Qatar Exchange dips a quarter percent
March 28, 2011--The QE Index declined on Monday by 0.24% and finished at 8,372.99. Only the services sector index landed in the green while the other segments lost value.
Qatar Telecom, known as Qtel, finished unchanged at QR140. Earlier in the day Qtel announced that at the Annual General Meeting it received approval from its shareholders for the Board of Directors' recommendations regarding distribution of cash dividends of 50% of the nominal share value and fully paid up bonus shares of 20% of the issued share capital, for the year 2010.
Source: AME Info
Kuwait bourse gains 0.32%
March 28, 2011--The KSE Market Index started weakly, but eventually added 0.32% to reach 6,305.8. Investment bank Global Investment house lost 1.19%, closing at KD0.043.
Earlier in the day Global announced the launch of its initiative "to encourage and support investments in the Bahrain stock market by waiving its brokerage fees for any investors interested in buying stocks listed on the Bahrain Bourse starting from Tuesday, March 29 to Thursday, April 14, 2011", the media statement says
Source: AME Info
Tadawul bourse declines by 0.18%
March 28, 2011--The Saudi Arabian Tadawul market closed 0.18% lower at 6,508.28. Allianz Saudi Fransi Cooperative Insurance Company was the top gainer, closing 9.94% higher at SR19.90.
Petrochemical leader SABIC dipped for the second day straight, closing 0.73% lower at SR102.50. Eighty shares gained, 50 declined and 15 closed flat.
Source: AME Info
Egyptian stocks to stabilise - Finance Minister
March 28, 2011--Samir Radwan, the Egyptian finance minister has said the stock market is to stabilise this week as the government makes EGP250m ($42m) available to buy shares, after the index dropped to the lowest level in almost two years following a seven-week halt, Bloomberg has reported.
Egypt's benchmark EGX30 Index plummeted 12% on March 23 and 24 as the bourse reopened for the first time since a popular uprising that led to the ousting of president Hosni Mubarak.
Source: AME Info
Dubai Mercantile Exchange Announces Record Two Billion
March 27, 2011--The Dubai Mercantile Exchange Limited (DME) announced today that cumulative trading of its benchmark DME Oman Crude Oil Futures Contract (DME Oman) has exceeded two million contracts, representing two billion barrels of crude oil traded since its launch on 1 June, 2007.
At the close of trading on 25 March 2011, DME Oman had traded a total of 2,001,625 contracts, which at 1,000 barrels per contract is equivalent to more than two billion barrels of crude oil.
Reflecting the growing liquidity of its flagship contract, the DME recently reported a 35% year-on-year increase in trading volumes and record levels of open interest. Today, more than 60 companies trade regularly on the exchange while in excess of 140 million barrels of crude oil were delivered through the DME during 2010, confirming the status of DME Oman as the world’s largest physically delivered crude oil futures contract.
The DME started 2011 on a positive note by setting a new trading record with average daily volumes being the highest since the launch of the exchange. The DME’s role as a provider of risk management capabilities was further enhanced through the introduction of eight new DME–Oman linked swap and option contracts that will help industry participants manage their price risk more effectively in the Middle East and Asia Pacific energy markets. The swap and option contracts were launched by the CME Group, a core shareholder of the DME.
Source: Dubai Mercantile Exchange Limited (DME)
Dubai Gold And Commodities Exchange Weekly View-March 27, 2011
March 27, 2011--Economic Data Overview
Friday April 1 includes the US labour market data and being the first day of the month means some of the sector reports that normally feed into forecasters' estimates will not be released until later. Therefore, there may be a greater than usual uncertainty in markets as the release time approaches. Otherwise, the March 28 week data releases may serve only to flesh out what is already known for consumer confidence, housing and manufacturing.
The BLS data on March unemployment and payrolls is set for Friday. Early expectations for non-farm payrolls centre near a 200,000 gain, but the range between the low and high forecasts is wide which suggest a lot of uncertainty. Estimates for the unemployment rate are closely clustered near 8.9% within a range of 8.8% to 9.0%. Weekly initial jobless claims have been trending lower, but that only indicates fewer layoffs and not necessarily more hiring.
Decreases in continuing claims may be due to some beneficiaries finding jobs, but there are some who are simply running out of benefits. The implications for the unemployment rate are that the decreases in claims in the last three months are no fluke. While the pace of improvement to the unemployment rate may slow, it should still continue to inch lower. Initial claims for the week ended March 26 on Thursday will include the annual revisions when the ETA introduces the new seasonal adjustment factors for 2011. The week-to-week levels may be somewhat different, but the fundamentals will be the same.
The only piece of data during the week that has the potential to alter the outlook for most employment forecasts is the ADP National Employment Report on Wednesday. The report has had a few big misses in the last few months, but..
Source: AME Info
Tel Aviv Stock Exchange: New and Upgraded Indices As Of April 3rd, 2011
March 24, 2011--As of March 24th, 2011 TASE will launch 4 new continuously quoted equity indices and upgrade additional two:
view the indices constituents and changes in weight factor
Source: TASE
KSE loses steam on Egypt market woes
March 24, 2011-- Despite that KSE witnessed its highest daily trading activity since March 13, it ended the day on a negative note. The Kuwaiti market started the session in green, however at 11:00am, when Egyptian Stock Market resumed trading after almost 7 weeks of shutdown and plunged by more than 10 percent, KSE could not hold its upward trend and reversed mainly affected by psychological factors.
Most major indices backtracked ending yesterday's session in red territory.
Global General Index (GGI), market weighted, ended the day down by 0.11 percent, at 202.01 point. Market Capitalization was also down for the day at KD32.83bn. On the other hand, Kuwait Stock Exchange Price Index closed at 6,294.8 point, shedding 35.50 points (0.56 percent) to its previous close.
Source: Kuwait Times
Unrest pressure on Saudi bourse
Royal financial packages boost market after plunging to 22-month law
March 24, 2011--Saudi Arabia’s stock market, the largest and busiest in the Middle East, will likely remain under pressure by the ongoing political turmoil in the Arab region despite massive royal financial packages announced over the past month, according to a key investment company in the Gulf Kingdom.
The packages announced by King Abdullah for citizens, worth a total $128 billion, lifted Tadawul bourse after plunging to its lowest level in nearly 22 months early this month, the Riyadh-based Jadwa Investments said.
“At its current level we think the market is attractively valued. While two substantial government spending packages will boost the economy, regional tensions are likely to linger through this year and weigh on investor sentiment,”
Source: Emirates 24/7
Qatar exchange in talks for foreign ownership
March 24, 2011--Andre Went, CEO of the Qatar stock exchange, has said the bourse is in discussions with authorities to allow foreign ownership in the exchange
as it eyes an emerging market tag from index compiler MSCI, Reuters has reported. "We are discussing it with the relevant authorities. There's no decision so it doesn't make sense to speculate (on a timeframe)," Went told reporters.
Source: AME Info