Thursday 10 July 2014

UK public workers protest pay - YouTube

UK public workers protest pay - YouTube: ""



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​Russia surpasses US gold production for first time in 25 years — RT Business

​Russia surpasses US gold production for first time in 25 years — RT Business:



"Russia has produced more gold than the United States for the first time in 25 years. It’s now the world’s third biggest producer after China and Australia, Minister of Natural Resources and Environment of Russia Sergey Donskoy said.



In the last five years 270 mineral deposits were found in Russia, despite it not being a leading country for mineral exploration investment.



"This, in our opinion, has negative consequences, including a negative impact on the social and economic development of the regions," Vestifinance.ru quotes Donskoy as saying."



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Ukraine’s Eurobonds Gain to Strongest in 6 Months Amid IMF Talks - Bloomberg

Ukraine’s Eurobonds Gain to Strongest in 6 Months Amid IMF Talks - Bloomberg:



"Ukraine’s benchmark Eurobonds rose, sending the yield to a six-month low, as the government worked on a second bailout tranche from the International Monetary Fund and pursued rebels in the east of the country.



The yield on the dollar note maturing in April 2023 fell five basis points to 8.35 percent, the lowest since Jan. 17. The yield has fallen 3 percentage points since mid-February, when months of protests culminated in the ouster of former president Viktor Yanukovych and unleashed a confrontation with Russia.



The IMF will extend its mission to Kiev until the weekend, the Finance Ministry announced, a day after Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said Ukraine met the Washington-based lender’s terms for the second part of a $17 billion rescue. IMF officials may be assessing how much the conflict will cut economic output and increase debt this year, said Tatiana Orlova, a London-based economist at Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc."



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MIDEAST STOCKS-Emaar lifts Dubai; Qatar rebounds further | Agricultural Commodities | Reuters

MIDEAST STOCKS-Emaar lifts Dubai; Qatar rebounds further | Agricultural Commodities | Reuters:



"Dubai and Qatar led market rises in the Gulf on Thursday on the back of property and banking stocks, while Egyptian real estate companies dragged down the market after jumping earlier this week.



Dubai's main index rose 1.5 percent as shares in Emaar Properties, the emirate's largest listed developer, jumped 3.8 percent.



This followed an announcement on Wednesday by another large local property firm, unlisted Nakheel, that its net profit surged 54 percent for the first half of this year. The company did not provide quarterly figures, but Reuters calculations showed a net profit of 1.22 billion dirhams ($332 million) in the second quarter compared to 709 million dirhams a year earlier, a 72 percent jump."



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Exclusive: UAE bourses merger shelved as terms not agreed - sources | Reuters

Exclusive: UAE bourses merger shelved as terms not agreed - sources | Reuters:



"A planned merger of the Dubai Financial Market and the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX) has been shelved for the foreseeable future as terms for the politically sensitive move could not be agreed, sources told Reuters on Thursday. 




Having been mooted for a number of years, a merger of the DFM and the ADX seemed to take an important step closer last year as investment banks were hired to advise on a tie-up - a move revealed by Reuters last October.



The state-backed deal, seen as one of the biggest changes in the country's financial industry in recent years, was expected to energize financial markets in the United Arab Emirates, making it easier for investors to operate across the markets, stimulating trade and attracting more foreign investment."



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IMF Calls for More MENA Region Subsidy Reform - Middle East Real Time - WSJ

IMF Calls for More MENA Region Subsidy Reform - Middle East Real Time - WSJ:



"One of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi’s first policy steps when he took office was to cut state subsidies on petrol and diesel, saying it was a “bitter medicine” long overdue for the country.



Egypt’s example illustrates the challenge other countries in the Middle East and North Africa region face, where subsidy reforms are increasingly at the top of governments’ agendas, according to the International Monetary Fund. In a new 118-page paper, the IMF makes a comprehensive case for the further cutting of subsidies while simultaneously calling for a social safety net to be created in the region.



For decades, governments in the MENA region have resorted to lavish subsidies on energy and food to appease their citizens, spending more on average than any other region and in the process placing a considerable burden on state budgets."



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M&A could prolong equity rally - YouTube

M&A could prolong equity rally - YouTube: ""



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Debt trap in UAE: To repay or to run away? | GulfNews.com

Debt trap in UAE: To repay or to run away? | GulfNews.com:



"If you are steeped in debt and are thinking of fleeing the UAE, think again.



As simplistic as it may seem, the long arm of the law can catch up with you sooner than later.



A jobless Indian expat who fled to his homeland after borrowing Dh150,000 from a local bank learnt this the hard way when he was arrested recently in a third country – Qatar. The bank had filed a case against him, following which Qatar courts summoned him and he was sent back to the UAE where the law took its own course."



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Debt trap in UAE: To repay or to run away? | GulfNews.com

Debt trap in UAE: To repay or to run away? | GulfNews.com:



"If you are steeped in debt and are thinking of fleeing the UAE, think again.



As simplistic as it may seem, the long arm of the law can catch up with you sooner than later.



A jobless Indian expat who fled to his homeland after borrowing Dh150,000 from a local bank learnt this the hard way when he was arrested recently in a third country – Qatar. The bank had filed a case against him, following which Qatar courts summoned him and he was sent back to the UAE where the law took its own course."



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Abu Dhabi Said to Explore $2 Billion Sale of Fund Stakes - Bloomberg

Abu Dhabi Said to Explore $2 Billion Sale of Fund Stakes - Bloomberg:



"Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the world’s largest sovereign-wealth funds, is said to be considering selling as much as $2 billion in private-equity fund stakes.



ADIA, which invests on behalf of the government of Abu Dhabi, hired Cogent Partners to advise on the sale, two people with knowledge of the deal said. The portfolio consists mostly of positions in buyout funds, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the information is private.



Institutional investors including California Public Employees’ Retirement System, Teachers’ Retirement System of the State of Illinois and New York City’s police, fire and civil-employee pension plans have turned to the secondary market in recent years to rebalance holdings and reduce relationships with external managers. Pricing is attractive to sellers because of strong public markets and distributions to clients, according to Cogent. The average high bid for buyout-fund stakes reached 92 percent of net asset value in the second half of last year, making it the first time pricing exceeded 90 percent since 2007, the investment-banking firm said in January."



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2009 a distant memory as Dubai World again in debt talks | The National

2009 a distant memory as Dubai World again in debt talks | The National:



"Anyone involved in the Dubai financial scene at the end of November 2009 can testify to the great drama that unfolded in the emirate and went crashing around the world.



Dubai World, in denial about the extent of its financial problems since the credit crunch and banking crisis that began the previous year, finally accepted the inevitable with an announcement that it was seeking a “standstill” from creditors owed about US$25 billion; as the implications sank in, local and regional markets crashed and global investors panicked, pulling money out of Dubai on fears that apparently sovereign-backed obligations would not be repaid.



It was the depths of the financial crisis for Dubai, and the beginning of the sovereign debt crisis that eventually counted Greece, Portugal, Ireland and Spain as casualties, and which is only just unwinding in Europe."



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Dubai realty re-calibrates along subdued lines | GulfNews.com

Dubai realty re-calibrates along subdued lines | GulfNews.com:



"As the quality of transactional data in the real estate markets improve, sifting through the series of data points has led to an ever increasing insight into the nature of buying and selling.



More importantly, it has allowed for the gauging of investor and end-user sentiment along with their preferences, and provided further clarity into the health of the overall market. Dissecting the data by community has shown certain relationships between price and volume, and enabled analysts to forecast with increasing accuracy what trends are likely to be seen.



After the introduction of higher transfer fees by the Dubai Land Department, there has been a noticeable drop in transaction volume in freehold communities. Depending on the area being looked at, volumes have registered a drop of between 5 per cent (International City) and 30 per cent (Arabian Ranches) in the six months after the introduction of the higher levy."



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Reverse Repo in 60 seconds - YouTube

Reverse Repo in 60 seconds - YouTube: ""



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Ruble Rises to July High as Dividends Paid: Russia Reality Check - Bloomberg

Ruble Rises to July High as Dividends Paid: Russia Reality Check - Bloomberg:



"As markets react in real time to Russia’s incursion into Crimea and the annexation of the Black Sea peninsula, the ruble rose to the highest level this month as companies bought the currency to pay dividends and the government sold almost all the bonds offered at an auction.



The currency strengthened 0.6 percent to 34.0325 per dollar by 6 p.m. in Moscow, extending its gain since Feb. 28, a day before President Vladimir Putin’s incursion, to 5.4 percent. Russian companies have completed about 25 percent of their total payments this dividend season and will transfer $5 billion to $6 billion in the last week of July, according to VTB Capital analysts Maxim Korovin and Anton Nikitin. The government sold 9.4 billion rubles of the 10 billion rubles ($293 million) of bonds due May 2020 offered at an auction today.



The chart shows the performance of stocks, bonds and the ruble, along with indicators of Russian investment risk. The yield on ruble bonds due February 2027 rose four basis points to 8.57 percent, giving an increase since Feb. 28 of 21 basis points. The Micex Index retreated 0.2 percent to 1,513.38, paring its gain in the period to 4.8 percent."



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World's Largest Plane a Gravitational Marvel: Video - Bloomberg

World's Largest Plane a Gravitational Marvel: Video - Bloomberg: ""



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Libya’s $66 Billion Wealth Fund Replaces Chairman Amid Probe - Bloomberg

Libya’s $66 Billion Wealth Fund Replaces Chairman Amid Probe - Bloomberg:



"The Libyan Investment Authority said it replaced its chairman, Abdulmagid Breish, amid an investigation into his role in the government of ousted leader Muammar Qaddafi.



Breish was asked to leave his position at the LIA amid an inquiry under Libya’s “Political Isolation law,” the LIA said in a statement. He’s being replaced by Abdurahman Benyezza, a former minister for oil and gas.



Breish, a former Arab Banking Corp. executive who had been the LIA’s chairman and interim chief executive officer for 13 months, led the sovereign wealth fund into billion-dollar lawsuits against Societe Generale SA (GLE) and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) over 2008 investment losses."



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