Saturday 13 November 2010

Abu Dhabi special purpose entity IPIC GMTN US$2.5 billion bonds rated 'AA'- bi-me.com

Standard & Poor's Ratings Services said it assigned its 'AA' long-term senior unsecured debt ratings to the US$1 billion five year and US$1.5 billion 10 year bonds issued by Abu Dhabi special purpose entity IPIC GMTN Ltd. (not rated).

IPIC GMTN is a wholly-owned subsidiary of International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC; AA/Stable/A-1+) and has been established to issue the bonds under a guaranteed global medium-term note program. The payment of amounts due on the notes is unconditionally and irrevocably guaranteed by IPIC.

We have rated IPIC, a 100% state-owned corporation based in Abu Dhabi (AA/Stable/A-1+) in the United Arab Emirates, according to our criteria for government-related entities. Although the government does not formally guarantee IPIC's liabilities, we equalize the ratings on IPIC with those on the government of Abu Dhabi.

GCC Market Analytics: Weekly Market Analysis (Week 47)

The weekly market analysis pages have been updated for trading week 47 (November 12th - November 17th). Use the links below to view the individual market analysis pages:


The table below shows the market outlook based on each study.

Visit the links above to view the full analysis reports for all GCC markets.


GCC Market Analytics: Weekly Market Winners & Losers

The GCC markets continue to display mixed performance again last week. Qatar and Saudi maintained their winning streaks with the QE Index rising 2.16% and the Tadawul Index rising 1.57%. Other risers were the Muscat 30 Index (+1.60%) and the ADX Index (+0.28%).

The DFM General Index was once again a big faller last week, declining -2.65%.



Weekly Price Performance
The Qatar and Saudi markets were also the biggest volume gainers last week.






Weekly Volume Performance
(versus previous week's volume)



Sukuk Trails Emerging Debt as Falling Issuance Saps Trade: Islamic Finance - Bloomberg

Yields on Islamic bonds rose this week by the most in almost a month, extending two quarters of underperformance relative to emerging-market securities, on concern slumping sales will reduce trading.

Yields climbed 10 basis points to 4.59 percent this week, the biggest increase since the five-days ended Oct. 22, according to the HSBC/NASDAQ Dubai US Dollar Sukuk Index. Bonds in developing nations outperformed Shariah-compliant notes for the last six months as global sales of sukuk dropped 29 percent to $13.7 billion.

“It will be very difficult for sukuk to catch up,” Mohd Noor Hj A Rahman, head of the Islamic fund management unit at OSK-UOB Unit Trust Management Bhd. overseeing about 250 million ringgit ($81 million) of Shariah-compliant assets in Kuala Lumpur, said in an interview yesterday. “It’s an issue of liquidity and investors want to be able to trade the securities.”

EMERGING MARKETS-Irish fears rattle; Dubai risk premiums soar | Markets | Reuters

Mounting fears over Irish debt rattled emerging markets on Friday, while Dubai debt insurance premiums spiked to a two-month high after news a state-owned firm had missed payments on two loans in recent weeks.

In Turkey, the lira steadied after slipping to a two-week low after a surprise cut in its overnight borrowing rates.

The resurgence of concerns over euro zone sovereign debt weighed on emerging assets for the third successive session."

Saudi Gazette - Saudi Arabia plays vital role in world economy: Al-Assaf

Saudi Finance Minister Ibrahim Bin Abdul Aziz Al-Assaf said the Kingdom plays an important role in the world economy especially at international financial institutions.

In a statement to Saudi Press Agency after the conclusion of the G20 Summit Friday, he highlighted the Kingdom’s role in following up the interests of the developing, Arab and Islamic countries at the G20.

He added that the Kingdom’s weight makes the Kingdom’s role influential on decisions taken by the G20.

Black Monday facing stock markets as Ireland and China bite « ArabianMoney

Stock markets sold off sharply on Friday with Shanghai tumbling over five per cent bringing global equities down from a two-year high and five-week mini-rally.

On Monday we will see if this party is really over. The omens are not good. The hype that preceded QE2 has evaporated into doubts about its likely effectiveness, given the failure of QE1, and worries about its impact on inflation.