Monday 27 January 2014

OPEC producer UAE considers importing North American gas - BNN News

OPEC producer UAE considers importing North American gas - BNN News:



"The United Arab Emirates, a Gulf OPEC oil producer, said it was looking at the possibility of importing natural gas from North America, in what would be one of the most striking developments since the start of the U.S. shale boom.



 The United States and Canada are producing record amounts of gas from shale rock formations, pulling down North American prices to levels that have attracted the interest of foreign buyers.



 Around a dozen long-term deals, each worth billions of dollars, have recently been signed behind closed doors between U.S. producers and buyers in China, Japan, Taiwan, Spain, France and Chile as global demand for gas increases.



 "We may follow the same trend of considering investments in the United States and Canada to bring some of that gas back home," UAE Oil Minister Suhail bin Mohammed al-Mazroui said on Monday at an energy conference in London."



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Egypt holes BG production

UPDATE 2-ENBD CEO happy with bank's Dubai exposure, rules out acquisitions | Reuters

UPDATE 2-ENBD CEO happy with bank's Dubai exposure, rules out acquisitions | Reuters:



"* Nelson comfortable with Dubai exposure



 * Will wind down some to meet new central bank rules



 * 2014 loan growth forecast 7-8 pct - CFO



 * No plans for acquisitions until mid-2015 at least - CEO



 * Q4 net profit 673 mln dhs vs 626 mln dhs yr-ago



 * Misses forecast as provisions jump 40 pct y-o-y"



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Ukraine’s bondholders: getting nervous | beyondbrics #EuroMaidan

Ukraine’s bondholders: getting nervous | beyondbrics:

"Among the reasons to be jittery about emerging markets on Monday is the deteriorating situation in Ukraine.

The country’s justice minister threatened to declare a state of emergency as protests spread beyond Kiev and the pro-western parts of the country to the eastern heartlands of president Viktor Yanukovich.

Unsurprisingly, CDS spreads and bond yields have been rising, as our charts show.





Source: Thomson Reuters
"



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MIDEAST STOCKS-Dubai extends losses; Saudi petchems track lower oil prices | Reuters

MIDEAST STOCKS-Dubai extends losses; Saudi petchems track lower oil prices | Reuters:



"* No sense of panic in Dubai



 * But local retail investors may continue taking profits



 * Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank rises on strong Q4 earnings



 * Saudi petchems dampened by China worries



 * Egypt rises on hopes for Sisi presidency



 By Nadia Saleem

DUBAI, Jan 27 (Reuters) -



United Arab Emirates shares fell further on Monday as retail investors took the flight from emerging markets elsewhere as a cue to book profits, while lower oil prices weighed on Saudi petrochemical shares.



 In contrast to the hardest-hit emerging markets, there was no sense of panic in Dubai. But local retail investors have dominated the market in the past year and their selling snowballed on Monday; the index lost 1.2 percent, adding to Sunday's 2.2 percent drop as the market pulled back from last week's five-year high. 




Dubai recorded a whopping rise of over 100 percent in 2013 and it is still up 9.4 percent so far in 2014. Much of the buying in recent weeks was on expectations for fourth-quarter earnings and annual dividends, but traders and analysts say the market was due for a breather."



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Worries Over Russian Assets Cloud BP's Post-Spill Comeback | Business | The Moscow Times

Worries Over Russian Assets Cloud BP's Post-Spill Comeback | Business | The Moscow Times:



"In the two months after April 20, 2010, when an explosion at the Deepwater Horizon oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico caused the worst offshore oil spill in U.S. history, BP shares lost nearly two-thirds of their value as the scale of the disaster threatened to sink the company.



BP sold $40 billion worth of prime assets to stay afloat — and spent $42.5 billion on the spill clean-up, fines and provisions for future costs.



As part of that sell-off, BP extracted about $12 billion from the company's troublesome Russian investment, THK-BP. Of that, it has given about $8 billion of it back to shareholders."



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EM sell-off: whatever happened to differentiation? | beyondbrics

EM sell-off: whatever happened to differentiation? | beyondbrics:



"For all the talk of differentiation, emerging markets are having a bad Monday. Major currencies, such as the Turkish lira and Indian rupee have been hit; equity and bond markets are falling. As Benoit Anne of Société Générale put it, “global emerging markets are now trading in full-blown panic mode”.



But the recent message to investors from analysts was to look beyond emerging markets as a single asset class. “The real lesson from recent events is that the need for investors to discriminate between individual EMs has never been greater,” said Neil Shearing of Capital Economics. Clearly, the lessons are not being heeded.



EM currencies are feeling the pinch across the board. The biggest faller is the Turkish lira, which has continued to slide. It is now at 2.37 lira to the dollar, another 2 per cent plus depreciation, and another record low. Other currencies that have been under recent pressure have fallen: the rand is down around 1 per cent to 11.2 to the dollar. The Indian rupee, which had a torrid 2013, is down 0.6 per cent to over 63 to the dollar, a 2-month low."



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[video] Emerging market sell off spreads across Asia | beyondbrics

[video] Emerging market sell off spreads across Asia | beyondbrics:



"Following on from the sharp fall in the Argentinian Peso last week, the Emerging Markets sell off has spread to Asia. Mitul Kotecha, head of global equities Asia at Crédit Agricole CIB says problems in Thailand and upcoming elections in India and Indonesia are making investors uncomfortable, especially now that tapering is causing capital outflows from the region."




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Mashreq reports Dh1.8 billion net profit | GulfNews.com

Mashreq reports Dh1.8 billion net profit | GulfNews.com:



"Mashreq on Sunday reported Dh1.8 billion net profits for 2013, largely driven by significant growth in net interest income and net fee and commission income.



The bank’s total operating income for the period grew to Dh4.8 billion, an increase of 18.4 per cent compared to a year earlier.
“Our annual financials reflect solid and sustainable growth.



We are constantly innovating to give our customers what they need,” AbdulAziz Al Ghurair, Mashreq’s CEO, said."



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Etihad blocked from code-sharing with Air Serbia into the US | GulfNews.com

Etihad blocked from code-sharing with Air Serbia into the US | GulfNews.com:



"Etihad Airways’ bid to carry Air Serbia’s flight code on services to the US was blocked by US Department of Transport last week.



US carriers led by the Airlines for America, a lobbying group, successfully petitioned the US DoT against a proposal for Air Serbia to codeshare on Etihad flights from Abu Dhabi to New York, Chicago and Washington DC. Air Serbia would have connected services to Belgrade. The US carriers argued that the proposal was impractical for the consumer with the Belgrade to New York via Abu Dhabi route adding more than 8,000 kilometres to the round trip.



According to aviation analysts, CAPA – Centre for Aviation, Delta argued that “it is highly unlikely that a rational consumer would seek out itineraries via Abu Dhabi unless fares were artificially low”."



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Emirates NBD reports Dh3.3b net profit | GulfNews.com

Emirates NBD reports Dh3.3b net profit | GulfNews.com:



"Emirates NBD on Monday reported a net profit of Dh3.3 billion, up 27 per cent from 2012 with its operating porfit surging 20 per cent to Dh2.9 billion.



Bank’s total income for 2013 amounted to Dh11.85 billion, an increase of 16 per cent compared with Dh10.21 billion in 2012.



“As a leading bank in the region, we are well placed to take advantage of future growth opportunities in Dubai, the UAE and the Gulf region. In light of the good performance by the bank, we are proposing to maintain the cash dividend at 25 per cent per share,” said Shaikh Ahmad Bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Chairman, Emirates NBD."



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Harvard tops 2014 MBA rankings

Martin Wolf strikes note of caution | #Davos