#GCC and #MiddleEast Finance News: 9 Aug 2012

Thursday, 9 August 2012

Strong quarterly earnings boost UAE bourses | GulfNews.com

Dubai’s DFM index closed 1.08 per cent higher at 1572.37 led by telco and real estate companies.
Among the gainers, Takaful-Em rose 7.08 per cent to close at Dh0.605, followed by Deyaar by 5.19 per cent to Dh0.365 and Du by 4.62 per cent to Dh3.40.
Among the losers, NGI fell 9.95 per cent to Dh5.43, followed by Ekttitab by 7.98 per cent to Dh0.865 and Dubai Islamic Bank by 1.04 per cent to Dh1.91.

Al Izz Islamic Bank to float in September | GulfNews.com

Al Izz Islamic Bank, the second sharia-compliant lender being formed in Oman, plans to float 40 per cent of its shares in September, a bank official said on Thursday.
Oman awarded two Islamic banking licenses last year, to Al Izz and Bank Nizwa, reversing its position as the only Gulf Arab state without banks that offer solely Islamic products and services.
“We are planning our IPO issue worth 40 million rials ($104 million) in September,” a senior bank official, who declined to be identified, told Reuters.

First Gulf surges after earnings boost outlook | GulfNews.com

First Gulf Bank PJSC rallied the most in five months after a 14 per cent increase in second-quarter profit buoyed the company’s outlook this year.
First Gulf Bank’s net income rose to Dh1.02 billion from Dh890 million a year earlier. That beat the mean estimate of five analysts, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
The shares rallied 3.7 per cent, the most since March 1, to Dh9.75 at the close in Abu Dhabi. The stock was the biggest advancer by both index and percentage points on the Abu Dhabi ADX General Index, which rose 0.8 per cent. The stock has been the best-performer on the index in the past month with a gain of 15 per cent and has advanced all but one day since second-quarter results were announced July 24.

MIDEAST STOCKS-Most Gulf higher on earnings sentiment; Kuwait extends slide - Yahoo! News Maktoob

Most Gulf bourses closed higher on Thursday amid earnings optimism, but Kuwait's market slipped to a fresh seven-month low as political turmoil and weak banking sector earnings weighed on investor sentiment.
In the United Arab Emirates, struggling developer Aldar Properties said second-quarter net profit increased three-fold, buoyed by delivery of 1,058 high-end residential beach units.
Share in Aldar, now near-majority owned by government fund Mubadala after being thrown two financial lifelines by the state, gained 1.6 percent to its highest close since March 28.
Abu Dhabi's measure rose 0.8 percent, up for a third straight session to a near-four-month high.

FT Alphaville » ‘The biggest overproduction for any quarter since 1998′

Did anyone notice how the Brent slump seemed to come to a dramatic halt around June?

More to the point, how since the first quarter of 2011 Brent’s faithful $100-$125 per barrel trading range was put at risk by the move below $100 per barrel?

Now consider the following report from Bloomberg on Thursday that suggests there’s a lot more oil out there than price trends indicate (note our emphasis):

Dubai's Shuaa Capital swings to Q2 loss | Reuters

Dubai's Shuaa Capital swung to a second-quarter net loss as the investment firm continued its restructuring efforts and booked one-off costs, it said in a statement on Thursday.

The company posted a net loss of 15.9 million dirhams ($4.3 million) for the three months to June 30, compared with a 0.6 million dirhams profit in the same period last year.

Shuaa added most of its restructuring efforts, plus the booking of one-off costs associated with it, had been completed in the second quarter and the benefits of this programme would begin to show through from the third quarter onwards.

Oil May Retreat on Fastest Stockpiling Rate in 14 Years - Bloomberg

Speculation that nations are stockpiling oil at the fastest rate in 14 years is fanning expectations for Brent crude to drop below $100 a barrel.
OPEC pumped 2.1 million barrels a day more than projected demand in April through June, the biggest overproduction for any quarter since 1998, the International Energy Agency estimates. The increase has been overshadowed by focus on U.S.-led sanctions against Iran’s oil exports, Citigroup Inc. said. Brent will fall to $93 by September and $83 by year-end, according to the Centre for Global Energy Studies.

MIDEAST MONEY-Safe haven status aids Dubai real estate recovery | Reuters

For a key to the recovery of Dubai's real estate market, one need look no further than the Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest tower, which rises out of the desert floor of the city's gleaming downtown area.

Figures released by the Dubai government this week showed Indian citizens were the main buyers of luxury apartments and commercial space in the Burj Khalifa during the first half of 2012, spending $222 million. Iranians came second with $128 million.

For the Indian buyers, Dubai property is a refuge from currency depeciation that has taken the Indian rupee down about 20 percent against the U.S. dollar since the third quarter of 2011. For the Iranians, Dubai provides a safe place to park money as international sanctions, imposed over Tehran's disputed nuclear programme, ravage the Iranian economy.

Oman's got money to burn! Gas, oil profits boost the sultanate's budget surplus | Al Bawaba

Oman's budget surplus surged to a record high of RO1.683 billion in the first half of 2012, on the back of surging oil and gas revenues.

Total government revenue shot up 35.4 per cent to RO7.369 billion, from RO5.443 billion for the same period last year, according to statistics released by the erstwhile Ministry of National Economy.

Net oil revenue, which accounts for almost 70 per cent of total revenue, for the six-month period rose 30 per cent to RO5.277 billion, while gas revenue shot up to RO837.2 million from RO503.2 million. Expenditure was RO5.763 billion, compared to RO3.943 billion during the same period in 2011.

Saudi Arabia looks to female workforce - FT.com

Just over a year ago, shops in modern glittering malls or old dusty souqs in Saudi Arabia were all staffed by men.
Foreign men sold everything from lingerie to cosmetics to Saudi women, while saleswomen, mostly from the Levant, occupied almost all the jobs in the fancy ladies-only floor at the Kingdom Mall in Riyadh.