Saturday 26 February 2011

Weekly Market Analysis (Week 9) — GCC Market Analytics

The weekly market analysis pages have been updated for trading week 9 (February 26th - March 4th). 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.

Egypt's bourse faces MSCI index decision in 4 weeks | Reuters

Egypt's stock exchange, which has been closed since January 28 after the onset of protests that toppled President Hosni Mubarak, faces the risk of being excluded from MSCI's emerging markets index when the index provider reviews its status in four weeks.

Egypt would face possible exclusion from the index only if its stock market does not reopen before MSCI begins to consider a decision.

Local investors are worried a removal of Egypt from MSCI indexes would trigger a further outflow of money from an already wounded market, which has seen its growth outlook pared to about 4.3 percent of gross domestic product to end-June from the government's previous forecast of 6 percent.

Tadawul close today | A1SaudiArabia.com

The Saudi Stock Exchange Tadawul announced Friday that today (Saturday) is an official holiday, in celebration of King Abdullahs return from a medical trip abroad. Trading will resume Sunday.

The market closed Wednesday – the last trading day of the week – at 6,263.79 points.

The market has lost about 70 percent since its peak in 2006 at 20,967.
Listed companies grew to 145 at present from only 77 in 2006.

Nasdaq Looking for a Partner - MarketWatch

Nasdaq OMX Group (NDAQ 28.41, +0.39, +1.39%) is pitting CME Group (CME 313.55, +8.99, +2.95%) Inc. and IntercontinentalExchange Inc. against each other in an attempt to decide which company would give the Nasdaq Stock Market parent the best shot at making an attractive bid for rival exchange NYSE Euronext (NYX 37.00, -0.02, -0.05%) 's stock-trading business, according to people familiar with the matter.

Nasdaq has been wrestling with what to do in response to this month's agreement by NYSE Euronext to be acquired by Deutsche Börse (DE:DB1 56.27, +1.44, +2.63%) AG in a deal valued at about $10 billion. If that deal goes through, Nasdaq would be far smaller than the newly combined rival company.

The electronic stock-exchange operator is looking for an ally because it doesn't have the buying power to derail the Deutsche Börse-NYSE Euronext deal on its own. The discussions at Nasdaq include which potential partner would help it put together the strongest bid and give Nasdaq the least-expensive shot at NYSE Euronext's stock-listings business, according to people familiar with the situation.

THE MIDEAST, THE SAUDIS AND OUR MARKETS | PRAGMATIC CAPITALISM

First, I’ve been pretty quiet on the mideast goings ons. I’ve been watching intently from the time Egypt made headlines, and have yet to see anything of particular consequence to us, beyond oil prices.

I’ve yet to come up with any channel to world aggregate demand, inflation, etc. apart from oil prices.

Seems all moves in stocks and bonds have been linked directly or indirectly only to actual and potential changes in crude oil and product prices.

FT.com - Libya: No line in the sand

Stood near a Bedouin tent outside Tripoli on Wednesday March 24 2004, Tony Blair offered what he called “the hand of friendship” to Muammer Gaddafi. That five-second handshake with the Libyan leader was one of the most remarkable moments in Mr Blair’s decade-long premiership and in the recent history of the Middle East.

For years, Col Gaddafi had been the pariah of the western world, the man US President Ronald Reagan dubbed the “mad dog” of the Middle East, the instigator of terrorist attacks across Europe. Yet here was Britain’s charismatic leader standing alongside him, declaring that the whole world would benefit from Libya becoming a “strong partner of the west”.

That handshake quickly came to be known as the “deal in the desert”. Col Gaddafi promised to cease sowing terror, in return for which international oil companies would help him extract Libya’s huge oil reserves.