#Saudi bourse leads Gulf markets higher; Egypt extends decline | Reuters

Saudi bourse leads Gulf markets higher; Egypt extends decline | Reuters

Most stock markets in the Gulf ended higher on Monday, led by the Saudi bourse, after a U.S. inflation reading last week boosted hopes of interest rate cuts from the Federal Reserve Bank this year.

Saudi Arabia's benchmark stock index (.TASI), opens new tab extended its rally to a second consecutive day, advancing 1.6%, the highest intraday rise in five months.

Al Rajhi Bank (1120.SE), opens new tab gained 3.3% and Saudi Telecom (7010.SE), opens new tab (STC) climbed 2.1%. Reuters reported that STC was in the early stages of considering making an offer for European telecom and pay-TV operator United Group.

Among other gainers, Saudi Aramco (2222.SE), opens new tab bounced back from four straight sessions of losses to rise 1.6%.

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia's sale of shares in oil major Aramco drew more demand than the stock on offer within hours of kicking off on Sunday in a deal that could raise up to $13.1 billion.

The Abu Dhabi benchmark index (.FTFADGI), opens new tab was up for a third straight session, rising 0.6%. Conglomerate International Holding Co (IHC.AD), opens new tab and its unit Alpha Dhabi Holding (ALPHADHABI.AD), opens new tab climbed 0.7% and 3.1%, respectively.

Among other gainers, ADNOC Logistics (ADNOCLS.AD), opens new tab, known as ADNOC L&S, surged 4.2% to 4.240 dirham a share, its highest level since its listing in June 2023.

Energy major ADNOC's logistics unit, ADNOC L&S, signed a deal to acquire shipping pool operator Navig8 Topco Holdings for a total value of up to $1.49 billion.

Dubai's benchmark index (.DFMGI), opens new tab rose 0.4%, with low-cost flyer Air Arabia (AIRA.DU), opens new tab climbing 4.8% and Emirates NBD (ENBD.DU), opens new tab, the emirate's largest lender, adding 1%.

The Qatari benchmark index (.QSI), opens new tab edged up 0.3%, supported by a 1.5% rise in Qatar Islamic Bank (QISB.QA), opens new tab and a 0.4% gain in Industries Qatar (IQCD.QA), opens new tab.

Data showed on Friday that U.S. inflation rose in line with market expectations in April, spurring hopes of interest rates cuts by the Fed.

Most Gulf currencies are pegged to the dollar, and any U.S. monetary policy change is usually followed by Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar

Outside the Gulf, Egypt's blue-chip index (.EGX30), opens new tab was down for a sixth straight session, slipping 0.1%, with Commercial International Bank (COMI.CA), opens new tab 1.5% lower and Misr Fertilizers Production (MFPC.CA), opens new tab declining 3.5%.

OPEC+ Says Goodbye to Its $100-a-Barrel Oil Quest - Bloomberg

OPEC+ Says Goodbye to Its $100-a-Barrel Oil Quest - Bloomberg

After relentlessly pursuing $100-a-barrel oil, the OPEC+ cartel has all but thrown in the towel. Whether the U-turn is a tactical retreat, or a strategic shift, is still unclear. But for now its impact would be the same: Oil prices would be somewhat lower and global inflation would ease.

Over the weekend, the group, led by Saudi Arabia and Russia, announced a deal that, on paper, prolongs its complex layers of cumulative production cuts well into 2025. But read the fine print, and the agreement looks different. Under the pact, OPEC+ members will be able to start adding more barrels into the market from October, with significant increases next year.

Based on the path published by Saudi officials, OPEC+ output would be more than 500,000 barrels a day higher by December than now, and about 1.8 million higher by mid-2025. That’s a lot of extra barrels to try to spin the deal as a bullish surprise. By my book, more oil production typically means lower prices, not the opposite.

Granted, OPEC+ said that output increases would be conditional on the health of the market, so the deal is, for now, a statement of intent. But the mere fact the group is telegraphing its eagerness to pump more is telling, and will have an impact on market psychology. So will the fact that the United Arab Emirates has won the right to again pump even more oil than its allies. Other OPEC+ members impatient to produce more — say, Iraq and Kazakhstan — weren’t as lucky, but you can bet they will cheat on their output limits.

#SaudiArabia Wealth Fund (PIF) Eyes Sterling Bond Sale to Aid Cash Quest - Bloomberg

Saudi Arabia Wealth Fund (PIF) Eyes Sterling Bond Sale to Aid Cash Quest - Bloomberg

Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund is looking to tap international debt markets for a sterling-denominated bond sale as it seeks to diversify its funding sources and raise external capital to back the kingdom’s economic overhaul.

The Public Investment Fund has mandated banks for an offering of senior unsecured notes with tenors of five and 15 years, according to a person familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified.

Investor calls will be held Monday and be followed by a sale, subject to market conditions. Such a sale would be the first sterling-denominated offering by entities based in Saudi Arabia since 2020 and only the second ever, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

The PIF has raised $7 billion across bond sales so far this year and is looking to accelerate its borrowing as it hunts for new sources of cash to help pay for Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s multi-trillion dollar plan to diversify the economy.

Exclusive: #Saudi Telecom considers possible offer for United Group, sources say | Reuters

Exclusive: Saudi Telecom considers possible offer for United Group, sources say | Reuters

Saudi Arabia's STC Group (7010.SE), opens new tab is in the early stages of considering an offer for European telecom and pay-TV operator United Group, according to three people with knowledge of the potential deal.

UK buyout group BC Partners, which acquired United Group in 2019 from KKR (KKR.N), opens new tab, is working with advisors on a sale due to start in the coming weeks, two of the people said.

STC has started early stage work on a transaction, which may or may not result in a formal offer, a third person said.

A deal could value United Group around 8 billion euros ($8.7 billion) including debt, one of the people said.

The sources, who requested anonymity as the matter is confidential, cautioned that a deal was not certain and may not happen.

Spokespeople for STC and BC Partners declined to comment.

If STC succeeds with a deal for United, it would further its expansion into the European telecoms sector. Last year the kingdom's largest telecoms operator said it had acquired a 4.9% stake in Spain's Telefonica (TEF.MC), opens new tab, with the potential to increase it further to nearly 10%. STC´s subsidiary TAWAL also last year acquired United Group’s telecommunications tower assets in Bulgaria, Croatia and Slovenia.

Australian Bank Barrenjoey Opens #AbuDhabi Office in First Overseas Expansion - Bloomberg

Australian Bank Barrenjoey Opens Abu Dhabi Office in First Overseas Expansion - Bloomberg

Barrenjoey, an Australian investment bank, began offering fixed-income sales and trading services in Abu Dhabi in an expansion that marks the opening of its first overseas office.

The move will allow the Sydney-based firm to provide extended coverage during European and US trading hours, it said in a statement. It currently has about 10 people in Abu Dhabi, according to a spokesperson.

“The regulatory environment is comparable to Australia, which has enabled us to establish operations in a relatively short time frame,” Jacqui Byrnes, fixed income chief operating officer in Sydney, said in a statement Monday.

Barrenjoey, started in 2020, now has a staff of more than 350 across offices including Sydney, Melbourne and Perth. It’s quickly garnered a reputation that’s secured it key positions on merger transactions and has elevated it in areas such as equity block trading.

Abu Dhabi and nearby Dubai have become thriving global cities and are luring a slew of financial firms and wealthy individuals. A flurry of dealmaking last year that gripped the Middle East offset a tougher environment in other parts of the world.

Abu Dhabi reported a surge in assets under management within its financial center as money managers rushed to the emirate. Total assets under management rose 211% during the first quarter from the same three-month period the year before, according to Abu Dhabi Global Market.

Meantime, Rothschild & Co. and Morgan Stanley last year were among global investment banks opening up there, while JPMorgan Chase & Co. expanded its offering in the city.

Barrenjoey’s staff own around 45% of the firm. The remainder is Barclays Plc’s 18% stake and Magellan Financial Group Ltd.’s position of about 36%.

Chinese Firms Jostle With US Peers for Sliver of Gulf Oil Riches - Bloomberg

Chinese Firms Jostle With US Peers for Sliver of Gulf Oil Riches - Bloomberg

A wave of Chinese banks, asset managers and hedge funds are ramping up in the Middle East, jostling with Wall Street firms who are making their own expansion push in a region flush with oil wealth.

Those efforts were on show in recent months, when a string of executives from China’s $1.35 trillion sovereign wealth fund made their way to the Middle East in the hope of finding a way to invest in the region.

Following a series of meetings with the region’s biggest alternative asset manager, the firms unveiled a first-of-its-kind $1 billion private equity fund and China Investment Corp. vowed to take an unusually hands-on role in scouting for deal targets.

That agreement comes at a time when Beijing’s soft-power has been on the increase in the Middle East — in recent days President Xi Jinping met Gulf leaders at a forum held in the Asian country. All that’s happening even as the US deepens its own Middle East push, while also scrutinizing growing ties between the region and China.

“The Gulf region was not always on the radar in the past decades for Chinese investors because they had really a lot of businesses going on with Europe and the US,” said China Merchants Bank International’s Chief Representative for the Middle East, Stephanie Holzhaider. The Middle East will see “big development for the next decade or two. That’s why Chinese companies are deploying with full force to set up their branches or offices to try to deepen presence in the market.” The firm recently set up an outpost in Dubai.

Watch Etihad CEO Neves: Preparing for IPO, Working on Transparency - Bloomberg

Watch Etihad CEO Neves: Preparing for IPO, Working on Transparency - Bloomberg

Etihad Airways is moving along with a possible initial public offering, the first for a major airline in the Middle East, in a listing that would help the Abu Dhabi flag carrier raise additional funds to expand.

“We’re working very hard to make it happen whenever it is the time,” Chief Executive Officer Antonoaldo Neves said in an interview with Bloomberg TV at the IATA annual general meeting in Dubai. An IPO “is never an endgame, it’s just another source for us to raise capital.”

Etihad has managed to turn itself around after an ill-fated expansion spree a decade ago saddled it with huge losses and stakes in unprofitable regional carriers. Now, Neves said he’s been told by the owners to run the company as if it were listed, improving its financial performance and corporate governance. Any decision for an eventual IPO would lie with shareholders, he said.

The carrier has picked banks for the potential IPO, which could raise as much as $1 billion, Bloomberg reported in May. The deal will create the first publicly-traded major Gulf hub carrier and comes amid a rebound in international travel following the pandemic.

Etihad, which is owned by Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund ADQ and competes for transfer traffic with Dubai’s Emirates and Qatar Airways, reported record profit in the first quarter amid surging demand for travel.

Emirates and Qatar Airways are also state-owned. Emirates President Tim Clark said in an interview at the Dubai gathering on Sunday that “the temptation is there” to consider an IPO for his airline, though there are no plans for the time being to consider such a move.

#Qatar Airways in talks for Airbus, Boeing order | Reuters

Qatar Airways in talks for Airbus, Boeing order | Reuters

Qatar Airways is in talks with plane makers Airbus (AIR.PA), opens new tab and Boeing (BA.N), opens new tab for a major wide-body order, its chief executive said on Monday.

CEO Badr Mohammed Al Meer told reporters a report that the airline was in talks with Airbus to order A350 and Boeing 777X wide-body jets was largely correct.

Bloomberg News reported on Sunday that the airline was in discussions to buy some 200 aircraft split between Airbus and Boeing. Al Meer confirmed talks for a three-digit order but said the number of jets being mentioned was off by around 30%. He declined to say if it was higher or lower than the reported figure.

Gulf markets follow Asian peers higher in early trade | Reuters

Gulf markets follow Asian peers higher in early trade | Reuters

Most stock markets in the Gulf tracked Asian peers higher in early trading on Monday, after a U.S. inflation reading last week boosted hopes of interest rate cuts from the Federal Reserve this year.

On Friday, data showed the personal consumption expenditures price index increased 0.3% in April, matching the unrevised gain in March. Traders are pricing in about a 53% chance of a September rate cut, versus 49% before the report.

Most Gulf currencies are pegged to the dollar, and any U.S. monetary policy change is usually followed by Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar.

The Abu Dhabi benchmark stock index (.FTFADGI), opens new tab advanced 1.2%, with most of its constituents posting gains.

Conglomerate International Holding Co (IHC.AD), opens new tab and its unit Alpha Dhabi Holding (ALPHADHABI.AD), opens new tab climbed 1.4% and 4.6%, respectively.

Among other gainers, ADNOC Logistics (ADNOCLS.AD), opens new tab, known as ADNOC L&S, surged 3.7%.

Energy major ADNOC's logistics unit, ADNOC L&S, signed a deal to acquire shipping pool operator Navig8 Topco Holdings for a total value of up to $1.49 billion.

Saudi Arabia's benchmark stock index (.TASI), opens new tab was up 0.7%, with most sectors in positive territory. Al Rajhi Bank (1120.SE), opens new tab, the world's largest Islamic lender, gained 2% and Saudi Arabian Mining (1211.SE), opens new tab climbed 3.1%.

Among other gainers, Saudi Aramco (2222.SE), opens new tab added 0.7%, bouncing back from four straight sessions of losses.

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia's sale of shares in oil major Aramco drew more demand than the stock on offer within hours of kicking off on Sunday, a deal that could raise up to $13.1 billion.

Dubai's benchmark stock index (.DFMGI), opens new tab was up 0.4%, helped by gains in industry, finance and communications. Salik Company (SALIK.DU), opens new tab rose 1.5% and Commercial Bank of Dubai (CBD.DU), opens new tab climbed 6.5%.

The Qatari benchmark stock index (.QSI), opens new tab edged up 0.2%, helped by a 0.6% rise in Qatar National Bank (QNBK.QA), opens new tab, the region's largest lender, and a 0.9% gain in Barwa Real Estate (BRES.QA), opens new tab.