Gold Tops UAE’s Non-Oil Trade During First Half of 2020 - Bloomberg

Gold Tops UAE’s Non-Oil Trade During First Half of 2020 - Bloomberg

Non-oil trade in the United Arab Emirates amounted to about 658.3 billion dirhams ($179.2 billion) during the first half of 2020, the state-owned news agency WAM reported on Saturday citing the Federal Competitiveness and Statistics Centre.

More on the UAE’s trade:

• Gold topped the list at 104 billion dirhams, or 15.7% of total trade.
• Imports during the first half were at 378.8 billion dirhams, while the value of exports reached 116.7 billion dirhams.
• China was the UAE’s top trading partner with total trade between the two reaching 82.4 billion dirhams, followed by Saudi Arabia, India and the U.S.

Finding the green shoots of recovery in #Dubai's property market - Arabianbusiness

Finding the green shoots of recovery in Dubai's property market - Arabianbusiness

If you look hard enough, there are green shoots of recovery in Dubai's real estate market, especially in the prime residential sector.

Although prices in the emirate's prime market as a whole were down by 3.7 percent in the year to the third quarter of 2020, a closer analysis reveals pockets of stability and even increases.

Knight Frank has launched its latest Prime Global Cities Index for Q3 which shows prices are still falling - by 1.7 percent in the latest three-month period. Not a surprise given years of oversupply and now a weaker economic backdrop.

But Taimur Khan, research manager at Knight Frank Middle East, told Arabian Business that the rate of decline is now slowing, where a year ago prices were falling by more than 5 percent.

"In more established prime areas we are beginning to see prices stabilise and even increase in some cases, for example on the Palm Jumeirah," he said.

Prices on the Palm seem to have reached their trough in May and since the average transaction price per square foot has increased for five consecutive months and now stands 4.2 percent higher, he revealed.

Khan told Arabian Business that one of the notable trends seen this year in the prime market in Dubai has been the transition away from the primary market and towards the secondary market.

In the year to date to October 2019, 56 percent of property purchases were off-plan purchases and over the same period in 2020, this number has fallen to 41 percent.

NMC's Shetty says will return to #UAE | Reuters

NMC's Shetty says will return to UAE | Reuters

NMC Health founder BR Shetty said on Saturday he planned to the return to the United Arab Emirates and denied reports he had fled the country after the hospital group’s implosion under a mountain of previously undisclosed debt.

NMC went into administration in April following months of turmoil over its finances and the discovery that it has $6.6 billion in debt, well above earlier estimates.

Earlier this month, administrators Alvarez & Marsal took preliminary steps towards legal action against NMC’s auditor, Ernst & Young, as it seeks to increase recoveries for creditors.

“I travelled to India in February to be with my ailing brother who sadly passed away at the end of March, just as the pandemic spread across the world disrupting international travel,” Shetty said in a statement, adding that reports he fled “could not be further from the truth.”

Oil Pares Weekly Gain as Viral Surge Overshadows Vaccine Promise - Bloomberg

Oil Pares Weekly Gain as Viral Surge Overshadows Vaccine Promise - Bloomberg

Oil declined for a second session as rising Covid-19 cases threatened to derail demand with tougher restrictions in major U.S. cities on the horizon.

Futures fell 2.4% in New York on Friday, but still posted the largest weekly gain in a month as optimism from news of a potential Covid-19 vaccine breakthrough jolted markets earlier in the week. Despite the measure of hope for the long-term, U.S. cities from the West to East coasts have imposed stricter measures to slow surging case counts, raising concerns that the virus will further crimp demand for fuel. Gasoline futures also slumped.

“In the U.S., the virus spread is exponential and right now many states are probably going to be forced to deliver stricter measures and return to lockdowns,” said Edward Moya, a senior market analyst at Oanda Corp. “That’s going to cripple economic activity and put further pressure in the short-term as far as the crude demand outlook goes.”