Saturday 8 October 2011

Saudi Stock Market close - October 8, 2011

General Index
Intraday 3 month

* market data delayed by 20 min.
Daily Statistics
Date08/10/2011
General Index6084.55
Change (%)1.37%
Change82.46
T. Volume187950636
T. Companies 150
Advanced133
Declined6
Unchanged7
UnTraded4

Saudi Shares Climb Most in 3 Weeks on Oil, European Optimism - Businessweek

Saudi Arabia’s benchmark stock index gained the most in three weeks after crude oil climbed above $80 a barrel and global markets advanced yesterday amid optimism European leaders will curb the region’s debt crisis.

Saudi Basic Industries Corp., the world’s biggest petrochemicals maker, increased as much as 2.3 percent. Methanol Chemicals Co. soared the most since March after the producer of methanol derivatives posted a profit in the third quarter. Almarai Co. jumped 1.8 percent as it said quarterly profit rose. The 148-company Tadawul All Share Index advanced 1 percent, biggest intraday gain since Sept. 17, to 6,059.95 at 1:09 p.m. in Riyadh.

Oil rose in New York yesterday, capping the biggest weekly gain in seven months, as larger-than-forecast U.S. jobs growth eased concern that the economy is slowing. Crude oil for November delivery surged 4.8 percent last week to $82.98 a barrel. Saudi Arabia, holder of one-fifth of the world’s proven oil reserves, depends on oil for 86 percent of its revenue.

Bad bet costs Qatar $1bn in gas tanker refits » Kuwait Times Website

Qatar made a billion dollar error when it built its liquefied natural gas shipping fleet in the last decade, and now consumers may have to pay for the misstep. The world's biggest LNG producer is about to approve the overhaul of 45 of its largest tankers from 2012 to 2015 to burn natural gas after the decision to run them on petroleum fuel backfired when oil prices rose, senior industry sources said.

The retrofit will exacerbate a shortage of ships able to carry LNG and could stifle short-term trade at a time that demand is rising due to increased buying by Japan and other countries following the shutdown of nuclear power plants since the March Fukushima disaster.Qatar is nearing the end of a year-long consultation on the $1 billion upgrade involving shipowners, shareholders and engine manufacturers, which was prompted by an unexpected fall in natural gas prices versus oil in recent years, according to
people present at the ongoing discussions.

Qatar wants to make a decision as soon as they can. These ships are coming around to their first scheduled five-year service," a shipping source said. Retrofitting is expected to begin in mid-2012. Qatar Petroleum and ship owner Qatar Gas Transport Co (Nakilat) were unavailable for comment. Some experts say the cost could be as high as $1.4 billion, assuming each retrofit costs $30 million. Exact costs will be established at a meeting between counterparties at the end of the month, the sources said. Top
energy executives at Qatar Petroleum want upgrades to coincide with the mandatory five-year servicing of its fleet, which starts next year and lasts until 2015, to minimise disruption to trade.


Sudan Vision Daily - Humbled Dubai Looks to Real Economy

Nearly two years after it was forced to go cap in hand to neighbor Abu Dhabi for a bailout, a chastened Dubai has ringfenced vulnerable assets, forced banks to bolster reserves and deferred debt maturities.

A more modest approach to business -- in contrast with the excesses of its earlier model -- coupled with strengths in logistics and trade, and a growing focus on its own region, mean that Dubai's dreams of being a top financial center are still just about alive.

Luck certainly seems to be in its favor: the Gulf emirate has proven an oasis of calm amid the chaos of the Arab Spring, which saw rebellion in countries as far apart as Tunisia and Syria and, crucially, rival Bahrain.

Global Arab Network | UAE: Dubai rebuilding confidence in capital markets

Dubai’s capital markets are much better placed to handle the recent economic fall-out in the US and the eurozone, having learned several lessons from the 2008 global crisis and its own downturn two years ago, Global Arab Network reports according to OBG.

Like stock markets around the world, the Dubai Financial Market (DFM) retreated in the wake of ratings agency Standard & Poor’s August 5 decision to downgrade the US’s credit rating. The DFM’s main index shed up to 3.7% in value on August 7, the first day of trading after the agency cut the US’s AAA rating, and almost as much over the two subsequent days of trading. However, the falls were nowhere near those posted in some other markets around the world, or even closer to home in the Gulf region.

Part of the reason for this is that Dubai’s capital markets have emerged from their own recent slowdown in a better position than before. Having seen a correction last year, the DFM has been moving slowly upward and the general index is now close to where it was a year ago. Many of the high-profile and high-level debts held by Dubai public and private entities have been restructured and are in the process of being cleared, meaning that the emirate is less exposed than it was when the full impact of the international financial crisis hit in 2008 and 2009.