil firms, its annual
report said.
One of its flagship products is called “Yi
Lu Tong”, meaning “Iran Connect”, the
bank said in its annual report.
The 2012 US sanctions barred Kunlun
from directly accessing the US financial
system.
Most of the bank’s transactions are
Gulf Times
Wednesday, October 24, 2018 13
$3.7bn dam
loan may
lapse, World
Bank warns
Pakistan
Internews
Islamabad
The World Bank has
expressed serious concerns
to Pakistan over years of
delay in the construction
work on run-of-river Dasu
Hydropower Stage-I project
warning that the $3.78bn
loan it approved for it in
June 2014 could lapse.
The project was set to
complete in June 2021.
“It was claimed by previous
government that they had
completed land acquisition
for Dasu dam, but currently
we have only 7% (or 740
acres) of land in hand as
we require 12,000 acres,”
says Minister for Water
Resources Faisal Vada.
“We have to bear the delay’s
fallout and to resolve the
issue,” he added.
He said a meeting of the
steering committee with
the World Bank had been
pending for several months.
“Now after visiting the bank
and discussing the issues,
we have held the committee
meeting and cleared the no
objection certificate of the
bank,” he added.
The minister said the
government has a plan to
work on the project on a
war footing and is working
for land acquisition. “We are
incurring a Rs300mn loss
per day on this project,” he
revealed.
He said it was also an
indirect impact of this delay
that Pakistan had to import
the liquefied natural gas
(LNG) of $1.4bn, causing a
loss of Rs112bn per year to
the economy.
Vada said the incumbent
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf
(PTI) government has
decided to complete the
Dasu project on priority
basis and will try to
complete it by 2022.
already the largest in nearly four
years.
Adityaswara said with US and
neighbours’ interest rates still rising,
BI’s stance “will be to maintain the
resilience of Indonesia’s balance of
payments”.
The full year current account gap
will likely remain below 3% of GDP
and efforts to rein in the deficit
should bring it down to 2.5% in 2019,
he said.
The deficit was 1.7% last year.
BI officials had previously de-
scribed the central bank’s stance as
“hawkish”, including when it made
its fifth rate hike last month, but
members of the board of governors
refrained from using the word yes-
terday.
The government has raised import
tariffs on a range of goods, delayed
infrastructure projects and widened
biodiesel use to curb imports and
support the rupiah.
BI expected inflation to remain
within its 2.5%-4.5% target range
through the end of 2018.
conducted in yuan and euros.
Two of the sources said Kunlun’s moves
to suspend euro settlement in August
and yuan starting next month were
triggered by US sanctions.
They did not give further details.
“We were told that from November
1 Kunlun would no longer receive
payments from Iran.
That basically means Iran will have to
stop importing from China,” said an
executive with an eastern China-based
manufacturer that exported electronic
components to Iran until recently.
China’s exports to Iran totalled $16.4bn
in 2016, the latest year for which data
is available, while imports totalled
$14.8bn in 2016, down one-third from
the record $24.3bn in exports and
$27.5bn in imports posted in 2014,
according to data from China’s National
Statistical Bureau.
Most of what China imports from Iran
is oil.
Kunlun had 317.5bn yuan ($46bn)
in assets at the end of last year, and
reported annual revenue at 5.4bn yuan
and net profits of 2.97bn yuan.
 Gulf Times
14 Wednesday, October 24, 2018
BUSINESS
CORPORATE RESULTS
Lockheed Martin profit rises 17% in third quarter
Lockheed Martin Corp, the Pentagon’s No 1 weapons
supplier, reported a 17% rise in quarterly profit
yesterday, driven by increased production of its F-35
fighter jets.
The company sharpened its outlook for 2018 net
sales to $53bn, slightly above the average analyst
estimate of $52.6bn, according to Refinitiv data.
Lockheed predicted 2019 sales would increase by
5% to 6% from 2018 as the company assumes “key
programs” like the F-35 fighter jet, designed to avoid
detection, will continue to be funded by the US
government.
The 2019 sales outlook would put sales within a
range of $55.6bn to $56.2bn, slightly ahead of the
average Wall Street estimate of $55.4bn.
Net income rose to $1.47bn, or $5.14 per share, in the
third quarter, from $963mn, or $3.32 per share, a
year earlier. Net sales rose to $14.31bn from $12.34bn
a year earlier.
Analysts expected adjusted profit of $4.31 per share
on revenue of $13.07bn, according to Refinitiv esti-
mates. Lockheed’s EPS was $5.14.
Chief executive officer Marillyn Hewson described it
as “another quarter of strong growth leading us to
improve our expectations for our full-year financial
results.”
The Bethesda, Maryland-based company said its
order backlog increased to $109bn at the end of the
quarter from $105bn three months ago.
Lockheed shares fell nearly 1% to $323.76 as the
broader market tumbled.
McDonald’s
McDonald’s, home of the Big Mac, reported a dip in
third-quarter profit yesterday, but notched compa-
rable sales growth in key regions, including Britain,
France and Japan.
Net income at the fast-food giant fell to $1.6bn, a
drop of 13.1% from the same period of the prior year.
But the 2017 quarter was boosted by about $850mn
from the sale of businesses in China and Hong Kong.
Quarterly revenues fell 6.7% to $5.4bn.
But on the bright side, comparable sales – a key
benchmark in the restaurant business – grew in all
four of McDonald’s regional categories, with the
home US market up 2.4%.
The company also experienced strong sales growth
in Britain, Australia, France, Italy, the Netherlands and
Japan, McDonald’s said.
The results come on the heels of improvements in
comparable sales over the last three years following
efforts at simplifying the menu to speed service and
upgrading mobile applications to meet consumer
demand.
The company also has invested in food delivery.
“We have made substantial progress modernising
restaurants around the world, enhancing hospital-
ity and elevating the experience for the millions of
customers we serve every day,” said McDonald’s
chief executive Steve Easterbrook.
Shares jumped 2.6% to $170.95 in pre-market trading.
CCB
China Construction Bank Corp (CCB), the country’s
second-biggest lender by assets, reported a 6.6%
rise in third-quarter net profit yesterday, as its bad
loan ratio dipped and interest margins stabilised.
CCB is the first of China’s so-called Big Five state-
controlled lenders to report third-quarter earnings
and its financial results bode well for the others.
Chinese banks have seen stabilising margins and
increased lending this year, helped by the central
bank’s successive reductions in bank reserve
requirement ratios.
Net profit rose to 67.08bn yuan ($9.7bn) in the three
months to September 30 from 62.9bn yuan a year
earlier, the bank said.
That was slightly below the forecast of three analysts
surveyed by Reuters for a 6.9% increase.
Beijing has been pumping funds into the banking
system, rolling out support measures for local busi-
nesses and seeking to boost confidence in the falling
Chinese stock market as the outlook for the world’s
second-biggest economy has been threatened by
the escalating Sino-US trade war.
But some analysts worry that unrestrained, credit-
fuelled growth could worsen a build-up in bad loans
in the longer term, undermining Beijing’s push to
reduce riskier lending and a mountain of debt.
On its part, CCB has accelerated bad loan disposals
and heeded Beijing’s call to conduct debt-to-equity
swaps to lower corporate leverage and fend off
systemic financial risks, leading to a slower build-up
of NPLs at the bank.
CCB’s non-performing loan (NPL) ratio dropped
slightly to 1.47% at the end of the quarter, from 1.48%
at the end of June.
Its net interest margin, a key measure of profitability,
stood at 2.34% at the end of September, unchanged
from three months earlier.
Verizon
Verizon Communications Inc yesterday said its net
income rose to $4.92bn, or $1.19 per share, in the
quarter ended September 30, up from $3.62bn, or 89
cents per share, a year earlier.
Excluding some items, Verizon earned $1.22 per
share, beating analysts’ average estimate of $1.19 per
share, according to Refinitiv data.
Verizon, which has been focused on cost-cutting,
said it is on track to reach $10bn in cumulative cash
savings by 2021.
Verizon launched home 5G internet service on Octo-
ber 1 in parts of Houston, Indianapolis, Los Angeles
and Sacramento. The next-generation wireless net-
work is expected to bring faster data speeds, which
Verizon hopes will help it compete with competitors
like cable company Comcast Corp.
It has, so far, concentrated on investing in its wireless
network rather than deal-making. Its next-largest
competitor AT&T Inc bought Time Warner in an
$85bn deal that closed in June, betting it could at-
tract more customers with media content.
Verizon said it lost 63,000 Fios video subscribers
during the quarter, more than the 18,000 it lost
last year, as viewers continue to favour cheaper TV
services delivered over the internet, over paying for
pricier cable packages.
It added 54,000 Fios internet customers, fewer
than the 66,000 Verizon added a year earlier. Total
operating revenue rose 2.8% to $32.61bn during
the quarter, beating analysts’ average estimate of
$32.51bn, according to Refinitiv data.
Harley-Davidson
Harley-Davidson Inc reported its biggest quar-
terly profit beat in two years yesterday and the
motorcycle maker maintained its 2018 shipments
forecast, as sales for its classic heavy touring bikes
climbed overseas led by Europe. The 115-year old
Milwaukee-based company said its net income
rose to $113.86mn, or 68 cents per share in the third
quarter, from $68.21mn, or 40 cents per share, a year
earlier. Excluding manufacturing optimisation costs,
the company earned 78 cents a share. Revenue
from motorcycles and related products rose 16.8%
to $1.12bn.
Analysts on average expected a profit of 53 cents
a share and revenue of $1.07bn, according to data
from Refinitiv.
The company maintained its full-year shipments
forecast range of between 231,000 and 236,000
motorcycles and said it expects motorcycle segment
operating margin to be in the range of between 9%
and 10%.
The company’s demographic challenges in the do-
mestic market are well documented – core custom-
ers are growing older and outreach efforts to attract
new and young riders have yet to show results.
In addition, President Donald Trump’s call to boycott
the motorcycle manufacturer for its decision to
move production for European markets overseas
has only compounded the company’s troubles.
Shares of the company were up 1% in trading before
the bell. Rising costs and a tit-for-tat tariff war with
China have weighed on the shares of most US
manufacturers. Harley’s shares are down about 30
percent so far this year and have underperformed
the broader S&P 500 index.
Analysts at Goldman Sachs last week cut the
12-month price target for the stock to $45 from $47.
Similarly, brokerage BMO Capital markets last Friday
downgraded the company’s shares, citing frustration
with its performance.
The company still dominates the local heavyweight
motorcycle market, but rivals such as Polaris are
chipping away at its market share. To counter weak
demand at home, Harley has plans to make deeper
inroads into some of the fastest growing two-wheel-
er markets in Asia through lightweight motorcycles.
But much of the strategy’s success in a highly cost-
competitive market like India will hinge upon the
price of the new bikes. While Harley has declined to
disclose a price range, it has said that the lightweight
bikes will be a premium product.
Retail sales in the United States, which accounts for
more than half of the company’s sales, fell 13.3% in
the three months ended September 30 from a year
ago. Analysts expect 2018 to be the third straight
year of declining sales. International retail sales, how-
ever, rose 2.6%. In Europe, retail sales rose 3%.
Caterpillar
Caterpillar Inc reported yesterday an adjusted profit
of $2.86 a share, up from $1.95 a share, last year.
Analysts on average had expected $2.85 a share. Net
profit for the quarter through September came in at
$2.88 per share, compared with $1.77 last year.
The Deerfield, Illinois-based company has boosted
the full-year profit outlook twice this year, betting on
a global economy that is poised to record its strong-
est growth since 2011.
However, China’s economic growth has slowed to
its weakest pace since the global financial crisis
and the International Monetary fund cut the global
economic growth forecasts for 2018 and 2019, so
investors have turned cautious.
Caterpillar shares are down about 25% since late
January amid deepening US-China trade tensions
and soaring raw material and freight costs for local
manufacturers. Shares of other major industrials,
including 3M Co, are also in “bear market” territory,
down 20% or more from their highs.
In probably a sign of softening demand, the order
backlog at the end of the third quarter was about
$400mn lower than the previous quarter, with
decreases across the three primary segments.
Caterpillar also acknowledged an increase in
manufacturing costs in the latest quarter due to
elevated freight costs, and higher steel prices and
import tariffs. The company said tariffs will cost it
about $40mn in the latest quarter. However, for the
full-year, it now expects the impact to be at the low
end of the previously provided range of $100mn to
$200mn.
To offset the rising input cost, it will increase the
prices of its machines and engines in the range of 1
to 4% globally from January 2019.
PulteGroup
PulteGroup Inc topped Wall Street estimates for
profit yesterday, as the homebuilder was able to sell
more homes at higher prices in a housing market
that it admitted is slowing in the face of rising inter-
est rates.
Shares of the homebuilder, however, fell 1.8% before
the bell as orders in the third quarter came below
expectations.
The housing market, which has been a weak spot in
an otherwise robust economy, has been hobbled by
a short supply of homes and higher prices, dampen-
ing affordability for potential buyers. Rising mort-
gage rates that outpace the rate of wage growth
have also added to the concerns of homebuyers.
“The critical underpinnings that have supported a
slow but steady housing recovery...remain solidly in
place,” chief executive Ryan Marshall, said, adding
that buyer concerns around affordability and rising
mortgage rates appear to have impacted near-term
market dynamics.
Pulte, which mainly sells single-family homes, said
the average home price rose to $427,000 from
$399,000 a year earlier, while the number of homes
sold rose to 6,031 from 5,151.
Orders, an indication of future revenue for home-
builders, rose marginally to 5,350 homes, below
estimates of 5,512 homes, according to Refinitiv data.
Pulte’s net income rose 63% to $289.5mn, or $1.01
per share, in the third quarter ended September 30,
from $177.5mn, or 58 cents per share, a year earlier.
Revenue rose 24.3% to $2.65bn.
Wartsila
Finnish ship technology and power plant maker
Wartsila reported lower than expected quarterly
profit and orders yesterday and downgraded the
demand outlook for its services division, sending its
shares down 9%.
Services account for almost half of the company’s
revenue and Wartsila service orders from the marine
sector have been slow to pick up as the global ship-
building industry recovers from a lengthy downturn.
In addition, Wartsila said its power plant business
was hit by postponed investment decisions by
clients uncertain about the global environment due
to ongoing trade disputes.
“We had expected somewhat more activity in the
merchant and oil and gas (ship) segments... The
global situation, the uncertainty, may have had its
impact,” Wartsila chief executive Jaakko Eskola told
Reuters by telephone, citing trade disputes without
giving specific details. Total third-quarter adjusted
operating profit rose 8% from a year ago to €141mn
($162mn) but missed analysts’ average estimate of
€152mn. New orders were up 1 percent at €1.37bn,
compared to a market forecast of €1.50bn. Shares in
the company were down 9% at €12.90 by 0915 GMT,
among the worst performers on the euro STOXX
600 index .
Dyson
British electric appliance pioneer Dyson said yes-
terday that 2017 operating profit surged by almost
one third to around £800mn, aided by fast growth
in China, India, Japan, Korea and Taiwan. Revenues
leapt 40% to £3.5bn. The firm had picked Singapore
as the site for its first electric car plant as part of a
£2.5bn (€2.8bn, $3.3bn) global investment drive in
new technology.
UTC
United Technologies Corp reported a better-than-
expected quarterly profit and raised its full-year
profit forecast yesterday as it benefited from higher
sales of aircraft parts, driven by record production at
planemakers Boeing and Airbus.
A boom in air travel on the back of an improving glo-
bal economy has boosted profits at major suppliers
United Tech and Honeywell.
United Tech said sales in its Pratt & Whitney aircraft
engines business jumped about 24% to $4.79bn in
the third quarter ended September 30.
Revenue at the company’s aerospace systems unit,
which provides spare parts, overhaul and repair
services to airlines, increased 8.7% to $3.96bn.
The maker of Carrier air conditioners and Otis eleva-
tors also raised its 2018 adjusted profit forecast for
the third time to a range of $7.20 and $7.30, up from
$7.10 and $7.25, previously.
 Gulf Times
Wednesday, October 24, 2018 15

US GDP report seen giving Trump a trophy before midterm vote
Bloomberg
Washington
The US economy is poised for its best
back-to-back quarters of growth since
2014, handing President Donald Trump
a $20tn talking point just in time for the
midterm congressional elections.
The report due on Friday, the last data
before the November 6 vote, will show
gross domestic product expanded at a
3.4% annualised pace in the July-Septem-
ber period after a 4.2% gain in the prior
quarter, according to the median estimate
of economists surveyed by Bloomberg.
Consumer spending and business invest-
ment probably drove growth, and inven-
tory accumulation also contributed.
A solid job market, lower taxes and
more government outlays have pushed
growth above its potential in a close
campaign in which Republicans are
defending control of Congress. But
many analysts see a pace faster than
3% as temporary: It’s projected to cool
this quarter and further soften in 2019
as the tax-cut boost fades, borrowing
costs climb and inflation firms up amid
Trump’s trade war with China.
“GDP is going to be a good, solid print,”
said Joshua Shapiro, chief US economist
at consultant Maria Fiorini Ramirez Inc in
New York. “It is certainly something for
Trump to beat the drum about.”
Even so, it’s not clear if it will help
Republicans, with forecasters expecting
Democrats to make significant gains that
may give them a majority in the House.
Democratic candidates are betting on
Trump’s low approval ratings and indica-
tions that not all Americans are benefiting
from the economic gains.
Bloomberg Economics maintains the
view that the heady gains logged earlier
this year are unsustainable. However, the
momentum from the second quarter ap-
pears to have carried more fully through
to the current quarter relative to what
was initially anticipated, Carl Riccadonna,
Yelena Shulyatyeva and Tim Mahedy of
Bloomberg Economics, said.
The Federal Reserve is expected to raise
interest rates for the fourth time this year
in December and continue lifting them
gradually to keep inflation near its 2%
goal. Price gains eat into wage growth
that’s been disappointing so far.
Shapiro expects “moderating but still quite
healthy growth in 2019.” For now, “the
state of the economy is serving Repub-
licans well” though the president’s “divi-
siveness is countering that to a certain
degree,” he said.
Hurricane Florence in September prob-
ably depressed some economic activity,
including household spending, employ-
ment and industrial output last quarter,
and fourth-quarter data may also reflect
the fallout from Hurricane Michael, which
struck Florida this month.
Here’s what to expect from the main com-
ponents of the GDP report:
Consumer spending: Household purchas-
es, which account for almost 70% of GDP,
rose at a 3.3% annualised rate following a
second-quarter advance of 3.8%, accord-
ing to the survey.
A broad-based gain in September retail
sales — from automobiles to electron-
ics and home furnishings — indicated
consumers were in good shape toward the
end of the third quarter amid steady hir-
ing, improving finances and lower taxes.
Fixed investment: Economists project
another gain in non-residential business
investment, including equipment spend-
ing, due to the tax cuts and steady US
demand, as well as a persistent shortage
of skilled labour. At the same time, tariff-
related materials costs are rising.
Minutes of the Fed’s September meeting
BUSINESS
showed a “number” of central bankers
reported that business contacts had
foregone production and investment
opportunities because of trade-related un-
certainty, and some firms were attempting
to diversify import and export options.
Residential investment, which posted two
consecutive declines, is projected to have
struggled again, reflecting higher home
prices and mortgage rates, along with a
lack of affordable listings.
Trade, inventories: Net exports were
probably a significant drag on growth. In
the second quarter, they delivered the big-
gest boost since 2013, as US exporters of
soybeans and other products accelerated
shipments to beat retaliatory tariffs from
abroad. Along with the unwinding of that
effect, the trade gap may keep widening
amid solid domestic demand and some
front-loading of imports ahead of a Janu-
ary rise in levies on Chinese goods.
Meanwhile, businesses’ rebuilding of
stockpiles means inventories may have
made a sizeable contribution to growth. In
the second quarter, they plunged by the
most since 2009 as tariff threats disrupted
supply chains that were already struggling
to keep up with demand.
Economists often prefer to look at growth
excluding these two volatile categories
and focus on final sales to domestic pur-
chasers, which rose 4% in the April-June
period.
Government spending: Government
outlays, which expanded in the second
quarter at the fastest rate since early 2016,
probably continued to support growth
amid rising defence spending.
Analysts at Goldman Sachs Group Inc
estimate a 5% gain in federal spending,
which accounts for about 40% of govern-
ment outlays in GDP. When including the
remainder, which covers state and local
spending, Deutsche Bank AG projects a
2.3% rise last quarter.

AstraZeneca digs
deeper into cancer
with Innate stake
Reuters
London/Paris

AstraZeneca is ploughing deeper into cancer

immunotherapy through a wide-ranging deal
with Innate Pharma, which includes the British
group buying a 9.8% stake in the French biotech
company.
Yesterday’s agreement is a coup for Innate —
run by former AstraZeneca executive Mondher
Mahjoubi — which gains rights to sell AstraZeneca’s
newly approved rare blood cancer drug Lumoxiti
as its first commercial product.
AstraZeneca’s purchase of 6.26mn new shares in
Innate at a price of €10 each, or double the market
rate, marks a vote of confidence in the cancer
immunotherapy specialist and Innate shares
jumped 29% on the deal news.
For AstraZeneca, the tie-up is an opportunity
to expand into new areas within the fiercely
competitive immuno-oncology field, particularly in
colorectal cancer, where the approach of boosting
the immune system has so far had limited success.
AstraZeneca’s move marks the latest example
of premium-priced investment in biotech by big
pharma, after Novartis this month announced its Spectators watch as an Airbus A320neo aircraft takes off on its debut flight at Toulouse-Blagnac airport (file). The internal snags have exacerbated delivery delays that leave Airbus with the
acquisition of cancer drugmaker Endocyte for challenge of delivering 76 single-aisle planes per month in the last quarter, according to consultants Flight Ascend, 9.6% more than its previous record.
$2.1bn.
A key focus for AstraZeneca is Innate’s
experimental immunotherapy drug monalizumab,

Airbus faces new jet delays

where the British company is exercising its option
to obtain full oncology rights, following an earlier
2015 collaboration.
Monalizumab is currently in mid-stage clinical
trials for colorectal cancer, as well as tumours of
the head and neck.
“If immuno-oncology compounds can make it into

at Hamburg plant: Sources

colorectal cancer, it is a big opportunity — and we
believe monalizumab has the potential to get us
there,” AstraZeneca chief executive Pascal Soriot
told Reuters.
In addition to the €62.6mn ($72mn) equity stake,
AstraZeneca will also make payments totalling
$170mn for rights to several experimental Innate
drugs, while Innate will pay up to $75mn to
AstraZeneca for Lumoxiti.
Soriot is banking on new drugs, especially in
cancer, to drive a sales recovery as AstraZeneca
grapples with falling sales of cholesterol-fighter
Crestor due to generic competition.
To date, the only immuno-oncology drug for
treating colorectal cancer is Merck & Co’s Keytruda
and it is only cleared for around 10% of cases.
AstraZeneca will also gain access to Innate’s anti-
CD39 monoclonal antibody, IPH5201, plus four
additional immuno-oncology molecules.
It will pay Innate $100mn in the first quarter of
2019 for the expansion of the collaboration on
monalizumab, plus $50mn for IPH5201 and $20mn
for the other four molecules.
Delays coincide with new
A321neo ACF jet version;
Hamburg plant struggles
to absorb resurgent engine
deliveries; Airbus “needs to
deliver 76 single-aisles” a
month this quarter; eyes output
capacity of 65 single-aisles a
month by end-2019; no decision
on whether to increase current
target of 60/month
Reuters
Paris
76 single-aisle planes per month in
the last quarter, according to con-
sultants Flight Ascend, 9.6% more
than its previous record.
Airbus is working flat out to
maintain this year’s target of 800
total aircraft deliveries needed to
meet financial goals and single-
aisle assembly lines are its most
important cash cow.
“They’re late; everyone is mad
at them. They’ve been hiding be-
hind the engine problems,” a senior
aircraft buyer said, referring to the
tendency of supply chains to focus
on the most visible laggards with-
That illustrates a wider challenge
as plane makers struggle to intro-
duce new models and fix technical
issues without pausing record out-
put increases — a task some com-
pare to taking the steepest hill in a
cycle race at a sprint while fixing a
tyre.
Deliveries of the A321, a large
single-aisle jet mainly made in
Germany, spiked higher in May as
delayed engines started coming in
but slowed down again in Septem-
ber, Airbus data shows.
Now, Airbus is introducing a new
A321neo ACF version, which offers
creased quality problems, lead-
ing to more delays and a queue of
undelivered jets, Reuters report-
ed last month.
Despite disruption, Airbus has
said it is confident it will meet
single-aisle production goals of 60
a month spread across all its facto-
ries in mid-2019, up from around 55
now.
Sources say Airbus is also pre-
paring to make capacity of 65 sin-
gle-aisle jets a month available by
the end of next year, though there
has been no decision on whether to
implement this.
pain is acute since oil prices have
bounced back to $80 dollars: ex-
actly the market the A321neo and
similar fuel-saving models were
designed for.
“Airlines can deal with planes
that are off-spec but not ones that
are late.
They have built a network plan
which takes account of new aircraft
in the fleet,” Ascend chief consult-
ant Rob Morris said.
Boeing has also had some delays.
Hamburg’s woes highlight the
operational issues at stake as plane
making chief Guillaume Faury pre-

F
Innate will pay AstraZeneca $50mn upfront and or two years Airbus faced a
$25mn for future commercial and regulatory shortage of engines and had
milestones for rights to Lumoxiti, which won US to slow jet deliveries.
approval last month for hairy cell leukaemia, a rare Now engines are arriving fast —
slow-growing type of blood cancer. but fresh snags mean a Hamburg
“This is a defining moment for us,” said Innate CEO plant that assembles best-selling
Mahjoubi. “It really means the dream has become jets is having trouble absorbing
true and the company now is a fully integrated them, industry sources said.
biotech with an opportunity to commercialise a The internal snags have exacer-
major innovative treatment.” bated delivery delays that leave Air-
bus with the challenge of delivering
out always tackling problems in
waiting.
Other industry sources say
Hamburg may not be the imme-
diate source of the problem, but
that this facility has felt the worst
impact in Airbus’s global jigsaw of
assembly plants because it is intro-
ducing a new version of A321 just as
production is running faster than
ever.
more flexible cabins but requires
complex configuration.
One of the sources said the Ham-
burg assembly plant was facing
some problems with cabling the
jets, stirring memories of cabling
problems which plagued the A380
super-jumbo a decade ago.
Airbus had no immediate com-
ment.
The ramp-up has also in-
Ultimately, Airbus aims to raise
output as high as 70-73 to serve
record travel demand and the com-
pany says planes offering premium
seats like the A321neo ACF will help
to drive this.
Still, delays at Hamburg are a
headache for new sales chief Chris-
tian Scherer as airlines wait for de-
liveries.
For many airlines, the financial
pares to become chief executive in
April.
His two main industrial lieu-
tenants, Tom Williams and Didier
Evrard, retire at end-year.
Insiders say Faury, who has made
production the “priority of priori-
ties” for this quarter, will not be re-
placed as president of commercial
jets but may appoint an operations
leader.

Hot economy puts onus on Bank of Canada amid Trudeau’s deficits

Bloomberg particular how quickly to put the breaks and complaining they can’t find work- plan to move again. “The Canadian indebted households, who are dispro- ment can also counter that its deficits
Ottawa on the expansion before it overheats and ers to expand. economy is a case of too much of a good portionately young urban families with are addressing some of the structural
what to do about structural issues that One question this raises for policy thing and we think the Bank of Canada huge mortgages in places like Toronto. issues constraining the economy’s
limit how much the economy can grow. makers is how much will they need to is even behind the curve a bit” on rate “At this point of the cycle you want potential growth rate. The tax cuts Fi-

F
or the first time in a decade, Can-
ada’s policy makers are worrying
the economy is running too hot
instead of too cold.
The federal government and Bank of
Canada are set to release key reports that
will paint a picture of an economy run-
ning at full steam, with the jobless rate
at near-historic lows, consumer spend-
ing and housing holding up in the face
of rising interest rates, and businesses
starting to invest again. A booming US
economy, coupled with averting a trade
war with Canada’s biggest trading part-
ner, is only stoking growth.
The problem is the Canadian economy
is no longer built for speed, given its age-
ing workforce and a long record of busi-
ness under-investment. This poses a
new set of problems for policy makers, in
“Essentially what’s happening in the
Canadian and US economies is these
economies are sprinting in the mid-
dle of a marathon and that will lead to
exhaustion,” Frances Donald, head of
macro strategy at Manulife Asset Man-
agement, said in an interview.
Most analysts believe 2% growth is
the Canadian economy’s absolute top
speed limit, before inflation begins
picking up. But demand is growing
more quickly than that.
Last year, growth actually exceeded
that pace by more than a full percentage
point and is expected to remain above
2% over the next couple of years.
While there is little evidence of
overheating just yet, warning signs are
starting to appear with companies run-
ning up against capacity constraints
slow everything down. The economy is
awash in stimulus in the form of cheap
credit from Bank of Canada Governor
Stephen Poloz and deficit spending by
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau that it
no longer needs. Another question: Is
there anything they can do to raise the
country’s so-called speed limit and re-
duce the capacity constraints the econ-
omy is facing?
The Bank of Canada’s efforts to cool
the economy are already underway. The
central bank has increased rates four
times since last year, and investors are
expecting at least three more hikes over
the next 12 months including one at a
rate decision today. The monetary pol-
icy report that will accompany the rate
decision should provide more insight
into how quickly Poloz and his team
increases, said Jean-Francois Perrault,
chief economist at Bank of Nova Scotia,
who expects the central bank’s policy
rate to double from current levels by
early 2020.
Up until now, Trudeau’s Liberal gov-
ernment has shown no interest in with-
drawing its stimulus. Its fiscal plan —
which will be updated in coming weeks
(no release date has been published)
— has been essentially to keep expendi-
ture levels and deficits elevated until at
least after next year’s federal election.
This opens the Liberals to criticism
they are taking on debt for little gain,
given the economy is running at capac-
ity and the central bank is trying to cool
it down. A faster draw down of deficits
would theoretically ease pressure for
rate hikes, a plus for the country’s most
to see surpluses and paying down debt,”
said Craig Wright, chief economist at
Royal Bank of Canada.
At the same time, it’s hard to argue
Canada’s deficits — which aren’t grow-
ing — are out of control. Nor is fiscal
policy a great tool to fine tune a soft
landing for the economy. Government
is just not that nimble, even if the Lib-
erals wanted to slow things down.
“Monetary policy is the mechanism
that should be used to extend an ex-
pansion. A key part of optimal policy
is to ensure that inflation, and inflation
expectations, remain well anchored.
That’s why the Bank of Canada has to
tilt against an economy that is gaining
steam, in part from moderately expan-
sive fiscal policy,” said Tim Mahedy of
Bloomberg Economics. The govern-
nance Minister Bill Morneau is expect-
ed to announce in his budget update
fall into this category. So do some other
policy initiatives the Liberals have un-
dertaken, like increasing immigration
levels to alleviate some of the labour
shortages, spending more on infra-
structure and trying to get more women
into the labour force.
The truth, however, is the bulk of
the government’s deficit spending —
the Liberals ran combined deficits of
C$38bn ($29bn) in their first two budg-
ets, or just under 1% of output — went
to finance other priorities.
“Most of it in my opinion is not pro-
ductivity enhancing,” said Randall Bar-
tlett, chief economist at the Ottawa-
based Institute of Fiscal Studies and
Democracy.
 Wednesday, October 24, 2018

GULF TIMES BUSINESS

Plans underway
for opening of
Doha Fintech Hub,
says Swedish envoy
By Peter Alagos
Business Reporter
Plans are in the pipeline for the
opening of a ‘Doha Fintech Hub’,
which resulted from meetings
between Swedish financial
technology (fintech) institutions
and the Qatar Central Bank
(QCB) and Qatar Development
Bank (QDB).
“We are very happy to see fruitful
results from our close co-opera-
tion with Qatar in this area, hav-
ing engaged both QDB and QCB
in study visits to Swedish fintech
institutions and their respective
counterparts in Sweden,” Swed-
ish ambassador Ewa Polano told
Gulf Times yesterday.
“Such a concrete result is the
soon-to-be opened Doha Fintech
Hub, which was announced after
the successful visit of the QDB
Dr al-Sada (front row-third left) and other ministers who attended the ‘Hydrogen Energy Ministerial Meeting’ in Tokyo yesterday. and QCB delegation to Sweden
in October 2017,” she continued.
The QCB and QDB delegation’s
trip to Sweden last year was
tar last week to discuss with QDB
the planned ‘World Incubation
Summit’ slated in Doha next year.
“During these discussions
between QDB and UBI Global
in Sweden, and their continued
contacts during the last months,
it has been planned that the
next ‘World Incubation Summit’,
organised by UBI Global and
hosted by QDB, shall take place
in Doha in October 2019 and
includes international speakers,
workshops and panel discus-
sions, and tours of local innova-
tion hubs,” Polano said.
“UBI Global’s business idea is to
assemble business incubators
and accelerators worldwide into
a network where members can
participate in benchmarking
and ranking research and gain
best practices to help them grow
their startups. Through this in-
novation community, UBI Global
uncovers business opportunities
for corporations, governments,
and investors such as competi-
tions and events,” the ambassa-

Economic relationship
followed up with another visit
to the Swedish Central Bank
(Riksbank) and Stockholm-based
fintech companies last month,
Polano said, adding that the
Riksbank visit was focused on
the regulatory responsibilities of
dor continued.
Polano also said Swedish exports
to Qatar for January to June 2018
(QR343.8mn) “remained largely
unchanged” compared to the
same period in 2017, while Swed-
ish imports from Qatar is up 137%

driving force behind

central banks.
“A major focus during the visit
to Stockholm was knowledge
sharing in financial technology,
which is currently a prioritised
area for Qatar Central Bank. The
QCB has recognised that for
for the same period.
“Trade between the two coun-
tries is increasing steadily and
very impressively from Qatar
to Sweden. The numbers for
Qatar-Sweden bilateral trade are
by far the most impressive com-

Qatar-Japan strategic
financial technology startups
to succeed in Qatar, a benefi-
cial regulatory environment is
needed,” she further said.
Polano also said the founder
and CEO of UBI Global, business
innovation expert and Swedish
pared to other countries in the
Gulf area, which shows Qatar’s
rapid development since the
beginning of the blockade, after
which, direct trade between
Sweden and Qatar has become
increasingly important,” Polano

partnership: Al-Sada
entrepreneur, Ali Amin, was in Qa- emphasised.

E
conomic relationship is
the driving force behind
the strategic partnership
between Qatar and Japan, said
HE the Minister of Energy and
Industry Dr Mohamed bin Saleh
al-Sada.
He was speaking at the 12th
meeting of the Qatar-Japan Joint
Economic Committee in Tokyo
yesterday.
Al-Sada also praised the vi-
tal role of the Qatar-Japan Joint
Economic Committee in ex-
panding relationship between
the two countries. Since its es-
tablishment in 2006, the com-
mittee has been able to success-
fully enhance cooperation in
many fields.
He also praised the volume of
trade exchange between the two
countries. The value of Qatari
exports to Japan in 2017 reached
about QR42.12bn while the value
of imports amounted to about
QR5.75bn.
He expressed happiness at the
“active” economic relationship
between the two friendly coun-
tries and the selection of the
Japanese company Chiyoda to
carry out the engineering works
associated with the maritime fa-
cilities of North Field expansion
project.
Dr al-Sada also announced
the signing of a memorandum
of understanding (MoU) on
the sidelines of the committee
meeting between Qatar’s Nebras
and Japan’s JERA in the field of
developing joint business op-
portunities.
The minister stressed Qatar’s
resolve to maintain its position
as a “reliable” source in supply-
ing Japan and all its customers
around the world with its needs
of liquefied natural gas.
The two sides discussed ways
to enhance joint co-operation
in all fields, especially in busi-
ness, civil aviation, industry
and trade, healthcare, educa-
tion, infrastructure and invest-
ment.
The Japanese side was invited
to participate in infrastructure
projects in Qatar through pub-
lic-private partnership in the
two friendly countries.
Al-Sada and the accom-
panying delegation also par-
ticipated in the meeting of the
‘Hydrogen Energy Ministerial
Meeting’ held in Tokyo yester-
day.
During the meeting, al-Sada
presented “Qatar’s view regard-
ing the future of hydrogen en- Swedish ambassador Ewa Polano (centre) flanks UBI Global
ergy and its uses, and the role founder and CEO Ali Amin and senior project manager Telma
of liquefied natural gas (LNG) as Lampreia, who were in Qatar recently to discuss preparations
the main and economical source for the staging of the ‘World Incubation Summit 2019’ in Doha.
of hydrogen.”

Sheikh Hamad: Consistent growth.
Al Khaliji reports
3.5% increase in
profit to QR469mn
Effective margin management,
cost control and lower impair-
ments helped Al Khaliji report
a 3.5% jump year-on-year in net
Al-Khalifa: Effective management.
Khaliji’s group chief executive.
The bank continues to focus
on maintaining an efficient
cost base, and consistent with
Policies, press freedom make Qatar attractive destination for foreign investment
QNA
Doha
Qatar’s enlightened social policies
and approach to press freedom might
endear it to more discerning American
and European startups or municipalities
seeking capital, Reuters news agency said
in a report posted on its website yesterday.
Reuters expected next year most investors
will head to Doha instead of Riyadh, whose
reputation is now crushed following
the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal
Four of seven sectors witness buying interests on QSE
By Santhosh V Perumal
Business Reporter
Khashoggi, in his country’s consulate in
Istanbul. It added that Qatar may be the
best place for start-ups and governments
attracted by the $45bn pumped into
SoftBank’s Vision Fund or the $20bn
destined for a Blackstone infrastructure
fund from the kingdom.
“Pivoting to Doha is less weird than
it sounds. True, in June 2017, Qatar
was blockaded by Bahrain, Egypt, the
United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia,
precipitating a $30bn non-resident
funding exodus from its banking system.
But Qatar switched trading partners and
plonked $40bn of reserves and overseas tonnes by 2024 could create an extra
deposits from its central bank and $40bn of revenue, it added.
sovereign wealth fund into its lenders. With annual capital investment due to
Already $16bn of that has been refinanced halve from around $27bn as the 2022
by Asian and European banks and soccer World Cup nears, the QIA could be
investors, Fitch reckons.” packing serious firepower.
Assuming Qatar can refinance the rest — Reuters added: “Rather than splash out
which should be easier, given a potential on Saudi-style adventures like mega-
4.7% budget surplus in 2018 — it would have city NEOM, Qatar could invest in steady
$40bn of spare cash, the agency said. It said infrastructure assets — around Africa,
that Doha could leverage that and turn it for example — partnering with, maybe,
into a Vision Fund-scale investor. Chinese entities. Or it could look to
Doha’s hike of liquefied natural gas turn itself into a hub for gas and energy
production from 77mn tonnes to 110mn technology.”
Mesaieed Petrochemical Hold- 0.1mn equities, value by 60% to
ing, Nakilat and Gulf Warehous- QR3.49mn and deals by 29% to
ing were among the gainers. 128.
Domestic institutions There was 54% plunge in the

profit to QR469mn in the third
quarter (Q3) of 2018.
“Al Khaliji has delivered consist-
ent growth in profitability, by
maintaining focus on delivering
our Qatar-centric medium-term
strategy. These results reflect
our commitment to our strat-
egy, which is being delivered
on the foundations of a strong
capital base and excellent
liquidity,” said Sheikh Hamad
bin Faisal bin Thani al-Thani, Al
Khaliji chairman and managing
director.
Net fee and commission income
was QR154mn, an increase of
2% year-on-year, it said, adding
operating expenses stood at
QR247mn, showing an improve-
ment of 3.4% over the year-ago
period.
“These results embody selec-
tive growth, continued focus
on our domestic market in
Qatar and at the same time
managing our cost base effec-
tively,” said Fahad al-Khalifa, Al
earlier quarters, its costs are
3.4% lower year-on-year. Its
cost-income ratio was at 27.8%
in the review period compared
to 27.4% in the corresponding
period of 2017.
“We remain focused on credit
quality across the group, and
we continue to remain prudent
in our provisioning. That
said, we have reduced overall
impairment charges by 28%
year-on-year,” al-Khalifa added.
The bank’s non-performing
loans ratio was at 1.94% at the
end of September 30, 2018.
Highlighting that Qatar’s
economy continues to grow
including in the non-hydrocar-
bon sector, he said the bank is
well positioned to benefit from
increased business with its
clients in both wholesale bank-
ing and private banking fran-
chises, as its clients tap into
the commercial opportunities
that the economy continues to
present.
T
he Qatar Stock Exchange
yesterday settled margin-
ally lower, although four
of the seven sectors witnessed
buying interests.
Domestic funds and the Gulf
individuals turned bearish and
there was substantially weak-
ened net buying as the 20-stock
Qatar Index settled 0.1% lower at
10,264.07 points, which is, how-
ever, up 20.42% year-to-date.
There could be some selling ac-
tivity on the short-term period as
part of a natural correction, know-
ing that the nearby support levels
are located at 10,000 points, 9,660
points and 9,450 points, a Kamco
technical analysis said.
Mid and large cap segments
nevertheless witnessed buying
interests, resulting in a 0.09%
market capitalisation gain to
QR574.91bn. However, selling
pressure from local and non-Qa-
tari retail investors weakened on
the market, where Islamic stocks
were seen declining faster than the
other indices.
turned net sellers to the tune of real estate sector’s trade volume
QR0.44mn compared with net to 1.34mn stocks, 48% in value to
buyers of QR19.96mn on Monday. QR20.21mn and 43% in transac-
The Gulf individuals were tions to 564.
also net sellers to the extent of The consumer goods sector’s
QR1.83mn against net buyers of trade volume tanked 47% to
QR1.51mn on October 22. 0.08mn shares, value by 56% to
Non-Qatari institutions’ QR7.07mn and deals by 13% to
net buying fell significantly 187.
A trader looks at share prices on an electronic display at the Qatar to QR23.66mn compared to The banks and financial serv-
Stock Exchange in Doha. The 20-stock Qatar Index settled 0.1% QR49.1mn the previous day. ices sector saw 24% shrinkage in
lower yesterday at 10,264.07 points, which is, however, up 20.42% The Gulf institutions’ net trade volume to 1.95mn equities,
year-to-date. buying declined perceptibly to 33% in value to QR83.6mn and
QR1.47mn against QR10.05mn 10% in transactions to 1,586.
Masraf Al Rayan sponsored was up 0.14% to 3,023.07 points. on Monday. The transport sector’s trade
exchange traded fund QATR re- The telecom index shrank Non-Qatari individuals’ net volume declined 23% to 1.09mn
ported 3.27% gains; while Doha 0.91%, industrials (0.69%) and profit booking weakened influ- stocks and value by 36% to
Bank sponsored QETF was flat. realty (0.27%); whereas trans- entially to QR1.83mn compared QR26.29mn, while deals were up
Trade turnover and vol- port gained 1.31%, insurance to QR7.51mn on Monday. 12% to 596.
ume were on the decline on the (0.75%), banks and financial However, local individuals’ However, the industrials sec-
bourse, where banking and in- services (0.55%) and consumer net selling sunk substantially to tor’s trade volume more than
dustrials sectors together ac- goods (0.15%). QR21.06mn against QR73.11mn doubled to 1.45mn shares, value
counted for about 47% of the Major losers included Voda- the previous day. soared 23% to QR44.21mn and
total volume. fone Qatar, Industries Qatar, Total trade volume fell 19% to transactions by 32% to 751.
The Total Return Index was Mazaya Qatar, Ahlibank, Dlala, 7.25mn shares, value by 30% to The telecom sector reported
down 0.1% to 18,084.15 points Islamic Holding Group, Alijarah QR198.69mn and transactions 50% surge in trade volume to
and Al Rayan Islamic Index Holding and Qatar Oman Invest- by 12% to 4,174. 1.23mn equities but on 29% fall
(Price) by 0.18% to 2,410.16 ment; while QNB, Qatar National The insurance sector’s trade in value to QR13.83mn and 21% in
points, while All Share Index Cement, Qatari Investors Group, volume plummeted 66% to deals to 362.